American actor and musician Alex Wolff successfully made the leap from kid stardom to an adult acting career. Born in New York City to actress Polly Draper and jazz pianist Michael Wolff, he began performing early on in his life. His mother wrote a feature length pilot for a project called "The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie" (2005), which starred her youngest son and his older brother, Nat Wolff. It spawned a cable show, "The Naked Brothers Band" (Nickelodeon, 2007-09), starring the two boys. Playing musicians, the pair released two albums in promotion of the show. After the show's end, the brothers continued their music career, performing as Nat & Alex Wolff. As they got older, both also returned to acting. Alex starred in the film "Coming Through the Rye" (2015) playing a teenager trying to find reclusive author J.D. Salinger. He gained notice for playing real life Boston Marathon terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the drama "Patriots Day" (2016). He kept things lighter by joining the cast of the Nia Vardalos sequel "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" (2016). He then partnered with fellow former child star Ross Lynch in the Jeffrey Dahmer-themed "My Friend Dahmer" (2017) playing cartoonist John Backderf, a childhood friend of the serial killer. His acting profile got a bump when he played nerdy student Spencer Gilpin in the big budget reboot "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" (2017). Once inside the game, his character morphs into an avatar played by legendary action hero Dwayne Johnson. Wolff went on to appear with Johnson, Kevin Hart, and Nick Jonas in the sequel "Jumanji: The Next Level" (2019). He earned attention for an entirely different type of role when he starred with Toni Collette in Ari Aster's horror film "Hereditary" (2018). Wolff re-teamed with his mother and brother for the indie film "Stella's Last Weekend" (2019). The real-life brothers played siblings who become romantic rivals over a weekend spent visiting their parents. Draper wrote, directed, and played their fictional mother. Wolff's father composed the film's score, completing the family's involvement. Taking a cue from his mother, Wolff then made his directorial debut, writing and starring, with Mike Epps, in the drama "The Cat and the Moon" (2019).
