Alexandra Grey

Grey was born in Chicago.[3] She grew up in foster care.[4][3] Grey, a trans woman, stated in an interview, "I knew as early as 4 that I wanted to be a girl," but didn't know how to discuss this with her foster parents, stating "In the African‑American community, this stuff is not even up for discussion."[4]

After graduating from community college, Grey initially came out to her foster parents as gay. They were reluctant to accept her sexuality.[5][4] Once she told them she was transgender, they threw her out of the house.[5][4] She moved from Chicago to Los Angeles, and lived in an LGBT homeless shelter until she saved enough money to get her own place.[5] She attended California State University Northridge and studied theater.[3]

Grey moved to Los Angeles with the hopes of beginning a career in singing or acting.[6] In 2016, she was cast as Elizah Parks in the third season of Transparent. Grey played a troubled foster youth living in South Central Los Angeles, California who calls Maura, played by Jeffrey Tambor, on the LGBT suicide hotline for help. The season went on to win the GLAAD Media Award for Best Comedy Series and later earned seven Primetime Emmy Nominations in 2017.[4]

Grey also guest-starred on Season 2 of the CBS TV medical drama Code Black as Beth Jensen a young queer woman battling abdominal pains.[7] She then guest-starred on Season 4 of the Comedy Central series Drunk History where she portrayed gay rights activist Marsha P. Johnson. Upon its release, the episode trended on Facebook for two days and was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Individual TV Episode. The same year the episode was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards. Grey was considered for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. On June 3, 2016, it was announced that she was cast alongside Michael K. Williams, Phylicia Rashad, and Whoopi Goldberg to play trans activist and civil rights pioneer Seville Anderson in the ABC mini-series When We Rise. The series was directed by Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black. In the fall of 2016, she was cast in a recurring role on Chicago Med, in which she plays Denise, the older sister of head charge nurse Maggie Lockwood.[8] She appeared as a guest star on the legal drama Doubt in 2017 with co-star Dule Hill. Grey played Delilah Johnson, a woman on trial for the murder of a famous athlete. The story line was based on the real-life story of CeCe McDonald.[9]

As a singer, she opened for Swedish singer-songwriter Zara Larsson in October 2016, and completed a twelve city summer music tour in 2017. She has also opened for Kesha and Jordin Sparks at various pride music festivals.[6][10]

In 2017, transgender actors and actresses including Grey (with the help of GLAAD and ScreenCrush) were part of a filmed letter to Hollywood written by Jen Richards, asking for more and improved roles for transgender people.[11][12] Later that year she starred as Lucy Jones in Asher Jelinsky's critically acclaimed short film Miller & Son (2019), which won the BAFTA Student Film Award and gold medal for "Best Narrative" (Domestic) at the 2019 Student Academy Awards.[13][14]

It was announced in Fall 2018, that she would star as Gossamer Bryant in the new coming of age drama Gossamer Folds alongside Shane West, Yeardley Smith, and Sprague Grayden. The drama tells the story of a friendship between a black midwestern trans woman and a 10 year old kid played by Jackson Robert Scott in 1980s Kansas City. Grey landed her first national print campaign in 2019 with Absolut to commemorate Pride and 38 years of acceptance with the brand.

In January 2019, she returned to the series Transparent in her role as Elizah Parks on for its fifth and final season which premiered later that year on Amazon Prime. The series went on to win the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series in 2020.[15][16] In September 2019, it was announced via Deadline Hollywood that Grey had joined the sixth and final season cast of Empire to play Melody Barnes, a pop singer and songwriter who was signed to Empire Records by Lucious Lyon ten years earlier and has now reemerged under a new label headed by Cookie Lyon.[1] Grey has since recorded five singles on the soundtrack which have all been released by Hollywood Records. In October, she guest-starred on How to Get Away with Murder where she played Brandi Green, a young woman on trial for the murder of her husband, opposite Viola Davis.

In April, she portrayed the fictional character of Alice Tolton in the second season of the TNT drama series The Alienist. In June 2020, Alexandra along with several other actors, including Audra McDonald, Sterling K. Brown, Renée Elise Goldsberry and Joe Morton, performed for the Public Theater in NYC the Shakespearean monologue “To Be or Not to Be” from Hamlet in honor of Juneteenth.[17]

Currently, Grey is starring as Lucy Hicks Anderson in the HBO Max miniseries Equal from producer Greg Berlanti.[18]

• Alexandra Grey at IMDb
• Alexandra Grey on Twitter