Ian Alexander

Ian Alexander is an American actor and writer who has built a career across three of the most-watched science fiction and drama franchises of the past decade. They are best known for playing Buck Vu on the Netflix series The OA, Lev in Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II, and Gray Tal on Star Trek: Discovery.

Alexander's work sits at an unusual intersection of live-action television, performance capture and voice acting. Their portrayal of Lev, a transgender Seraphite in a game that sold more than ten million copies, made them one of the most visible trans performers in mainstream gaming. The character carried over into HBO's adaptation, and in September 2026 Alexander was confirmed to reprise the role in The Last of Us Season 3 opposite John Goodman and Laura Bailey.

At 25, Alexander has become a fixture on the convention circuit and a frequent voice in conversations about trans representation on screen. They remain active in both television and games, with a fanbase that spans Star Trek devotees, Last of Us players and LGBTQ+ audiences who follow their advocacy work. [edit]

Ian Alexander was born on April 20, 2001, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and grew up in the state's Mormon-majority culture, a background they have occasionally referenced when discussing the isolation of being a trans teenager in a conservative region. They showed an interest in performance early, taking part in local theater and independent film work around Utah while still in school.

Their professional break came at 15, when they were cast as Buck Vu in the Netflix mystery drama The OA, which premiered in December 2016. Buck was a transgender teenage boy, and the casting drew attention because Alexander, who is trans, played the part rather than a cisgender actor. The show, created by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, ran for two seasons and ended in 2019. For a teenager with no major credits, the role put them in front of a global streaming audience almost immediately.

Around the same period Alexander relocated from Utah to Los Angeles to pursue acting full time. They also began writing, contributing to scripts and creative development work behind the camera, an interest that has continued alongside their on-screen career. Before The OA aired, their experience amounted to local stage and small independent projects, which makes the jump to a Netflix series at 15 unusually steep for an actor from a non-industry family in Utah. [edit]

The OA role opened doors, but the 2020 release of The Last of Us Part II changed the scale of Alexander's career. They provided the voice and performance capture for Lev, a trans Seraphite teenager whose arc with his sister Yara became one of the game's emotional anchors. Naughty Dog's sequel sold over ten million copies within two years and won hundreds of industry awards, and reviews singled out Lev's storyline as a high point. Alexander became one of the first trans performers to carry a major narrative thread in a AAA game.

In 2021 they joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery as Gray Tal, a Trill host and former Starfleet ensign, appearing across Seasons 3 and 4 on Paramount+. The part added a legacy sci-fi franchise to their resume and placed them alongside Sonequa Martin-Green and the rest of the Discovery bridge crew. Gray's storyline, which involved a Trill symbiont and a romantic arc with Blu del Barrio's Adira, was one of the show's more discussed threads during its final seasons.

Voice and performance capture work continued through the mid-2020s, alongside convention appearances and advocacy. In September 2026, Deadline, Variety and IGN all reported that Alexander would reprise Lev in The Last of Us Season 3 on HBO, joining John Goodman and Laura Bailey. The casting made Alexander one of a small group of game actors to carry a role from Naughty Dog's original production into the television adaptation, preserving continuity for a character fans had already heard in their voice. [edit]

Alexander's public persona is built around openness and a deliberately unpolished kind of confidence. Their social media voice is blunt and funny, closer to a group chat than a press release, and their Instagram bio leans into that. They favor bold, gender-nonconforming fashion on red carpets and convention stages, often in tailored suits or statement pieces that read as both formal and playful.

Media coverage tends to frame them as part of a newer generation of trans performers who came up through streaming and games rather than traditional network television. Profiles describe them as technically skilled in performance capture, a discipline that requires acting with your whole body under a headset, and as socially conscious without being preachy about it. They are not a tabloid figure; the press they get is almost entirely project-based, which suits the low-key, work-first image they have cultivated. [edit]

iFANN has not yet gathered fame data for Ian Alexander, so no placement in the Global Fame Rankings is available as of the September 2026 data cycle. The engine evaluates worldwide attention across public signals such as Wikipedia readership and global search interest, and Alexander has not yet entered the published rankings. Their profile is nonetheless rising steadily, driven by the September 2026 Last of Us Season 3 casting news that ran across Deadline, Variety, IGN and Entertainment Weekly.

