Is Alexa Demie Retiring From Acting After Euphoria? She Says… 

And as a half-Mexican woman, she wondered where that left Latina actresses like herself.

As Alexa, 35, explained, while in a casting office in her early 20s, she read a character description for a lead role, only to notice that actors of Hispanic descent weren’t on the extensive list of permitted ethnicities for the part.

“I was reading it, and it really hit me—and I kept having that experience,” she said. “I was sick of going into those rooms.”

“This was during that time when you’re young and every few months you’re just like, ‘I’m quitting, I’m quitting,'” she continued. “But knowing me, I never would have quit. I’m more of the energy of like, ‘No, I’m going to show you I can do it.'”

And while Euphoria was ultimately the role to put her on the map, getting cast in the HBO series came with its own series of challenges.

According to creator Sam Levinson, the network didn’t think Alexa was “right for the part” of Maddy, a high school queen bee and cheerleader, BFF to Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney) and girlfriend to Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi).