Josie Totah: Difference between revisions

Josie Totah
Josie Totah
Born	August 5, 2001 (age 23); Sacramento, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2012–present

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Josie Totah^[1]^[2] (born August 5, 2001), also known as J. J. Totah, is an American actress. She is known for her recurring role on the Disney Channel series Jessie and her starring role on the 2013 ABC comedy series Back in the Game. Totah received critical praise for her role in the 2016 film Other People. In 2018, she starred in the short-lived NBC comedy series Champions. Totah began her career playing male roles but publicly came out as a trans woman in August 2018, changing her first name to Josie.

Early life

Totah was born in Sacramento, California, the third child of Suheil and Christine Totah. She has one sister and one brother, and is of Palestinian and Lebanese ancestry.^[3]

Career

Totah began her acting career in 2012 when she was cast as the "Lil' Dictator" in the first production for AwesomenessTV.^[4] Beginning in 2013, she began appearing as Stuart Wooten, a boy with a crush on series regular Zuri Ross, in the Disney Channel Original Series Jessie.^[5] Totah has guest starred on the TV shows, New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, and Liv and Maddie.

Also in 2013, Totah was cast in a supporting role in the ABC comedy Back in the Game. In 2015, she was cast in 4 episodes of the sixth season Glee as the youngest member ever of the New Directions.^[6]

In 2016, Totah appeared in the film Other People, and received critical praise for her role with Variety, making her one of its Sundance Breakout Stars of the year.^[7]^[8]^[9] In October 2016, Deadline Hollywood reported that Totah would star in a new comedy for NBC that she helped develop where Totah was set to produce alongside executive producers Adam and Naomi Scott.^[10] In 2017, she appeared in the Netflix detective comedy Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie and the Marvel Studios film Spider Man: Homecoming.

In January 2017, Totah joined Adam Devine in the Disney feature film Magic Camp.^[11]^[12] In February 2017 Totah was cast as Michael Patel, the son of Mindy Kaling's character, Priya Patel, in the new NBC comedy Champions,^[13] which was picked up to series in May 2017,^[14] and aired from March 8 to May 25, 2018 before being canceled.^[15] Totah was cast in a Saved by the Bell reboot for NBC's streaming service Peacock, where she played the character of Lexi, a socially powerful cheerleader.^[16]

Personal life

On August 20, 2018, Totah wrote an article published in Time in which she came out as a transgender woman.^[1]

Filmography

Film roles
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2016	Time Toys	Boomer	Credited as J.J Totah
2016	Other People	Justin
2017	Handsome	Charles
2017	Spider-Man: Homecoming	Seymour O'Reilly
2020	Magic Camp	Judd
2020	Moxie		Post-production

Television roles
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2012	Kroll Show	Birthday Party Kid	Unknown episodes credited as J.J Totah
2013–2015	Jessie	Stuart Wooten	Recurring role, 7 episodes credited as J.J Totah
2013–2014	Back in the Game	Michael Lovette	Main role credited as J.J Totah
2014	Nina Needs to Go!	Frank	Main voice role, television shorts credited as J.J Totah
2014	The Exes	Cooper	Episode: "My Fair Stuart" credited as J.J Totah
2014	Sofia the First	Prince Jin	Voice role, 3 episodes, credited as J.J Totah
2014	New Girl	Todd	Episode: "Dance", credited as J.J Totah
2014	2 Broke Girls	Elliot	Episode: "And the Childhood Not Included", credited as J.J Totah
2015	Glee	Myron Muskovitz	4 episodes, credited as J.J Totah
2016	Tween Fest	Stop the Preston	4 episodes, credited as J.J Totah
2016–2017	Liv and Maddie: Cali Style	Skeeter Parham	3 episodes, credited as J.J Totah
2018	Champions	Michael Patel	Main role, credited as J.J Totah
2019	The Other Two	Elijah	Episode: "Chase Goes to a High School Dance", credited as J.J Totah
2019	No Good Nick	Lisa Haddad	4 episodes
2020	Saved by the Bell	Lexi	Main role^[16]

