Lexi Alexander | |
|---|---|
 Lexi Alexander, 2015 | |
| Born | Alexandra Mirai (1974-08-23)23 August 1974 (age 51) |
| Other names | Lexi Mirai |
| Citizenship | United States[1] |
| Occupation | Director |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Website | lexi-alexander |
Alexandra Mirai (Arabic:الكسندرا ميراي; born 23 August 1974), known professionally asLexi Alexander, is a German-Palestinian-American[2] filmmaker and martial artist. A former competitor inkarate-point fighting andkickboxing,[3] Alexander entered the film industry as astunt performer, before earning anAcademy Award nomination for her debut short filmJohnny Flynton (2002). She subsequently directedGreen Street (2005), a crime drama aboutBritish football hooliganism, andPunisher: War Zone (2008), an adaptation of theMarvel Comicscharacter of the same name.
Alexander was bornAlexandra Mirai inMannheim, Germany, to a German mother and a Palestinian father.[4] She grew up in Mannheim.[5] Alexander's father was born and raised inRamallah,Palestine.[6]
As a teenager, Alexander was a member of Mannheim City Boys, asoccer hooligan group, which was part of the inspiration forGreen Street Hooligans.[5][7][8]
Alexander began studying martial arts, specificallyjudo, when she was 8 years old. At 14, she switched toShotokankarate. She has a third-degree black belt in karate.[3]
Alexander excelled at kickboxing, where after two years in the sport, she joined the German National Team.[9] She won the Germanpoint fighting championships four times and the European championships two times.[3]
In 1994, at the age of 19, Alexander became theWorld Kickboxing Association world champion inkarate-point fighting inAtlantic City.[3][10]
At the age of 19, she retired from professional fighting and moved to the United States. Alexander had metChuck Norris at a kickboxing event in the United States and she had previously acted in small roles in German TV. Norris encouraged her to come to Hollywood to act and study filmmaking. He was one of her sponsors for immigration.[11]
With the assistance of martial artistPat Johnson, she landed the part ofKitana inMortal Kombat: Live Tour, and in 1995 and 1996, spent seven months on tour.[3][12]
Alexander went on to work steadily as a stunt person doing fighting stunts and motorcycles, falls from high-rise buildings, going on to learn precision driving and race car driving.[10][13] She also worked as anunarmed combat instructor for theUnited States Marine Corps in 1994.[14]
Alexander studied acting in Los Angeles atJoanne Baron's acting school learningMeisner technique and with acting coach Piero Dusa. She took extension classes in filmmaking atUniversity of California, Los Angeles.[11]
The first film Alexander directed was calledJohnny Flynton, a short film that was nominated for anAcademy Award in 2003.[15] She said that the film, about a boxer from Alabama who is charged with murder, is a fictional story that was inspired by meeting a boxer in Germany when she was 9 years old, an interaction that she remembered and was the basis of the idea for the film.[3] The film was self-financed by Alexander and had a budget of US$35,000 and was filmed in 5 days.[11][16]
In 2005, Alexander directed her first full-length feature film calledGreen Street, also known asGreen Street Hooligans, orHooligans.[5] The independent film starredCharlie Hunnam as soccer hooligan Pete Dunham,Elijah Wood as Matt Buckner,Claire Forlani as Shannon,Marc Warren as Steve, andLeo Gregory as Bover,[17] and was produced byGigi Pritzker andDeborah Del Prete.[7]
Green Street Hooligans was inspired by her experience growing up watching her family's favorite Germansoccer teamWaldhof Mannheim, which led to a fascination with the sport and its passionate fans. Inspired by this, Alexander co-wrote a screenplay with a formersoccer hooligan turned writer,Dougie Brimson, and Joshua Shelov based on a story by Alexander and Brimson about the firm ofWest Ham United.[5]
Released in 2005,Green Street Hooligans was only the second in the history of theSouth by Southwest festival to win both the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature and Audience Award for Narrative Feature, after Alex Holdridge'sSexless in 2003.[18][19]
In 2008, Alexander directed the filmPunisher: War Zone starringRay Stevenson as thePunisher.[20] She was the first woman to direct aMarvel adaptation and it was her first studio film.[11] At the time of its release, the film was considered a commercial and critical failure.[21][22] The film has since become considered a cult classic.[11][23][24] ComedianPatton Oswalt was an early and vocal defender of the film.[11][25][26]
Alexander has been outspoken about her experience withPunisher. The film's budget shrank considerably, and Alexander wanted to work on a studio film so she said she was hired at a low rate. Then, during marketing, that budget was also low, and, in her opinion, the Christmas release date a mis-step.[27][28][29] She also mentioned that due the film developing a cult following, she's since mainly been optioned scripts with extreme levels of violence, which she passes on because she's naturally "squeamish."[30]
In 2010, Alexander wrote and directed thestraight-to-video filmLifted, shot inAlabama, which had themes ofChristianity. The film starredDash Mihok,Nicki Aycox andUriah Shelton.Lifted tells the story of a son's difficulty with his father's deployment inAfghanistan as a Marine, and features musical performances by Shelton and Mihok.[31]
In 2012, Alexander directed an episode forAnthony Zuiker'sBlackBoxTVYouTube channel entitled "Execution Style."[10]
