Alexa Demie

Alexa Demie was born on December 11, 1990 in the vibrant neighborhood of Atwater Village, Los Angeles, California, and was raised by her mother, Rose Mendez, a make‑up artist whose family had immigrated from Mexico. She grew up in a tumultuous household, living across the street from a meth lab and near the Black Eyed Peas recording studio, experiences that instilled in her a fierce independence and a drive to escape her environment. As a teenager she ran away from home, describing her early years as marked by bullying, loneliness, and a yearning for artistic expression. While in high school she began bedazzling sunglasses bought from downtown Los Angeles, eventually launching a line called Mainframe that caught the eye of international celebrities such as G‑Dragon, Jennifer Lopez, Nicki Minaj and Amber Rose and was featured in Vogue Korea; the venture ended when she felt unrewarded for her designs. Simultaneously she wrote songs, designed a costume for one of Minaj’s first videos, and considered a career in fashion design before a New York art school orientation redirected her path toward acting. Her gritty upbringing and early entrepreneurial spirit have become hallmarks of her public persona. In 2013 Demie made her onscreen debut as a video vixen in Azealia Banks’ “ATM Jam,” and a series of short‑film roles secured her an agency in 2015. She quickly moved into television, guest‑starring on Ray Donovan and The OA, while also releasing her debut single “Girl Like Me” in 2016. Her breakthrough arrived with Jonah Hill’s 2018 coming‑of‑age film Mid90s and, most importantly, the HBO series Euphoria (2019‑present), where she portrays the complex Maddy Perez, a role she helped shape through mood boards and makeup collaboration. Critics praised her as one of the show’s breakout stars, and she capitalised on this momentum with roles in Waves (2019), Mainstream (2020), and various music videos. In 2021 she co‑authored the erotic short‑story collection Fairy Tales with photographer Petra Collins, and she continues to diversify her portfolio with voice work in the upcoming animated series Fables, a cameo with Madonna on the Celebration Tour in 2024, and forthcoming projects such as HBO’s Fantasmas and Boots Riley’s film I Love Boosters.