Lexi Alexander
Alexandra Mirai (; born 23 August 1974), known professionally as Lexi Alexander, is a German-Palestinian film and television director, martial artist, and actress. She is a former World Karate Association world champion in karate-point fighting, and is best known for directing the action films "Green Street Hooligans" and "". Her debut short film "Johnny Flynton" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Alexander is a vocal advocate for equality in Hollywood and speaks out against gender discrimination and sexism, and promotes diversity, including a more positive and visible representation of Arabs. Early life  and education. Alexander was born in Mannheim, Germany, to a German mother and a Palestinian father. She grew up in Mannheim. Alexander's father was born and raised in Ramallah, Palestine. Alexander studied acting in Los Angeles at Joanne Baron's acting school learning Meisner technique and with acting coach Piero Dusa. She took extension classes in filmmaking at University of California, Los Angeles. Career. Sports. Alexander began studying martial arts, specifically judo, when she was 8 years old. At 14, she switched to Shotokan karate. She has a third-degree black belt in karate. Alexander excelled at kickboxing, where  after two years in the sport, she joined the German National Team. She won the German point fighting championships four times and the European championships two times. In 1994, at the age of 19, Alexander became the World Kickboxing Association world champion in karate-point fighting in Atlantic City. Stunt work. At the age of 19, she retired from professional fighting and moved to the United States. Alexander had met Chuck 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. With the assistance of martial artist Pat Johnson, she landed the part of Kitana in "," and in 1995 and 1996, spent seven months on tour. 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. She also partially trained Marines in hand-to-hand combat in one time in 1994. Filmmaking. The first film Alexander directed was called "Johnny Flynton", a short film that was nominated for an Academy  Award in 2003. 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. The film was self-financed by Alexander and had a budget of US$35,000 and was filmed in 5 days. In 2005, Alexander directed her first full-length feature film called "Green Street," also known as "Green Street Hooligans," or "Hooligans." The independent film starred Charlie Hunnam as  soccer hooligan Pete Dunham, Elijah Wood as Matt Buckner, Claire Forlani as Shannon, Marc Warren as Steve, and Leo Gregory as Bover, and was produced by Gigi Pritzker and Deborah Del Prete. "Green Street Hooligans" was inspired by her experience growing up watching her family's favorite German soccer team Waldhof Mannheim, which led to a fascination with the sport and its passionate fans. Inspired by this, Alexander co-wrote a screenplay with a former soccer hooligan turned writer, Dougie Brimson, and Joshua Shelov based on a story by Alexander and Brimson about the firm of West Ham United. Released  in 2005, "Green Street Hooligans" was only the second in the history of the South by Southwest festival to win both the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature and Audience Award for Narrative Feature, after Alex Holdridge's "Sexless" in 2003. In 2008, Alexander directed the film "" starring Ray Stevenson as the Punisher. She was the first woman to direct a Marvel adaptation and it was her first studio film. At the time of its release, the film was considered a commercial and critical failure. The film has since become considered a cult classic. Comedian Patton Oswalt was an early  and vocal defender of the film. Alexander has been outspoken about her experience with "Punisher." 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. In 2011, Alexander wrote and directed the straight-to-video film "Lifted," shot in Alabama, which had themes of Christianity. The film starred Dash Mihok, Nicki Aycox and Uriah Shelton. "Lifted" tells the story of a son's difficulty with his  father's deployment in Afghanistan as a Marine, and features musical performances by Shelton and Mihok. In 2012, Alexander directed an episode for Anthony Zuiker's "BlackBoxTV" YouTube channel entitled "Execution Style." In 2014, the higher profile Alexander received from her advocacy work speaking out about gender parity in Hollywood on Twitter led to Alexander getting hired to direct episodic television. 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 series "Limitless" called "A Dog's Breakfast." In 2017, she directed an episode of the TV show "Taken" called "Hail Mary." In 2016, it was reported that she would be directing a biopic called "Crossface" about the life of Canadian professional wrestler Chris Benoit. However, in January 2020, Benoit's son David stated that the project had been cancelled. In February 2018, it was announced that Alexander was working on a TV series for Blumhouse Productions called "You Bury Me", intended to be a war-torn love story set in modern-day Iraq, Syria and Turkey. In  June 2018, Alexander was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Alexander has a long-term working relationship with martial artist Pat Johnson, who she has hired as a stunt coordinator and choreographer since starting her directing her career. Alexander is a fan of film director Euzhan Palcy. Advocacy. In early 2014, on her Twitter feed and in a blog post that was republished and widely discussed, Alexander discussed the lack of women directors in Hollywood and lifted back the curtain on the lack of gender parity in the entertainment industry. 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. In a 2014 interview she stated that she and director Catherine Hardwicke were denied a meeting to discuss possibly directing "The Fighter", as the producers were not interested in hiring a woman to direct. Alexander worked to support the American Civil Liberties Union investigation into gender bias in hiring practices, specifically for women directors, which cast a critical eye on the role of the Directors Guild of America. 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%. In 2015, Alexander testified about her experiences as part of an investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on hiring practices in Hollywood. Alexander has said she is against illegal file sharing but instead supports innovative file sharing over big businesses exploiting digital distribution models. Alexander has condemned the anti-piracy actions of the litigation and lobbying focused Hollywood entertainment industry especially regarding geoblocking, 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 of Kim Dotcom "lining his own pockets". Alexander thinks the money used by the MPAA would be better spent improving diversity and more equitable distribution models. She does, however support Peter Sunde in relation to The Pirate Bay trial and fair use. Personal life. As a teenager, Alexander was a member of Mannheim City Boys, a soccer hooligan group, which was part of the inspiration for "Green Street Hooligans." Alexander has metal screws in her knees from her  time as a kickboxer. , Alexander has been practicing the Russian martial arts technique called Systema.