Paulina Alexis, or Young Eagle, "Wǎgíyaŋ Čížaŋ" (wah-gee-yah chee-zha) in her native Íhârne Stoney Nakoda language, was born on September 10, 2000 in Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation Reserve, Alberta, Canada. In her biography from FX Networks, Paulina Alexis is described as an Indigenous First Nations female actress, "full-blooded, 'born & raised' member of the Alexis Nakota Sioux [Nation] in central Alberta, Canada". Alexis is best known for the portrayal of the character "Willie Jack" Wilhelmina Jacqueline Sampson on the FX on Hulu series "Reservation Dogs" (2021-23). She is the youngest and only daughter of Robbie and Yvette Alexis, sister of Brandon, Logan, and Nathan Alexis, the latter of whom is an actor who was also recently featured as the character Young Brownie on "Reservation Dogs" in Season 3 Episode 6 'House of Bongs'. Paulina is the granddaughter of the late Logan Alexis, world renowned round dance singer and song maker, whose legacy continues through the award-winning Logan Alexis Singers, an Indigenous drum group started by Paulina's uncle Arnold Alexis to "pay tribute to their teacher and mentor [Logan Alexis], these young men carry on with pride using his name in remembrance of a great man." Paulina Alexis was named after her late grandmother, Pauline Potts, who was known to be "unpredictable, tiny, and fierce", and she inherited her grandmother Pauline's "eye of the tiger" spirit. Paulina Alexis' family tree spreads throughout Treaty Six, Seven, and Eight Territories in Alberta. The Alexis Nakoda First Nation is very proud of Paulina Alexis' journey into the film industry. She has strong family values in her rich Íhârne (ee-hah-er-ney) Nakoda Stoney culture, although locals often refer to themselves as Ísgǎ (ees-gah), the Íhârne Nakoda Stoney word for 'Stone People', also referred to as 'Assiniboine' in the Cree and Anishinaabe (Ojibwe/Chippewa) languages, and known in Canada as the Alexis Nakota Sioux.
Paulina Alexis is a hockey player, who began skating when she was four years old, then when she was nine played with boys, and came back to hockey when she was twelve. In an interview with Indian Country Today Media Network (ICTMN), Alexis talked about how not having enough money to afford a hockey net didn't stop her: "I made my Dad pick up a net on the side of the road. Someone threw a net in the ditch, and I'd been asking for a net for the longest time, so we slapped it in the back, tied all those holes together in the net, and then it was like brand-new." Alexis got a pair of five-dollar roller blades, practiced on her net for a year, then was the best on her team when she started playing again the following year in 2012. Alexis also played in the Alberta Junior Female Hockey League (AJFHL (W)). She had originally played with the competetive Irma Chargers, until she was cut after attending the 2021 Emmy Awards forced her to miss tryouts. She then played with the AJFHL teams Southern Sage until April 2022, and ended her youth hockey career with the Chinook Blazers after the 2022-23 season concluded. Alexis also coaches the Alexis Girls' Junior Novice hockey team for the annual Alberta Native Hockey Provincials. The players are so enthralled with coach Alexis that they call themselves "The Rez Dogs" in reference and reverence for her role as Willie Jack on the critically acclaimed show "Reservation Dogs".
Paulina Alexis is also a horse rider, who taught herself how to ride, and has competed in the Women's Lady Warrior Indian Horse Relay Race since 2022. Indian horse relay is "America's oldest extreme sport", dating back centuries to buffalo hunting days, involving bareback riders leaping from one horse to another at high speeds. Alexis was a rider on an Indian relay team for the first time in 2022 a few days before her twenty-second birthday. This was the first time that Alexis was able to race, due to filming the first season of "Reservation Dogs" having cut off her training season the year before, so she was unable to race in 2021. However during the filming of the second season, Paulina Alexis practiced racing horses on her days off, and after filming for "Reservation Dogs" ended in June 2022, she was able to finally race by September of that year. Indian relay teams consist of a rider, who must jump from horse to horse bareback, transfer two times, and ride a total of three horses in a lap around a track. The first to the finish line wins, but an Indian relay team is made up of four people: the rider, "mugger" who must catch a half-ton horse by the reins as it runs by at high speed, "set-up man" who must keep the awaiting horse in high spirits, and "back holders" colloquially referred to as 'horse whisperers' for the way they calm the incoming horse, usually with a song to "calm the storm" of the thunderous crowd noise. Alexis first learned about Indian relay when she was eighteen, and she was determined to become a rider, no matter how many times she fell off. According to Simon Moya Smith (Oglala) who interviewed Alexis for the magazine "The Cut": "[Alexis] taught herself how to ride a horse. A few of her friends had several of them roaming on their property, so she eased herself into it, bucking be damned." In an interview with "The Wildest" published on August 3, 2022, Alexis talked about how she grew up loving horses, but was unable to start riding until she got older. "I've always loved horses since I was a kid[...] We couldn't afford horses back then. We didn't have any on the 'rez' [Alexis Indian Reserve 133], because there wasn't anywhere to put them. Now that I'm older and I have my own money, I taught myself how to ride." Alexis also spoke with ICTMN TV about how she wants to bring horses back to her community. "I'm the only rider from my reserve right now. Native youth in Canada struggle with a lot of addiction, and horses keep you busy, and give you responsibilities, and a purpose." Alexis intends to build a barn and tack on the Alexis Nakota Sioux Indian Reserve for the youth of her tribe in the future.

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