After key parts in ‘Watchmen’ and ‘Black Panther’, NC actress lands her biggest role

When Alexis Louder reflects on taking the stage at E. E. Waddell in high school as one of the leads in a production of “Fences,” she recalls shaking and stuttering.

But now she recognizes how the experience changed her life.

“Even though I was terrible at the performance, I loved the way it felt on the inside,” the Charlotte native said. “The fire and the heat that it gave me. It was something that engulfed my whole body. When I got off that stage, (I thought) ‘No one is going to allow me to do this again if I suck at it.’ ”

Louder did improve, and went on to notable work in splashy fare like “Black Panther” and HBO’s “Watchmen.”

She recently finished six weeks filming the movie “Copshop” in Atlanta. The action thriller is her first starring role.

Louder plays a small-town rookie cop opposite Gerard Butler and Frank Grillo. The movie, directed by Joe Carnahan, is in post-production and will be released this year.

Deadline.com described the plot as set in a police station “that becomes the unlikely battleground between a professional hitman (Butler), a smart rookie female cop (Louder) and a double-crossing con man (Grillo) who seeks refuge behind bars with no place left to run.”

Competitive streak

Many would flee after the failure on stage at E. E. Waddell. Instead, Louder finished her senior year determined to pursue acting.

Her competitive nature pushed her into applying to UNC Charlotte’s Department of Theatre. She graduated in 2013 with more confidence, a sense of peace and a supportive community of theater people.

“I had just started this journey of being an actor,” Louder said. “I didn’t know what to expect. (I thought,) ‘I’m just going to get the most I can out of this.’ I made sure that whatever I went into, I soaked in as much as possible.”

At UNCC, Louder played the female lead, Nina, in a production of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull.”

Robin Witt, an associate professor of directing at UNCC, taught Louder and served as her academic adviser.

“I found her incredibly disciplined and her work rigorous,” Witt said. “She was always prepared, and she always tore into the work fearlessly.”

‘Hitting a brick wall’

After graduation, Louder stayed in Charlotte for a year then moved to Atlanta.

She auditioned for community theater but found the same issue she had in Charlotte: There wasn’t enough room for her in these closely-connected groups.

“It was a true realization that community theater can be so tight knit, no matter where you go,” she said. “I was hitting a brick wall on all the productions. They know who they know and probably start casting with people they already have in mind. Maybe one or two roles are available for auditions.”

She had more success in film and television.

Louder’s first movie appearance was in Marvel Studios’ smash “Black Panther.”

In 2016, she received a call asking if she wanted a non-speaking principal role, beginning the next day. The only information provided was when and where to show up. She’d assumed because she didn’t have lines, the part would be easy. Once she arrived, she learned her character would be held at gunpoint.

“I was an ingenue,” she explained. “I didn’t know what the scene was going to be. Now I know: No matter what, ask for information in advance so you can possibly prep.”

In 2018, Louder was cast as a werewolf in a five-episode arc in the fifth season of The CW’s “The Originals.” Her mom joined her on set.

Louder laughed as she recalled how her mom still mentions the culinary delights offered to the crew. Louder argued they’ve had food just as good on other sets.

“I think the magic of it being my first production probably was salted on top of the food at ‘The Originals,’ ” Louder said.

‘Difficult and emotional’

Then there was HBO’s “Watchmen.”

Filmed near Atlanta, the 2019 miniseries was based on a classic graphic novel from the 1980s. It’s an intense series about a dystopian world of masked vigilantes an cops in masks.

Louder is in the very first scene, where Black residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma, are under attack in 1921 in an act of brazen racist violence that echoed an actual massacre there.

Her character, Ruth Williams, is helping her son and another family flee to safety. Louder appeared in five of the show’s nine episodes. Her son in “Watchmen” grew up to be one of the main characters, Will Reeves (aka Hooded Justice), played by Louis Gossett Jr.

Due to the seriousness of the show’s subject matter, the cast, crew and stunt performers gathered in the streets on the first day of filming. A pastor prayed over the set because of the content covered.

“We were enacting extreme violence that was difficult and emotional,” she said. “Having the pastor come out and bless the set was a great way to get everyone’s spirit in the right place. (We could) go home with clean hearts and minds.”

Louder approaches her roles with care and seriousness. Early on, she observed how other actors tackled situations. Over time, she’s grown bolder and asks questions.

“When I work with those big name actors, I just treat them like co-workers,” she said. “I go into work, like I was going to work at the bank.

“I introduce myself. (I) figure out what I need from them and what they need from me, so that I can do a great job and they can do a great job, and we can make our director and audience happy.”

More arts coverage

Want to see more stories like this? You can join our Facebook group, “Inside Charlotte Arts,” at https://www.facebook.com/groups/insidecharlottearts/

You can find all of our arts season preview stories in one place: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/topics/charlotte-fall-arts-2020