In 2014, the higher profile Alexander received from her advocacy work speaking out about gender parity in Hollywood onTwitter led to Alexander getting hired to direct episodic television.[11][16] In 2015, Alexander directed an episode of the TV series,Arrow, called "Beyond Redemption." In 2016, she directed an episode of the TV series,Supergirl, called "Truth, Justice and the American Way," In 2016, Alexander also directed an episode of the TV seriesLimitless called "A Dog's Breakfast." In 2017, she directed an episode of the TV showTaken called "Hail Mary."[11]
In 2016, it was reported that she would be directing a biopic calledCrossface about the life of Canadianprofessional wrestlerChris Benoit.[32][33] However, in January 2020, Benoit's son David stated that the project had been cancelled.[34]
In February 2018, it was announced that Alexander was working on a TV series forBlumhouse Productions calledYou Bury Me,[35] intended to be a war-torn love story set in modern-day Iraq, Syria and Turkey.[36]
In June 2018, Alexander was invited to join theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[37]
Alexander has a long-term working relationship with martial artistPat Johnson, who she has hired as a stunt coordinator and choreographer since starting her directing her career.[12] Alexander is a fan of film directorEuzhan Palcy.[38]
In early 2014, on her Twitter feed and in a blog post that was republished[39] and widely discussed,[40][41] Alexander discussed the lack of women directors in Hollywood and lifted back the curtain on the lack of gender parity in the entertainment industry.[11][42] Alexander has been outspoken on Hollywood sexism and has spoken at length about the directorial opportunities she says were denied to her because of her gender.[43][44] In a 2014 interview she stated that she and directorCatherine Hardwicke were denied a meeting to discuss possibly directingThe Fighter, as the producers were not interested in hiring a woman to direct.[45][46]
Alexander worked to support theAmerican Civil Liberties Union investigation into gender bias in hiring practices, specifically for women directors, which cast a critical eye on the role of theDirectors Guild of America.[43][44][47][48] Film school graduates have gender parity, but once in the industry, the percentage of women hired ranges from 8% in 2017 to less than 6%.[46][49][50] In 2015, Alexander testified about her experiences as part of an investigation by theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission on hiring practices in Hollywood.[51]
Alexander has said she is against illegalfile sharing but instead supports innovative file sharing over big businesses exploiting digital distribution models.[46][44] Alexander has condemned the anti-piracy actions of the litigation and lobbying focusedHollywood entertainment industry especially regardinggeoblocking, saying that "as a German living in the US it's difficult to get German news, and while in Germany it's difficult to get US shows." She said she approves of neither the millions Hollywood spends on anti-piracy efforts nor the wealth ofKim Dotcom "lining his own pockets".[46][52] Alexander thinks the money used by theMPAA would be better spent improving diversity and more equitable distribution models.[44] She does, however supportPeter Sunde in relation toThe Pirate Bay trial andfair use.[29][52][53]
Alexander frequently advocates for Palestinian rights. In May 2025, she commented on the difficulty of promoting a film during the ongoingGaza War and her evaluation of Hollywood as a place that promotes liberal ideas but not with respect to Palestine.[54]
Alexander has metal screws in her knees from her time as a kickboxer.[9][55]
As of 2017[update], Alexander has been practicing the Russian martial arts technique calledSystema.[11][51]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Actress | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Executive Target | No | No | No | No | Production assistant (as Lexi Mirai) |
| 2001 | Pitcher Perfect | Yes | No | No | No | Short film |
| 2002 | Fool Proof | Yes | No | No | No | |
| Johnny Flynton | Yes | Yes | No | No | ||
| 2005 | Green Street Hooligans | Yes | Yes | Executive | No | |
| Wheelman | No | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2008 | Punisher: War Zone | Yes | No | No | No | |
| 2009 | Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground | No | Characters | Executive | No | |
| 2010 | Lifted | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Role: Afghan Woman |
| 2025 | Absolute Dominion | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Post-production[56] |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Actress | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Boy Meets World | No | No | No | Yes | Role:Sonya Blade Episode: "Last Tango in Philly" |
| 2012 | BlackBoxTV | Yes | No | No | No | Episode: "AEZP: Execution Style" |
| 2015 | Arrow | Yes | No | No | No | Episode: "Beyond Redemption" |
| 2016 | Supergirl | Yes | No | No | No | Episode: "Truth, Justice and the American Way" |
| Limitless | Yes | No | No | No | Episode: "A Dog's Breakfast" | |
| American Gothic | Yes | No | No | No | Episode: "Kindred Spirits" | |
| 2017 | Taken | Yes | No | No | No | Episode: "Hail Mary" |
| How to Get Away with Murder | Yes | No | No | No | Episode: "I Love Her" | |
| 2018 | S.W.A.T. | Yes | No | No | No | Episode: "Day Off" |
| 2019 | L.A.'s Finest | Yes | No | No | No | Episode: "Thief" |
| TBA | You Bury Me | No | Yes | Executive | No | Pre-production |
Short Film (Live Action) ... Johnny Flynton -- Lexi Alexander, Alexander Buono
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