Joshua Elijah Reese
Encyclopedia
Early life
Joshua Elijah Reese was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
. As a child, he enjoyed performing with his elementary and middle school choirs. In high school, he had aspirations of pursuing a variety of sports especially basketball. The dream ended when he failed to make the school’s basketball team. He was disappointed but encouraged by his English teacher to audition for the annual high school musical. He landed a role and has never looked back. Throughout his high school experience, he had the opportunity to play increasingly challenging roles, including the character Baker in Into the Woods
Into the Woods
Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...
. The role earned him a Best Actor nomination from the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera’s
Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera
Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera is a nonprofit professional theater company based in the Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....
Gene Kelly Awards
Gene Kelly Awards
The Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater, named after the actor/director Gene Kelly, are given out yearly by the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and the University of Pittsburgh. The award was founded in 1991 and celebrates excellence in the musicals of the Pittsburgh...
. Reese is a graduate of Perry Traditional Academy
Perry Traditional Academy
Perry Traditional Academy is a high school in the northern neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Perry is one of ten high schools in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.-Statistics:...
high school (Pittsburgh Perry) and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
degree in Theatre from Point Park University
Point Park University
Point Park University is a liberal arts university located in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Formerly known as Point Park College, the school name was revised in 2004 to reflect the number of graduate programs being offered....
.
Career
He started his professional acting career while still in college performing in numerous theatrical stage productions in Pittsburgh's theatre sceneTheatre in Pittsburgh
Theatre in Pittsburgh has existed professionally since the early 1800s and has continued to expand, having emerged as an important cultural force in the city over the past 30 years.-History:...
: City Theatre
City Theatre (Pittsburgh)
City Theatre is a professional theatre company located in Pittsburgh's South Side. It specializes in productions of new plays and has commissioned new works by playwrights on the national theatre scene, including Christopher Durang, Adam Rapp, and Jeffrey Hatcher...
(The Brothers Size; Flight), Pittsburgh Public Theater
Pittsburgh Public Theater
Pittsburgh Public Theater is a professional theater company based in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Cultural District.Established in 1974, it was housed in the Hazlett Theatre at the Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall on Pittsburgh’s North Side...
(Ain’t Misbehavin’), Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre
Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre
Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre was founded founded in 1996 by Andrew S. Paul and Stephanie Riso in Pittsburgh. PICT has, in 12 short years emerged as a significant contributor to the cultural fabric of Pittsburgh with almost 2,000 loyal season subscribers, and annual attendance of over 23,000...
(Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (play)
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
), Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company is a professional theatre company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 2003 by artistic director Mark Clayton Southers, the company originally held productions at the Penn Theater in Garfield and moved to a new space on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh's...
(James McBride; Corps Values; A Question of Taste; Jitney
Jitney
Jitney may refer to:* Jitney , written by August Wilson* Atlantic City Jitney Association, an association of operators of minibus service in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA* an archaic name for a nickel...
), and Kuntu Repertory Theatre
Kuntu Repertory Theatre
Kuntu Repertory Theatre is an African-American repertory theatre based at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.Dr. Vernell A. Lillie founded it in 1975 as a way of showcasing the playwright Rob Penny...
(Sarafina
Sarafina
Sarafina! is a South African musical by Mbongeni Ngema depicting students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to apartheid. It was also adapted into a 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Leleti Khumalo....
).
In 2007, he attained his first television role in The Kill Point
The Kill Point
The Kill Point is a television series that follows a group of U.S. Marines recently returned from serving in Iraq as they come together to pull off a major bank heist of a Three Rivers Bank branch in Pittsburgh. The series, produced by Mandeville Films and Lionsgate Television, is the first drama...
, an eight episode television series that is distinguished as the first original drama to air on Spike TV
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...
. He played the key role of Derzius, a US Marine recently returned from serving in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. The series follows the action that ensues when Derzius, along with his marine cohorts, attempt to pull off a major bank heist. The next year, Reese played the character of Billick in the indie-thriller film Homecoming starring Mischa Barton
Mischa Barton
Mischa Anne Marsden Barton is a British-American fashion model, film, television, and stage actress, best known for her role as Marissa Cooper in the American television series The O.C..-Early life:...
. The film has become an instant cult classic
Cult Classic
Cult Classic is a Blue Öyster Cult studio recording released in 1994, containing remakes of many of the band's previous hits.-Track listing:# " The Reaper" - 5:05# "E.T.I...
. In 2009, Reese was named one of the Young Pittsburghers to watch by Pittsburgh Post Gazette newspaper. The same year he filmed two movies, the independent film Trapped and the Twentieth Century Fox film Unstoppable
Unstoppable (2010 film)
Unstoppable is a 2010 American action thriller film directed by Tony Scott, written by Mark Bomback, and starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. The film tells the story of a runaway freight train, and the two men who attempt to stop it.The film was released in the United States and Canada on...
starring Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
.
Reese returned to the stage in 2010, starring in the world premiere of playwright Cori Thomas’ When January Feels Like Summer at the Pittsburgh City Theatre which won the Elizabeth Osborn New Play Award for an emerging playwright. In the spring, he took on the role of Darnell aka Youngblood in his first August Wilson production, Jitney
Jitney (play)
Jitney is a play in two acts by August Wilson. The eighth in The Pittsburgh Cycle, this play is set in a worn-down gypsy cab station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in early autumn 1977.-Productions:...
with the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. Later that summer,he played the role of Ogun Size in the west coast premiere of playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney’s
Tarell Alvin McCraney
Tarell Alvin McCraney is an award-winning American playwright and actor. He is a member of Teo Castellanos/ D Projects Theater Company in Miami and in 2008 became RSC/Warwick International Playwright in Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company...
The Brothers Size at the Magic Theatre
Magic Theatre
The Magic Theatre is a theatre company founded in 1967, presently based at the historic Fort Mason Center on San Francisco's northern waterfront...
(San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
). It is the second time that Reese will appear in a production of The Brothers Size. He played Elegba in the Pittsburgh City Theatre production.
In 2011, he will appear in Val Kilmer’s
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
independent film Riddle and the much anticipated film One for the Money
One for the Money (film)
One for the Money is an upcoming 2012 action comedy film based on the 1994 novel of the same name, written by Janet Evanovich. Directed by Julie Anne Robinson, the screenplay was written by Liz Brixius, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith...
starring Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Marie Heigl is an American actress and producer. She is possibly best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ABC's Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2010, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series in 2007...
.
Filmography
- Homecoming (2009) - Billick
- Trapped (2009) - Detective Jimmy Ingraham
- UnstoppableUnstoppable (2010 film)Unstoppable is a 2010 American action thriller film directed by Tony Scott, written by Mark Bomback, and starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. The film tells the story of a runaway freight train, and the two men who attempt to stop it.The film was released in the United States and Canada on...
(2010) - Young Engineer
- Riddle (2010) - Deputy Clark
- One for the MoneyOne for the Money (film)One for the Money is an upcoming 2012 action comedy film based on the 1994 novel of the same name, written by Janet Evanovich. Directed by Julie Anne Robinson, the screenplay was written by Liz Brixius, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith...
(2010) - Deputy
Television credits
- The Kill PointThe Kill PointThe Kill Point is a television series that follows a group of U.S. Marines recently returned from serving in Iraq as they come together to pull off a major bank heist of a Three Rivers Bank branch in Pittsburgh. The series, produced by Mandeville Films and Lionsgate Television, is the first drama...
(2007) (TV series) - Derzius - Three Rivers (2009) (TV pilot) - EMT