She Starred as the Iconic “Maxine Shaw,” But Erika Alexander Says Her ‘American Fiction’ Role Is Her Best Yet

Many actors have several key roles in their careers, but Erika Alexander is one of the rare ones who’s had the role of a lifetime. Thirty years ago, she stepped into the character of Maxine Shaw on Living Single — a now-iconic attorney character inspired by her role models Cicely Tyson, Phylicia Rashad, Whoopi Goldberg and Hillary Clinton. In the years since, she’s been part of significant projects like Get Out and Wu-Tang: An American Saga. But American Fiction, she says, is the crown jewel of her portfolio.

“It’s been very healing to be in this movie,” says Alexander, 54. She plays Coraline, a divorcée who begins a relationship with Jeffrey Wright’s Monk, a novelist so frustrated with the publishing industry’s penchant for stereotypically “Black” books, he submits an absurdist manuscript to prove a point. “We’ve been having conversations like those in the movie for a long time, and we need to ask, what is a version of Blackness outside of the stereotype that we’re oppressed and repressed?” she says. “Our narrative is so often out of our hands, but this whole project has been an act of resistance.”

You’re about to celebrate 40 years in the business; when you look back at your career thus far, do you have any pivotal moments?

There’s one moment I remember deeply. I was discovered when I was 14, and I played a foster child in my first film. Next I played a slave and a prostitute. It didn’t feel like who I was inside, and I thought, ‘Is this what I’m getting now?’ I talked to my agent, and they told me no one would ever mistake me for an ingenue. That’s when I knew I needed to become a creator. I didn’t know how I would do it, but I wanted to write what was inside of me, not wait for someone to see it in me. Now, I have more of a feeling of control, I’m a producer and a director and I co-founded Color Farm Media.

That moment sounds like the embodiment of “rejection is protection,” but I imagine it was hard to see it that way at the time?

In the moment I was heartbroken. In one way I thought, “Of course I know I’m nobody’s ingenue.” Yet the roles I wanted were in that specific category. And this is my representation, my own agent, saying this. It’s like your mother saying, “You’re cute but you’ll never be a pretty girl.” I wasn’t necessarily the classic beauty that the wider world was looking for, but I certainly didn’t see myself as the ugly duckling. So it was hurtful, but it was also a gift. It was like when somebody takes a record and scratches it and you never play the same way again. It made me expand. It’s like I’m a planet and I give birth to this moon over here and this star over there, and eventually you look around and you have a whole galaxy around you.

Did you know that American Fiction was going to be special?

I got a call that Cord Jefferson wanted to talk to me about a role he thought I would be good in. I didn’t know him immediately, but they told me he collaborated with Damon Lindelof on Watchmen and my ears perked up. I’d loved that show, what they did with the reparations and the way they layered the complexities of race and heroism. When they said Jeffrey Wright is attached, I said, “I don’t even need to read that script.” But I did read it, and the original title page just said, “Fuck.” I was going to be the girlfriend of Jeffrey Wright in a movie called Fuck? My immediate thought was, “This is my 9½ Weeks.” I could see the blue light coming in the window. I was like, I’m going to have to take my vitamins and start stretching.

There’s something quite special about the two of you getting these lead roles at the same time — do you feel that, too?

I look at Jeffrey’s career and my own and I think about the ideas of popularity versus impact. There are people who are much more popular than I am, yet I feel I’ve done parts that have impact. My most recognizable role, of course, is Maxine Shaw. I carry her around, first, every day. I can’t run away from that. I’ve been approached by so many people I admire who said they went into politics because of that role — Stacey Abrams, Ayanna Pressley. I’ve met teachers who teach Maxine’s character in schools. 

What was it about the character of Coraline that stood out most to you?

I loved the character. She’s made anew after her divorce, and she’s willing to risk it all on this relationship with this curmudgeon. She’s his perfect audience, even though he doesn’t know it. It’s like he’s conjured her up, but he’s so discontented he can’t see the possibilities in her. He’s evaluating his life by what he doesn’t have, not by what he does.

Do you have a favorite memory from the American Fiction shoot?

Cord [Jefferson] directed a lot of the movie in Gucci mules. I said, “What’s going on with your feet, brother? We out here on the beach!” He was in slacks and a black trench and those slides and I said, “That’s a different type of brother.” He came dressed to impress, yet everything about him was saying: “You don’t have to try to impress me. You already have, that’s why I asked you to be here.”

Were the slides OK?

They got scuffed up!

As you enter into the thick of awards season, are you getting a chance to pause and relish in the success?

I’m trying not to be afraid to really take it all in. To allow myself to be applauded and not be afraid that something bad might happen or something is going to run all this. I’m saying, “Erika, you deserve this.” I believe this is just the beginning of a lot of great opportunities, not just for me, but for all of us. I’m grateful.

A version of this story first appeared in the Dec. 15 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.