Presley Alexander Talks being an autistic actor, Disability Representation in Hollywood in interview

When I asked Presley Alexander recently how they got into acting, they told me it happened as a “total coincidence.” Alexander, who identifies as autistic and queer and is based in Los Angeles, told me they initially wanted to work as a YouTuber and figured why not try dabbling in Hollywood while in town. It turned out they “really fell in love with it” as someone who self-describes as “always [being] a person who has a million different hobbies and likes to try different things.” As an actor, Alexander is deeply appreciative of the amount of latitude they’re afforded to “live as many lives as I want.”

“I would never be happy in just one job… unless it was this one where I get to be a bunch of people,” they said.

The impetus for our conversation began with last month’s Autism Acceptance Month, with Alexander telling me they have a “big passion for autistic representation.” When asked about the current state of disability representation in Hollywood, Alexander lamented they don’t see “a lot” of it, adding the representation that does exist isn’t depicted by actual disabled people, which they characterized as “unfortunate.” Alexander attributed a “big factor” to said underrepresentation as many people going about their lives undiagnosed with condition(s). Many people, they added, “just don’t know” what they’re living with day-to-day, with lots of diagnoses not occurring until much later in a person’s life. Alexander expressed frustration at the commonly-held practice of disability being portrayed by people who literally aren’t disabled in life.

“For the most part, a lot of disabled characters—especially physically disabled ones—are played by actors who don’t have that disability,” they said. “There’s a level of understanding that only someone with a physical disability can bring to a physically disabled part. I have some physical conditions, and I still wouldn’t play somebody who had an amputation or something like that… it’s a very different lived experience to look comfortable knowing that’s how your body works and how you interact with the world.”

Alexander emphasized Hollywood is “definitely moving to a better place” in terms of authentic disability representation. They cited their role as Lane in the 2025 Ben Affleck-led thriller The Accountant 2. The creative team, they said, deliberately put out casting calls for autistic actors to play autistic characters after originally hiring actors who weren’t neurodivergent and wanted to right that wrong. “I think it’s a big step in the right direction, and I’m hoping a lot of productions will follow that,” Alexander said.

Alexander described themself as “a lot of things,” saying their autism affects “basically every part” of their livelihood. They added they believe there exist more people out there who are more similar to them than most realize; Alexander noted how some in the entertainment press bemoaned how the cast in CODA were effectively playing caricatures of themselves—but Alexander stressed that’s okay. They went on to say it’s important for people to understand an actor’s craft isn’t diminished or downplayed when they play characters true to their real-world persona. In fact, they said it can actually be “a lot harder” since “I have to be very self aware of those kinds of things.”

As an autistic actor, Alexander told me autistic representation in film and television remains “in a little bit of a weird place.” On one end of the spectrum, there are shows like Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum, but on the other end, there are shows which entail “gawking at people with autism and how they view the world differently.” Much of their favorite autistic representation on screen, Alexander said, involves characters unintentionally “coming off as autistic,” because, in recalling the previous point about diagnoses, they’ve gone undiagnosed and thus don’t know about their condition(s).

“The thing about autistic people is we think everybody else is struggling just as much as we are—until we get diagnosed and realize there’s something else going on,” Alexander said. “I’ve seen, as an autistic actor, more casting calls coming towards me specifically asking for disabled actors, which I think is really nice. But I think what we really need to be moving towards, in the industry, is characters who happen to be disabled or characters played by disabled actors [and] have us be equally included—characters played by disabled actors just because, not because the plot focuses on it or it’s a central part of their character. They just happen to have a disability.”

Alexander’s prior experience being a content creator on YouTube helped immensely when acclimating to being in front of a camera. It also gave them “a very realistic idea of what the entertainment industry is,” adding “I was very convinced and very headstrong about doing YouTube… it was 100% coming from me.” By contrast, they got to meet lots of people over time who weren’t creating content for their own sake. Such realizations gave Alexander a lot of self-awareness “about the specific and special place I’m in to be able to handle that kind of thing and to be comfortable with the weird life you have to live when you’re a public figure.” Moreover, doing press (like this very interview) has been helpful to Alexander as well, if somewhat “disorienting” as someone who used to be on the other side of the proverbial table. Nonetheless, Alexander said the experiences have helped them learn a lot about what people want to hear and how to talk properly; most of all, they’ve come to realize “most of us are just kind people.”

“A lot of actors and directors and people who work on movies are just regular guys who happen to work in this industry,” Alexander said.

As to feedback, Alexander said she enjoys strong support from their network of family and friends. Their immediate family in particular is “very, very supportive” and they “couldn’t do this” without their backing. Likewise, most of their friends are “grounded in real life” and knew them before Alexander got into acting. Their friends still think of them as “Presley from class,” which is “really nice” because “it keeps me from going a little bit too insane, and they’re all very supportive of what I do.” Many of Alexander’s friends are autistic too, which means they appreciate the representational angle having been diagnosed with autism and ADHD. Alexander conceded there is some “pushback” from family who don’t understand the Hollywood way of business, but do think it’s cool to see them in whatever project(s) they’re working on. Hollywood, Alexander told me, is a “really difficult industry to understand if you don’t live in it and know people in it.”

Looking towards the future, Alexander said “the world is really scary for autistic people right now.” They’re heartened, however, by the strong show of support they’ve received from within the industry, with Alexander saying people have been “very kind to me” and she considers themself “very lucky.” Alexander is optimistic more opportunities will come her way as time wears on, telling me they “don’t plan on being quiet” in terms of their amplification of, and advocacy for, themself and others in their community.

“My main goal is just to continue existing as an openly disabled person and just show that ‘Hey, we’re here too and we’re just as good as anyone else.’ I think my autism makes me better at certain aspects of my job, because I’m very, very analytical when it comes to behavior and pretty good at copying people,” Alexander said of their hopes and dreams for the future. “It’s called parroting for autistics, and I think that helped me in my career. I’m hoping that I can bring—especially at this time where people with autism being seriously targeted—I can be a bit of hope it will be okay. We are so much more than what we’re being told we are, and we deserve to have these flags too.”