Rutgers Grad Romances Reese Witherspoon In New Film 'Home Again'

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Pico Alexander's star is on the rise; from the banks of the Raritan to romancing Reese Witherspoon! This 26-year-old graduate of Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts landed the plum role playing Witherspoon's love interest in her new romantic comedy "Home Again," which opened in theaters nationwide Sept. 8.

The movie marks Alexander's first romantic lead role. He plays an aspiring filmmaker who becomes involved with a recently separated — and older — mother of two. Pico is one of three younger men who end up living in Witherspoon's guesthouse.

At first, Pico didn't think he stood a chance at landing the role, convinced he looked too young for it. He also appears in one of the film's sexiest scenes, where he and Reese make out one night after discussing a broken cabinet. Watch below:

“The whole thing was sexy as hell,” Alexander told Buzzfeed about the scene. “It was one of the sexiest scenes of my life, that’s for sure.”

Raised in Brooklyn, Pico Alexander attended LaGuardia High School in New York City, where he studied acting. His given name is Alexander Jogalla, but he goes by the nickname Pico. From LaGuardia he went on to the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

This isn't Alexander's first movie, but it is his first major role: You may have seen him on "Blue Bloods," "Orange is the New Black" and in the critically acclaimed "A Most Violent Year," about the violent, corrupt New York City trucking industry in the '70s and starred Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain. He also appeared in the 2017 Netflix movie "War Machine," with Brad Pitt.

Alexander is shown above in a Rutgers production of As You Like It at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London.

Above, Pico (at right) with Rutgers alumna Aaron Ballard (from left) and Tony-winner Boyd Gaines. In the spring of 2014, they participated in a production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" at New Brunswick's George Street Playhouse. Photo by Matt Pilsner.