Ian Alexander (born April 20, 2001) is an American actor, known for their^{[lower-alpha 1]} roles as Buck Vu on The OA, Lev in The Last of Us Part II, and Gray Tal on Star Trek: Discovery.

Alexander was born in Salt Lake City, Utah,^[7] to an American father and a Vietnamese mother.^[8] Due to their father's work with the Department of Defense, their family often moved and has lived in places such as Hawaii, Japan and Washington, D.C.^[9] During elementary school, they participated in community theater and chorus.^[9] Though they were raised in a Mormon family, they are not a participating member,^[10] and considers themself to be agnostic.^[11] They came out as transgender in 2014 and through the course of their gender transition identified as trans masculine while using he/him pronouns exclusively.^{[12][13][14][15]} As of late 2020 Alexander adopted the use of they/them,^[16] shortly thereafter identifying as non-binary and preferring the use of they/them while accepting the alternative use of he/him.^{[2][17][18][19][20]}

They received viral attention online through their photo response to a transphobic incident perpetrated by four UCLA college students.^[21]

Alexander's debut acting role was on Netflix's The OA, where they played Buck Vu. Buck, like Alexander, is also a Vietnamese-American transgender youth and was partially based on Alexander's real experiences.^[12] They were cast from an open casting call online that spread through Tumblr.^[13][22][23] Later they were cast in the 2018 feature film Every Day, based on the book by David Levithan, playing Vic, a trans teen whom the spirit "A" inhabits for a day.^[24] In October 2017, Naughty Dog announced Alexander had joined the cast for The Last of Us Part II, the sequel to their popular video game.^[25] They played Lev, a transgender character in the game.^[26]

In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, sparking the start of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, Queerty named them one of their Pride50: "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people".^[27] Similarly, Alexander was one of the cover stars for the 2019 Pride issue of them., "spotlighting three rising queer artists whose work and lives are breaking new ground for LGBTQ+ visibility".^[28] In March 2020, it was announced Alexander will star in the independent film Daughter.^[29]

In September 2020, it was announced Alexander had joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery; they play the first transgender character played by a transgender actor in the Star Trek canon.^[2][1] Alexander voices Tai, one of Lunella's classmates, in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Tai is revealed to be non-binary in the episode "Check Yourself", as Lunella refers to Tai using they/them pronouns.^[30]