References

^ ^a ^b Totah, J.J. "My Name Is Josie Totah — And I'm Ready to Be Free". Time. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
^ "Josie Totah (@josietotah)". Instagram. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
^ "J.J. Totah: Making good in Hollywood". Davis Enterprise. June 18, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
^ Zelle, Veronica. "J.J. Totah Talks Jessie and Back In the Game!". SweetyHigh.com. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
^ "JJ Totah - Talented Newcomer on Disney's TV Series Jessie". iaam.com. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
^ Kost, Ryan (March 5, 2015). "S.F. 13-year-old snags role on 'Glee' as it nears end". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
^ "Sundance: 19 Biggest Breakthrough Performances". Variety. January 30, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
^ "The Most Inspirational Person at Sundance (So Far) Is a 14-Year-Old". InStyle. January 22, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
^ "One To Watch: J.J. Totah, The Breakout Star of 'Other People'". Papermag.com. October 4, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
^ Andreeva, Nellie (October 31, 2016). "JJ Totah To Topline NBC Comedy Produced By Adam & Naomi Scott". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
^ Kroll, Justin (January 4, 2017). "'Spider-Man: Homecoming' Actor J.J. Totah Joins Adam DeVine in 'Magic Camp'". Variety. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
^ "'Other People' child actor J.J. Totah stars opposite Adam DeVine, Jeffrey Tambor in Disney's family comedy 'Magic Camp'". Asiastarz.com. January 30, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
^ Hipes, Patrick (February 27, 2017). "JJ Totah Cast In Mindy Kaling's NBC Comedy Pilot; Josh Kidd Joins CW's 'Searchers'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
^ Andreeva, Nellie (May 13, 2017). "'Champions' Charlie Grandy/Mindy Kaling Sibling Comedy Gets NBC Series Order". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
^ Andreeva, Nellie (June 29, 2018). "'Champions' Canceled By NBC After One Season, May Explore Future Elsewhere". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Peacock's Saved by the Bell' Sequel Finds Its Lead in Josie Totah". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 7, 2020.

External links

Josie Totah at IMDb
Josie Totah on Twitter

[Time-1] Totah, J.J. "My Name Is Josie Totah — And I'm Ready to Be Free". Time. Retrieved April 10, 2020.

[Instagram-2] "Josie Totah (@josietotah)". Instagram. Retrieved August 20, 2018.

[Davis-Ent-3] "J.J. Totah: Making good in Hollywood". Davis Enterprise. June 18, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2018.

[4] Zelle, Veronica. "J.J. Totah Talks Jessie and Back In the Game!". SweetyHigh.com. Retrieved March 28, 2015.

[5] "JJ Totah - Talented Newcomer on Disney's TV Series Jessie". iaam.com. Retrieved March 28, 2015.

[SF-Chron-6] Kost, Ryan (March 5, 2015). "S.F. 13-year-old snags role on 'Glee' as it nears end". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 22, 2018.

[7] "Sundance: 19 Biggest Breakthrough Performances". Variety. January 30, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2017.

[8] "The Most Inspirational Person at Sundance (So Far) Is a 14-Year-Old". InStyle. January 22, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2017.

[9] "One To Watch: J.J. Totah, The Breakout Star of 'Other People'". Papermag.com. October 4, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2017.

[10] Andreeva, Nellie (October 31, 2016). "JJ Totah To Topline NBC Comedy Produced By Adam & Naomi Scott". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 19, 2017.

[11] Kroll, Justin (January 4, 2017). "'Spider-Man: Homecoming' Actor J.J. Totah Joins Adam DeVine in 'Magic Camp'". Variety. Retrieved May 18, 2017.

[12] "'Other People' child actor J.J. Totah stars opposite Adam DeVine, Jeffrey Tambor in Disney's family comedy 'Magic Camp'". Asiastarz.com. January 30, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.

[13] Hipes, Patrick (February 27, 2017). "JJ Totah Cast In Mindy Kaling's NBC Comedy Pilot; Josh Kidd Joins CW's 'Searchers'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 14, 2017.

[14] Andreeva, Nellie (May 13, 2017). "'Champions' Charlie Grandy/Mindy Kaling Sibling Comedy Gets NBC Series Order". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 14, 2017.

