Alejandro Mapa, a Filipino-American, achieved his professional breakthrough as "Alec Mapa" when he was cast to understudy, and later succeeded BD Wong in the Broadway production of 'M. Butterfly'. He then performed in the national tour of the same play. Mapa returned to Broadway in a 1992 adaptation of 'L'Hôtel du libre échange' (by Georges Feydeau and Maurice Desvallières),re-titled, 'A Little Hotel on the Side'.
The following year, Mapa was featured in a Stratford Festival inspired production of Shakespeare's 'Timon of Athens'. Off-Broadway, he earned a nomination at the 2001 Lucille Lortel Awards for his performance in Jessica Hagedorn's play 'Dogeaters', and was featured in every play in the 'Whitelands' trilogy, a series of plays about gay Asian men written by Chay Yew: 'Porcelain' (1992),'A Language of Their Own' (1995),and 'Wonderland' (1999).
On television, he has had guest appearances on numerous programs, including "The Jamie Foxx Show" (1996),"Roseanne" (1988),"Seinfeld" (1989),"NYPD Blue" (1993),"Heartland" (2007/I),"Friends" (1994),"Murder One" (1995),"Law & Order" (1990),"Holding the Baby" (1998),and "Dharma & Greg" (1997). He had a recurring role as "Vern" on Desperate Housewives (2004) and a featured role in the short-lived 2001 comedy, "Some of My Best Friends" (2001). He played "Adam Benet" in the UPN comedy "Half & Half" (2002).
He wrote and performed in a one-man play, 'I Remember Mapa', about his experiences growing up gay in San Francisco. Mapa was a featured performer on the Logo original stand-up comedy series Wisecrack. In 2006, he appeared as "Vern", Gabrielle's personal shopper, on "Desperate Housewives" (2004). He had a recurring role on the 2006-10 series "Ugly Betty" (2006) as "Suzuki St. Pierre", the flamboyant host of a fictional gossip and news show (who, it is revealed, is actually a straight-and married-journalist named Byron Wu) and voiced the character of Rick's flamboyantly gay uncle, "Bakla", on the 2007-09 animated series, "Rick & Steve the Happiest Gay Couple in All the World" (2007).
Mapa's film credits include "Bright Lights, Big City" (1988),"Playing by Heart" (1998),"Connie and Carla" (2004),and "Marley & Me" (2008),among others. He was featured in "Super Sweet 16: The Movie" (2007) (TV) and "True Loved" (2008). He played a hair stylist in "You Don't Mess with the Zohan". In 2008, he hosted Logo's reality dating program "Transamerican Love Story" (2008),in which transgender producer and actress Calpernia Addams selected from eight potential suitors. That same year, he also hosted Dancing with Dogs (2008) (TV) on Animal Planet.
Mapa also performed on the 2009 Atlantis Freedom Caribbean Cruise, headlining in the Arcadia Theater. In 2010, he became a co-host of Logo's "The Gossip Queens" (2010),a daily series in which he helps present celebrity gossip. In his act, he jokes that he is sometimes confused with Rex Lee, who played "Lloyd" on the HBO dramedy Entourage (2004).
