Sports Night

Background:

“I never considered a career in broadcasting, not even as a kid.” Josh Charles

Kicking off his screen career in fellow-native son John Waters' “Hairspray” (1988), American stage, movie and television actor Josh Charles has proved to be a very versatile performer thanks to his roles in such films as “Dead Poets Society” (1989, as a shy prep school boy Knox Overstreet), “Threesome” (1994, as sensible gay student Eddie) and “Meeting Daddy” (2000, as tolerant loving boyfriend Peter Silverblatt), among others. His recent and upcoming credits include “S.W.A.T.” (2003), “Seeing Other People” (2004), “Four Brothers” (2005), “The Darwin Awards” (2006), “Fast Track” (2006) and “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men” (2007). On the small screen, Charles is perhaps most well-known for portraying the television host Dan Rydel on the ABC comedy “Sports Night” (1998-2000), from which he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild and a Viewers for Quality Television Awards. He also has acted in a number of TV films, including “Murder in Mississippi” (1990), “Cooperstow” (1993), “Norma Jean & Marilyn” (1996) and “Our America” (2002), and recently appeared in the series “Six Degrees” (2007) and “Wainy Days” (2007).

As a stage artist, Charles took home a Festival Week Award for his starring role in the Stagedoor Manor production of “Confrontation” (1986). Other plays in which he has participated in include “The Dance Lesson” (1989), “The Distance From Here” (2004), “The Well-Appointed Room” (2006) and “The Receptionist” (2007).

As for his private life, Charles is a big fan of Baltimore sports. He supports the Baltimore Orioles (baseball) and and Baltimore Ravens (American football) teams. In 2004-2005, he nabbed the Inaugural NFL Network Fantasy Football League. Charles is also a Fellini fanatic and a Jewish. Now a resident of New York, he is currently dating New York City Ballet danceuse, Sophie Flack. He was once romantically linked with actress Jennifer Connelly (dated in 2001).

Baltimore Native

Childhood and Family:

Son of Allan Charles, an advertising executive, and Laura, a gossip columnist for the Baltimore Sun newspaper, Joshua Aaron Charles, who would later be famous as Josh Charles, was born on September 15, 1971, in Baltimore, Maryland. He has a brother named Jeff. Performing stand-up comedy since the age of 8, Josh spent many summers at Stagedoor Manor Theatre Camp in New York's Catskill Mountains when he was a teenager. He also enrolled at The Baltimore School for the Performing Arts, whose students also included Jada Pinkett Smith and Tupac Shakur.

Dead Poets Society

Career:

8-year-old Josh Charles started his career by performing stand-up comedy in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland and by age 15, he was awarded a Festival Week for Best Actor for playing Brian in the Stagedoor Manor production of “Confrontation” (1986). He also performed in several other plays produced by Stagedoor Manor, including “Equus,” “Dark Of The Moon” and “The Court of The Stone Children.” Within two years, he made the leap to the big screen with a bit part in John Waters' “Hairspray” (1988), playing Iggy, one of the regular dancers on the fictional “Corny Collins” teen dance show. It was his next role, however, that offered the actor more greater exposure. He was cast as the unbeloved, prep school student Knox Overstreet on the Academy Award-winning drama “Dead Poets Society” (1989), which was directed by Peter Weir and featured the Oscar-nominating performance by star Robin Williams. Also in 1989, Charles could be found on the stage playing Jay in the production of “The Dance Lesson” at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut.

Segueing to the small screen, Charles hit it big with his TV movie debut, “Murder in Mississippi” (NBC, 1990), in which he portrayed Andrew Goodman, the civil rights worker murdered alongside Mickey Schwermer and James Chaney in the summer of 1964. He scored another standout credit with his sophomore effort in the TNT impressive sport-themed “Cooperstow” (1993), starring Alan Arkin and Graham Greene. In between, Charles had his first romantic lead in the film “Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead” (1991), playing a fast food employee dating Christina Applegate, and starred opposite Jason Gedrick and Stephen Baldwin in Mike Binder's “Crossing the Bridge” (1992). Charles won acclaimed for playing the sexually-baffled college roommate in the Andrew Fleming's “Threesome” (1994), where he rejoined Stephen Baldwin and acting with Lara Flynn Boyle, but roles in the enormously humorless “Coldblooded” (1995), starring Jason Priestley, and “Pie in the Sky” (1996), where found a real love in Anne Heche, did nothing in advancing his film career. Telling about his role in “Threesome,” he stated “Yeah, it's me, Lara Flynn Boyle and Stephen Baldwin in bed. Doing that scene was certainly uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable to do a love scene with just one other person. You throw someone else in there, and you are even more uncomfortable. It helped that the three of us had a sense of humor.”

Shortly afterwards, Charles made his return to television. He supported Craig Sheffer and Gabriele Anwar for the comedy-suspense thriller “The Grave” (1996), portrayed sympathetic friend Eddie Jordan in the biopic “Norma Jean & Marilyn” (1996), starring Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino, and the sci-fi actioner “Crossworlds”(1997). The three TV films all aired on HBO. In 1998, he made his debut as a series regular in the praised TV comedy/drama show “Sports Night,” which ran for two years on ABC in American and has since been syndicated internationally. Starring as the TV host Dan Rydell, Charles picked up a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series and a Viewers for Quality Television nomination for Best Actor in a Quality Comedy Series (both 2000). Apart from critical plaudits, he also received a devoted cult following.

The following year, Charles found himself taking on the supporting opposite Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy in the children's film “Muppets from Outer Space,” in which he was cast as a federal agent named Barker. A costarring role as a neurotic New Yorker who travel to Savannah to meet his girlfriend's Southern Baptist family in the Peter Gould-directed/written “Meeting Daddy” followed in 2000 before he revisited the realm of television movie with a lead role as public radio producer Dave Isay in Showtime's film, “Our America” (2002), for director Ernest R. Dickerson. 2003 saw Charles join forces with Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson for the big budget action film “S.W.A.T.,” adapted from the 1975 TV cop drama of the same name. There he portrayed a special tactics team member named T.J. McCabe.

In 2004, Charles was found in New York acting in a stage revival of Neil LaBute's “The Distance From Here,” which won a Drama Desk for Best Ensemble Performance, and appeared with Jay Mohr in the low-budget comedy,“Seeing Other People.” Next, director John Singleton cast him as a Detroit detective named Fowler in “Four Brothers” (2005), about four brothers emerging to revenge the murder of their adoptive mother. The action film, which starred Mark Wahlberg, Andre 3000, Tyrese Gibson and Garrett Hedlund, met a success at the box office, although it received mixed reviews from critics for its simplistic narrative. Charles appeared as a paramedic in David Arquette's vehicle, “The Darwin Awards” (2006), and was featured as Forrest Mead in the comedy/romance “Fast Track” (also 2006). The same year, he also created the role of Mark in the world premiered of Richard Greenberg's “The Well-Appointed Room” for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. He followed it up with a role as the cloned brothers in Caryl Churchill's “A Number” at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. The latter play, however, had a short life.

Recently, Charles had a recurring role on the TV series “Six Degrees” (2007), starring Jay Hernandez. He also acted in the TV sitcom “Wainy Days” (2007). In October 2007, he originated the role of Mr Dart in Adam Bock's “The Receptionist.” Currently, Charles has completed filming “In Treatment” (2007) for TV, which was based on a successful Israeli TV show. He will make a cameo appearance in the upcoming film “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men” (2007).

Awards:
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