At the age of 8, encouraged by her parents, Alexis was involved in some community theater in Houston and performed in productions of Our Town, The Wizard of Oz and Aladdin. Alexis attended St Mark's Lutheran Middle School.
Later she was scouted (by Michael Flutie of Company Management) in a local mall to model . She started a serious modeling career while in high school and, among other jobs, had overseas assignments in Tokyo and Milan.
 

After graduating from high school (a private high school in Houston) Alexis enrolled at NYU, where she just completed her first year as a film major. Through her print modeling agency Alexis met her current manager who began sending her on auditions in New York while she simultaneously worked with an acting coach to improve her acting skills and continued modeling in New York.

Alexis' big break came when she auditioned in New York for the T.V show The Gilmore Girls and her audition tape was sent to L.A. According to her manager "The producers fell in love with her, and flew her to LA to screen test.  They pretty much gave her the job on the spot."  Alexis had never done any T.V acting prior to her role in Gilmore Girls however she has done a public service announcement about underage drinking.

The pilot for Gilmore Girls was filmed in Toronto and the first episode of the series aired for the first time on October 5th 2000.

When she's not working, Alexis enjoys writing, reading, photography, going to the movies and spending time with her family. (Alexis has a younger brother). Like Rory in the Gilmore Girls, Alexis has said that she is also bad at sports  In recent interviews Alexis said that her favorite bands are Incubus and Radio Head. Her favorite book is Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut and her favorite shows on t.v are Ed & That 70's Show.