Alexander Hodge has swiftly become a key character on HBO’s hit series Insecure, on which he plays Andrew, a seasoned music executive with a no-frills approach to dating. IRL, Hodge’s come-up story involves a West Village restaurant he delivered for, acting school, and a fail-safe pair of Vans.
In our latest Cut Chats, the actor, also known as “Asian bae,” talks with fellow Libra and social editor Nana Agyemang about how he serendipitously binged the show while staying at a friend’s house before landing his breakout role.
Nana Agyemang: Tell me a little bit about how you got introduced to Insecure. Your background is half-Asian and half-Australian, and you grew up in Australia, so how did Insecure come into the mix of your life?
Alexander Hodge: I was living in New York. I was in New York for about six years, and I had actually just graduated from acting school in 2016 when season one came out.
Nana: Wait, you graduated in 2016?
Alexander: Mhmm.
Nana: Okay, I’m just doing my calculations in my head.
Alexander: I came in 2016, and that’s when the first season came out, and my friend put me on. I was crashing at my friend’s place, and they were like, “This is my favorite show. You’ve gotta check this show out. It’s called Insecure.”
Nana: What?
Alexander: Yeah, and I was like, “Oh, cool. Let me see.” I binged every episode that was out — I think it was the first half of the season — and then I was a massive fan of the show ever since then.
Nana: Wow, you manifested that, Alexander!
Alexander: I mean, I was just kind of like, “This is a cool show” — you know what I mean? I got lucky.
Nana: So you went to school in Australia or here?
Alexander: Here in the U.S. I never thought I was going to be on this show. Like, if you’re an Asian guy, you don’t look at Insecure and go, Yeah, that’s the one. That’s the one for me. And that’s not saying there’s no room for me. That’s just not the story that Insecure is trying to tell.
Nana: It’s about the black experience in L.A.
Alexander: Exactly! It’s like cool and amazing the way it is, but that’s not the show for Asians to start getting their representation. And so the fact that it just happened to take an arc in that direction, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time … yeah, we’re just lucky. We’re very lucky.”
To hear more about Hodge’s stroke of luck, how he relates to and differs from his character on Insecure, and the regimen behind his famous locks, watch the full video now, both above and on Instagram.