Who is Kali Reis, the two-spirit, sexually fluid actress in Resident Evil?

This story originally appeared on Them.

If you head to your local multiplex this weekend, then you’ll see that Zach Cregger’s new film Resident Evil, an adaptation of the beloved horror video game series, is probably playing on multiple screens. Cregger, known for original horror movies like Barbarian and Weapons, developed the film as a standalone story that takes place in the world of the games, but doesn’t feature many of the usual suspects that have previously been featured in Resident Evil media, such as Alice or internet boyfriend Leon S. Kennedy.

The film is lean in terms of its cast, with most of the action centered around Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who takes a high-paying delivery gig during a snowstorm and inadvertently gets caught up in an apocalyptic virus outbreak that is turning people into mindless monsters. Abrams is in almost every shot of the movie, joined infrequently by a rotating cast of supporting characters, which at one point includes Umbrella Corporation scientist Paul (Paul Walter Hauser) and soldier for hire Maxine (Kali Reis).

While Reis doesn’t get much screen time, she has a small but impactful role, one that especially stands out given the film’s small roster of supporting players.

Here’s what you should know about Reis, including her many acting accolades, nominations and personal history.

Who Is Kali Reis?

Kali Reis is an actress and former professional boxer. During her time as a boxer, she won a championship title in two different weight classes: middleweight and light welterweight. In 2026, Reis was even inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame.

After retiring from boxing, Reis began a successful acting career. Her first film, Catch the Fair One, resulted in a nomination for best female lead performance at the 37th Independent Spirit Awards. Since her film debut, she has appeared in films such as Mercy and Asphalt City. She was also the co-lead of the fourth season of the HBO series True Detective alongside Jodie Foster, entitled True Detective: Night Country. For her work on True Detective: Night Country, Reis received Golden Globe and Emmy nominations.

Reis was also recognized as a part of the 2024 Out 100.

And she’s Two-Spirit?

Yes, Reis is Two-Spirit, which she told Vulture is about feeling “completely comfortable being my feminine and completely comfortable being my masculine.” She told Vulture that she has also dated both men and women.

Reis has been outspoken about being a part of the Seaconke Wampanoag people and identifying as Afro-Indigenous.

“I’m the first generation of my line who was actually able to grow up in the culture,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “My great-grandmother, grandmother, mother were taught, generation after generation, ‘You don’t say you’re Wamp.’”

“I have two rooms that I can stand in,” she said of being Afro-Indigenous. “It’s really empowering to finally be in a place where I don’t feel like I have to keep my head down and not be accepted. I get to represent two very resilient, amazing people that are still here.”

Reis is also an avid supporter of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls movement and has highlighted the ongoing epidemic of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people. In 2026, Reis spoke specifically about playing a police officer in True Detective: Night Country, acknowledging the complicated relationship between Native people and law enforcement.

“I have a personal experience with law enforcement that was the complete opposite of what I present when I play these characters,” Reis told Native News Online. “So it was actually a kind of cathartic thing for me to understand — especially personal experience and then communal experience — like, how do I approach this? Because we have law enforcement on these remote locations, especially on the reservations, where we have Indigenous police officers, very, very few, and they’re just trying to do the best they can for the community. But then we have the community that has really bad experiences with tribal police, or especially non-tribal police. So it’s very interesting.”

Who does she play in Resident Evil?

In Resident Evil, Reis plays Maxine, a mercenary who picks up Bryan after an encounter with an infected and drives him to Raccoon City, the metropolis at the center of much of Resident Evil media. While Bryan and Paul are both relative newcomers to firearms, Maxine is painted as a seasoned and fearless fighter, who is gung ho to gun down infected while the men wait in the car. Though the role is small, her presence is memorable.

Reis described her casting in the film as a “full-circle moment” given her love of the original films, in which she wished she could have played Rain, the character played by Michelle Rodriguez.

“When I got the call, I was like, ‘Dude you want me to be a part of this? F**k yeah, let’s go,’” Reis said in an on-carpet interview with Deadline that she shared on social media.

“The fact that he didn’t try to match the other movies, not to take anything from the other movies, you can tell he’s such a gamer, he loves the games,” Reis said. “You’re going to laugh out loud. You’re going to be scared to death.”

Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s newsletters.