diff --git a/components/alerts/create.vue b/components/alerts/create.vue
index e4b6a46..4d875ac 100644
--- a/components/alerts/create.vue
+++ b/components/alerts/create.vue
@@ -439,7 +439,7 @@ async function createAlert() {
 
 async function searchActors() {
 	const res = await get('/actors', {
-		q: actorQuery.value,
+		q: `${actorQuery.value}*`, // return partial matches
 		limit: 10,
 	});
 
diff --git a/src/entities.js b/src/entities.js
index bd7039b..3a2b7fb 100644
--- a/src/entities.js
+++ b/src/entities.js
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ export async function fetchEntities(options) {
 			if (options.query) {
 				builder.where((whereBuilder) => {
 					whereBuilder
-						.whereLike('name', options.query)
-						.orWhereLike('slug', options.query);
+						.whereILike('name', `%${options.query}%`)
+						.orWhereILike('slug', `%${options.query}%`);
 				});
 			}