[15] Andreeva, Nellie (June 29, 2018). "'Champions' Canceled By NBC After One Season, May Explore Future Elsewhere". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 27, 2018.

[Saved_THR-16] "Peacock's Saved by the Bell' Sequel Finds Its Lead in Josie Totah". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 7, 2020.

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@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 Totah began her acting career in 2012 when she was cast as the "Lil' Dictator" in the first production for [[AwesomenessTV]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Zelle|first=Veronica|title=J.J. Totah Talks Jessie and Back In the Game!|url=https://www.sweetyhigh.com/blog/celebrity-news/j-j-totah|website=SweetyHigh.com|accessdate=March 28, 2015}}</ref> Beginning in 2013, she began appearing as Stuart Wooten, a boy with a crush on series regular Zuri Ross, in the [[Disney Channel Original Series]] ''[[Jessie (2011 TV series)|Jessie]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=JJ Totah - Talented Newcomer on Disney's TV Series Jessie|url=http://www.iaam.com/magazine/lifestyle/JJ-Totah--Talented-Newcomer-on-Disneys-TV-Series-Jessie-#.VRYn8GaGrzY|website=iaam.com|accessdate=March 28, 2015}}</ref> Totah has guest starred on the TV shows, ''[[New Girl]]'', ''[[2 Broke Girls]]'', and ''[[Liv and Maddie]]''.
-Also in 2013, Totah was cast in a main role in the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] comedy ''[[Back in the Game (2013 TV series)|Back in the Game]]''. In 2015, she was cast in 4 episodes [[Glee (season 6)|of the sixth season ''Glee'']] as the youngest member ever of the [[New Directions (Glee)|New Directions]].<ref name="SF-Chron">{{cite web|last=Kost|first=Ryan|title=S.F. 13-year-old snags role on 'Glee' as it nears end|url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/tv/article/S-F-13-year-old-snags-role-on-Glee-as-it-6117063.php|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=March 5, 2015|accessdate=April 22, 2018}}</ref>
+Also in 2013, Totah was cast in a supporting role in the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] comedy ''[[Back in the Game (2013 TV series)|Back in the Game]]''. In 2015, she was cast in 4 episodes [[Glee (season 6)|of the sixth season ''Glee'']] as the youngest member ever of the [[New Directions (Glee)|New Directions]].<ref name="SF-Chron">{{cite web|last=Kost|first=Ryan|title=S.F. 13-year-old snags role on 'Glee' as it nears end|url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/tv/article/S-F-13-year-old-snags-role-on-Glee-as-it-6117063.php|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=March 5, 2015|accessdate=April 22, 2018}}</ref>
 In 2016, Totah appeared in the film ''[[Other People (film)|Other People]]'', and received critical praise for her role with ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', making her one of its Sundance Breakout Stars of the year.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/2016/film/festivals/sundance-breakthrough-performances-1201692891/|title=Sundance: 19 Biggest Breakthrough Performances|date=January 30, 2016|work=Variety|access-date=May 18, 2017|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.instyle.com/news/most-inspirational-person-sundance-so-far-14-year-old|title=The Most Inspirational Person at Sundance (So Far) Is a 14-Year-Old|work=[[InStyle]]|date=January 22, 2016|accessdate=May 21, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.papermag.com/jj-totah-the-breakout-star-of-other-people-2030385176.html|title=One To Watch: J.J. Totah, The Breakout Star of 'Other People'|website=Papermag.com|date=October 4, 2016|accessdate=May 21, 2017}}</ref> In October 2016, ''[[Deadline Hollywood]]'' reported that Totah would star in a new comedy for [[NBC]] that she helped develop where Totah was set to produce alongside executive producers [[Adam Scott (actor)|Adam]] and Naomi Scott.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2016/10/jj-totah-star-nbc-comedy-adam-naomi-scott-1201844962/|title=JJ Totah To Topline NBC Comedy Produced By Adam & Naomi Scott|last=Andreeva|first=Nellie|date=October 31, 2016|work=Deadline Hollywood|access-date=October 19, 2017}}</ref>  In 2017, she appeared in the [[Netflix]] detective comedy ''[[Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie]]'' and the Marvel Studios film ''[[Spider-Man: Homecoming|Spider Man: Homecoming]]''.