The fanbase around Alexander has no formal name. They are followed by a mix of The Last of Us players, Star Trek viewers and LGBTQ+ audiences who found them through The OA or through their advocacy. The most organized fan activity clusters around Lev: trans fans in particular have treated the character as a rare example of a trans teenager written with interiority in a blockbuster game, and fan art, cosplay and video essays about Lev circulate widely on Tumblr, TikTok and YouTube.

Charity drives in Alexander's name have raised money for trans youth organizations including GLAAD and the Trans Lifeline, typically organized by fans rather than by the actor. Alexander engages back in a casual way, answering questions at convention panels and replying to supportive comments, and their Comic-Con appearances tend to draw long lines. The relationship reads as protective rather than parasocial: fans tend to defend them in comment sections and push back on harassment, and Alexander has acknowledged that support in interviews without making it the center of their public identity. [edit]

Alexander's Instagram bio has read "i'm here to be hot and be gay," a line fans quote back at them regularly and one of the few personal statements they have kept pinned for years.

They are one of a handful of performers to appear in both The Last of Us video game and its HBO adaptation as the same character, a continuity choice the production made deliberately rather than recasting.

Before acting became full time, Alexander was involved in writing and creative development, an interest they have said they want to pursue more as their screen career matures.

The story fans retell most often is the 2020 release of The Last of Us Part II and the reaction to Lev's introduction, which LGBTQ+ outlets and gaming press covered as a turning point for trans characters in big-budget games. Alexander has said in interviews that playing Lev mattered to them because they wanted to show that trans people can be heroes and survivors, not just plot devices. [edit]

Alexander was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has kept details of their family largely out of public view. They have spoken about growing up in a conservative, heavily Mormon environment and the difficulty of that experience as a trans teenager, but they have not named parents or siblings in interviews and do not post family content on social media.

They moved from Utah to Los Angeles as a teenager to work professionally and have lived in the LA area since. There are no publicly reported marriages, children or long-term partners, and Alexander has drawn a clear line between their public work and their private life. Their online presence centers on career news, advocacy and occasional personal posts rather than family material. [edit]

Ian Alexander has kept their romantic life almost entirely private. There are no confirmed public relationships, marriages or engagements on the record as of 2026, and no credible reports of a long-term partner. They have spoken openly about being gay and trans in interviews but have not named anyone they have dated.

That silence appears deliberate rather than incidental. Alexander's social media presence focuses on work, advocacy and jokes, and their Instagram bio leans on identity and humor rather than relationship status. They have not walked red carpets with a partner or been photographed in a way that prompted dating speculation.

As of 2026, the reported status is single. Given how carefully they have separated their public and private lives, any future relationship is likely to stay out of the press unless Alexander chooses otherwise. [edit]

Ian Alexander's income comes from a mix of television salaries, video game residuals and convention work rather than from a single large contract. The iFANN Editorial Team's analysis of their earnings, ventures and assets points to roughly $2.5 million as of 2026, a figure that reflects a rising profile rather than long-term accumulation.

The biggest single line item is The Last of Us. Their work on Part II was a voice and performance-capture contract with Naughty Dog, which typically pays a session fee plus residuals tied to game sales and re-releases; with the game having sold more than ten million copies, those residuals are meaningful but not life-changing on their own. The HBO adaptation pays differently, with episodic fees for a recurring role, and the Season 3 deal reported in September 2026 is likely their largest single payday to date.

Star Trek: Discovery added two seasons of Paramount+ salary across 2021 to 2024, and the show's syndication and streaming library keep a small royalty stream alive. Convention appearances are a steady secondary income source: sci-fi and gaming events pay guest fees plus travel, and Alexander is a reliable draw on Last of Us and Star Trek panels. Brand partnerships and social media work round out the picture, though they have not pursued endorsements as aggressively as some peers.

There is no real estate portfolio or business venture on the public record, and no reported investments beyond standard industry income. The trajectory is upward: the Season 3 casting places them in a higher pay bracket, and continued game and voice work should keep the total climbing through the late 2020s. [edit]