Early life

Alexander was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and moved to Grapevine, Texas when she was four years old. She is the only girl in a family of five children. Alexander first got into acting in grade school, where she took theater for fun. Alexander stated that she was actually kicked out of theater when she was in high school because she could not sing, so she instead went into sports. When she was 17, she substituted for a friend at a meeting with a scouting agency and she met her manager, Randy James, who sent her some scripts. After her graduation from Colleyville Heritage High School, a year and a half later, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.

Career

Her career was launched in 2003, when she was cast in the leading role of Hanna Thompson in the low budget award-winning film The Other Side. According to the movie's commentary, she was originally at the audition to help out by reading against the male actors, but the director Gregg Bishop decided to cast her in the leading role after hearing her perform the lines. Alexander’s second role was in the movie Squirrel Trap where she played Sara, the love interest of the main character, David, who is a socially introverted genius portrayed by Keith Staley. This was soon followed by a guest appearance in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, where she portrayed a femme fatale in the role of 'Tammy', who through a combination of seduction and threats manipulates one of the main characters. She also has a small part in an episode of Standoff.

From there she proceeded to more significant roles. She appeared in the series Watch Over Me where she portrayed the controversial character of 'Caitlin Porter'. In 2006, she had her first lead role in the horror film Rest Stop where she portrayed 'Nicole Carrow', a girl who escapes from home and goes on a trip with her boyfriend, which is unexpectedly interrupted at a rest stop by a deranged serial killer. In 2007, she had her second lead role, also in a horror film. In Hallowed Ground she played 'Elizabeth Chambers', a girl stranded in a small town inhabited by a sect that plans to use her as a vessel for the rebirth of their founder. In both movies, her character is a strong character who fights back against her aggressors.

Her most famous role so far was that of 'Jessi' on the ABC Family television show Kyle XY. She portrays a troubled, show off girl with superhuman powers who is trying to find her way in the world, with increasing cooperation and eventual romance with her male counterpart Kyle. Her role generated a large fan base hoping to see a spin-off show for her character. She also has had guest roles on the show CSI: Miami where she played 'Jenna York', a flight attendant involved in a murder case; and in Bones where she played 'Molly Briggs', a student connected to the victim of the episode.

In September 2009, it was reported that Alexander would portray Sif in the live-action superhero film, Thor, directed by Kenneth Branagh and released in May 2011. She reprised the role in the sequel Thor: The Dark World, released in November 2013. She reprised the role twice in special crossover guest appearances on the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on March 11, 2014 and again on March 10, 2015.

In July 2010, it was reported that Alexander had been cast in the independent comedy-drama film, Loosies co-starring Peter Facinelli and directed by Michael Corrente. In October 2010 it was reported that Alexander joined the cast of Nurse Jackie in a sizeable story arc as Jackie’s (Edie Falco) wild, immature sister-in-law, Tunie Peyton. In 2011, she joined the cast of Covert Affairs for three episodes of the second season.

Alexander appeared in the 2013 film Savannah directed by Annette Haywood-Carter, about Ward Allen (Jim Caviezel), a real-life early 1900s aristocrat who starts an unexpected partnership with Christmas Moultrie (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a freed slave. Also in 2013, she portrayed deputy sheriff Sarah Torrance in The Last Stand, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 2015, Alexander began starring as Jane Doe in the NBC series Blindspot.

Other projects

Alexander has done a photo shoot with her co-star Matt Dallas from Kyle XY for the photographer Tyler Shields.

She also appeared in a Matthew Perryman Jones music video of the song "Save You" released in September 2009.

In 2010, Alexander appeared in a web series for MSN entitled Ultradome produced by Milo Ventimiglia. In the series Alexander portrayed Han Solo in battle against Indiana Jones for the title of best Harrison Ford character.

In 2011, Alexander reunited with writer/director Gregg Bishop for The Birds of Anger for NBCUniversal G4Films. The film was based on the best-selling mobile game, Rovio's Angry Birds, told in the style of the 1963 film The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock.

Personal life

Alexander began dating actor Peter Facinelli in 2012 after they met on the set of Loosies. Alexander and Facinelli became engaged in March 2015. In February 2016, Alexander and Facinelli announced they had called off their engagement.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Squirrel Trap	Sara
2006	Rest Stop	Nicole Carrow	Direct-to-DVD
2006	The Other Side	Hanna Thompson
2007	Hallowed Ground	Liz Chambers
2010	Love & Other Drugs	Carol	Uncredited
2011	Thor	Sif
2012	Loosies	Lucy Atwood	In select theaters and video-on-demand
2013	Savannah	Lucy Stubbs
2013	The Last Stand	Sarah Torrance
2013	Collision	Taylor Dolan	Direct-to-DVD
2013	Thor: The Dark World	Sif
2015	London Fields	Hope Clinch
2015	Broken Vows	Tara Bloom	In select theaters and video-on-demand

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia	Tammy	Episode: "Underage Drinking: A National Concern"
2006	Standoff	Barrista	Episode: "Pilot"
2006-07	Watch Over Me	Caitlin Porter	Main role, 58 episodes
2007-09	Kyle XY	Jessi Hollander	Main role (seasons 2-3), 33 episodes
2009	Bones	Molly Briggs	Episode: "The Beaver in the Otter"
2009	CSI: Miami	Jenna York	Episode: "Flight Risk"
2011	Nurse Jackie	Tunie Peyton	3 episodes
2011	Covert Affairs	Reva Kline	2 episodes
2011	The Birds of Anger	Annie	Short
2012	Perception	Nikki Atkins	Episode: "Messenger"
2014	"Under the Gunn"	Herself, Judge	Episode: "Superhero Fashion"
2014-15	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Sif	2 episodes
2015-present	Blindspot	Taylor Shaw/Jane Doe	Lead role
2015	The Brink	Lt. Gail Sweet	Recurring role

Video game

Year	Title	Voice role
2011	Thor: God of Thunder	Sif

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2008	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actress on Television	Kyle XY	Nominated
2011	Scream Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Thor	Nominated
2011		Breakout Performance - Female		Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]