Alexis Floyd is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Neff in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series ''

Inventing Anna ''Inventing Anna'' is an American drama television miniseries created by Shonda Rhimes, inspired by the story of Anna Sorokin and the article in ''New York'' titled "How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People" by Jessica Pressler. It was ...

'' (2022) and Dr. Simone Griffith on ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

'' (2022–present).

Early years and education

Alexis Floyd was born and raised in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, in a musical family. Her mother, a classically trained

flautist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, is manager of Cleveland Youth Orchestra and her father was a classically trained

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

before becoming a lawyer. She took up violin at age three. She was a competitive figure skater, did violin recitals at the Youth Orchestra, studied at the Cleveland School of Ballet and did musical theater at several venues, including Cleveland Playhouse and

Cleveland Public Theater Cleveland Public Theatre is a theater and arts complex in Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situat ...

. Her education was entirely in private schools. For high school she attended

Hawken School Hawken School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory day school in Northeast Ohio. Hawken currently has two main campuses, the Lower and Middle Schools in Lyndhurst and the Upper School in Chester Township, plus a third, an ur ...

, and went on to

Carnegie Mellon Carnegie may refer to: People *Carnegie (surname), including a list of people with the name **Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist * Clan Carnegie, a lowland Scottish clan Institutions Named for Andrew Carnegie * ...

to study musical theater. In 2012, she studied at The Rhodopi International Theater Collective in Bulgaria, where she studied

Suzuki method The Suzuki method is a mid-20th-century music curriculum and teaching method created by Japanese violinist and pedagogue Shinichi Suzuki. The method claims to create a reinforcing environment for learning music for young learners. Backgroun ...

mime A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...

, and aerial art. After college graduation she moved to Los Angeles and then to New York City where she now lives. At the time of her audition for the role of Neff, Floyd was working as a concierge at a New York high-end yoga studio.

Career

Her career prior to her role as Neff was primarily

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

and a recurring role as Tia Clayton in Freeform's ''

The Bold Type ''The Bold Type'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Sarah Watson and produced by Universal Television for Freeform. It is inspired by the life and career of former editor-in-chief of ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine Joanna Co ...

''. Her other activities included choreography and dancing on short films and music videos. Her career took a leap forward when she landed the role of Neff in ''

''. The series is the true life story of

Anna Sorokin Anna Sorokin (, ; born January 23, 1991), also known as Anna Delvey, is a con artist and fraudster who posed as a wealthy heiress to access upper-class New York social and art scenes from 2013 to 2017. Born in the Soviet Union (now Russia), ...

, a Russian born woman who claimed to be Anna Delvey, a German heiress who faked her way into New York high society. She did much preparation before auditioning. "A bit of a social media recluse," Floyd was unaware of the Sorokin/Delvey story; to learn about it she read as much as she could. Floyd learned the

Prince George's County Prince George's County (often shortened to PG County or PG) is located in the U.S. state of Maryland bordering the eastern portion of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 967,201, making it the second-most populous ...

accent of Neff, with some New York thrown in. When Floyd got the role she met the "real Neff," Neffatari (Neff) Davis. They met several times, so that Floyd would have some understanding of the dynamics of the friendship between Neff and Anna. Floyd's role was as a concierge at a boutique hotel Delvey was staying in. The concierge became crucial to Anna, and her only friend. Neff was the key to getting Anna V–VIP access to exclusive parties, shopping services and restaurants. Floyd's portrayal of Neff has been critically well received. Her performance has been described as a "scene stealer and truly magnetic." Floyd felt she could easily relate to Neff Davis; they live down the street from each other in Brooklyn, and: On July 19, 2022, it was announced that Floyd will be a series regular during the 19th season of the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

series, ''

''.

Personal

Floyd has a younger brother, Aric Floyd, who is also an actor. Floyd publicly

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

in 2025.

Filmography

Film

*''

Newly Single ''Newly Single'' is a 2017 American arthouse meta dark comedy film written and directed by Adam Christian Clark. Set in Downtown Los Angeles over the course of a winter, the script focuses on the dark and often funny moments of a newly-single and ...

'' (2017), Theater Performer

Television

*''

'' (2019), Tia Clayton – 8 episodes *'' Dickinson'' (2021), Proposal Friend #5 – Episode: "The Daisy Follows Soft the Sun" *''Way Down'' (2022), Sherrie – 2 episodes *''

'' (2022), Neff – 9 episodes *''

'' (2022–present), Dr. Simone Griffith – Series regular *''

The Good Fight ''The Good Fight'' is an American legal drama television series produced for CBS's streaming service CBS All Access (later Paramount+). It was the platform's first original scripted series. The series, created by Robert King, Michelle King ...

'' (2023), Deandra Minton – Episode: "The End of the Yips"

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Floyd, Alexis Actresses from Cleveland American television actresses Living people African-American choreographers African-American female dancers Hawken School alumni Carnegie Mellon University alumni American musical theatre actresses 21st-century African-American actresses 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American dancers American women choreographers Dancers from Cleveland Year of birth missing (living people) American queer actresses African-American LGBTQ people