Josh Lucas
Josh Lucas | |
|---|---|
 Lucas at the 2009 premiere of Poliwood | |
| Born | Joshua Lucas Easy Dent Maurer |
Josh Lucas (born Joshua Lucas Easy Dent Maurer;[1] June 20, 1971) is an American actor. He has appeared in the films Glory Road, A Beautiful Mind and Poseidon, among others.
Early life
Lucas was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1971, the son of Michele (née LeFevre), a nurse midwife, and Don Maurer, an ER doctor. He was born with the middle name "Easy" because both his time in utero and delivery were so easy.
Lucas grew up traveling the South with his hippie activist parents (who were anti-nuclear activists) and younger siblings, two sisters and a brother, Devin, by the age of 13, he had lived in thirty different locations, including the Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. His parents organized campaigns against nuclear power plants. His mother attended Emerson College with Jay Leno. The family eventually settled in the town of Gig Harbor, Washington. He attended Kopachuck Middle School. He graduated from Gig Harbor High School in 1989, where he acted in high school plays. He did not attend college in order to pursue his acting career.
Career
 | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (August 2008) |
Lucas began his career when he was 19, having moved to Hollywood after his high school graduation. He appeared as a guest star on several TV sitcoms in his early twenties including Fox's "True Colors" and "Parker Lewis Can't Lose," the family drama "Life Goes On," and CBS's private-eye show "Jake and the Fatman." [2]
Other projects included the horror/thriller Child of Darkness, Child of Light, an adaptation of James Patterson's novel "Virgin," a tale of two Catholic schoolgirls who find themselves pregnant under mysterious and supernatural circumstances. Lucas followed this appearance by working with executive producer Steven Spielberg and then-unknown actor Clive Owen in the TV-movie Class of '61, which follows the stories of a group of West Point cadets in 1861 as the Civil War breaks out. Lucas played George Armstrong Custer.
Soon afterward, he made his feature film debut in Frank Marshall's Alive, about a group of Uruguayan rugby players who, after crashing in the Andes mountains, resort to cannibalism to stay alive. After a brief appearance in the Patrick Swayze comedy Father Hood, Lucas relocated to Australia to play the hotheaded American cousin Luke McGregor opposite Andrew Clarke and Guy Pearce on the first season of the family western Snowy River: The McGregor Saga. Lucas appeared in all thirteen episodes of the first season, but claimed in a later interview that despite the friendly environment, he was homesick for the United States, and his character was killed off in the last episode of season one. Upon returning to the States, he found himself still receiving offers as high school/college boyfriends, and felt he was not getting the age-appropriate roles that he sought. While working with George C. Scott on a TV-movie from the "Heat of the Night" series, Scott told him he needed to take acting lessons and develop his raw talent for both stage and screen. Shortly thereafter, he departed Hollywood and moved to New York City, where he studied privately with various acting coaches and teachers to enter the second phase of his career: the indie-film character actor and occasional theatrical performer.
The second part of his career began with a lead role in the British rowing film True Blue (released in the US as Miracle at Oxford) in which he played a hotshot Navy rower who was recruited along with three other Americans to help Oxford win its annual boat race with Cambridge. He followed this with relatively small roles in the dramas Minotaur and Harvest. He took his first stab at comedy in The Definite Maybe in which he played a recent college graduate who gets fired from his job, and schemes with an old friend to purchase a house in the Hamptons.
He appeared as an American businessman in Jule Gilfillan's romantic comedy/drama Restless. About this time, he appeared in an Off-Broadway production of Terrence McNally's controversial Corpus Christi, a re-telling of the Passion, with the Jesus character (named Joshua) and his disciples all being gay. Lucas played the role of Judas as a gay predator, a role he'd later recreate as doomed club owner Darby Reese in the suspense thriller The Deep End. Right before the play was to open, Lucas was viciously mugged and beaten on his way to the theatre for dress rehearsal. He played the role of "Judas" with bloody bandages across his broken nose and black eyes. The audience thought the bandages were part of the play.[3] Following a series of operations to re-set his nose, he began gathering larger roles in films like American Psycho, The Weight of Water, Session 9, The Dancer, When Strangers Appear, and You Can Count on Me.
One of Lucas' first feature roles was playing Jace "Flash" Dillon in the cinematic PC flight simulator Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger.[4] In the game, Lucas is the cocky test pilot of an experimental new starfighter. If the player challenges him to a simulated duel and wins, he joins the player's flight squadron.[5]
Lucas gained mainstream exposure after his roles in Sweet Home Alabama, A Beautiful Mind, and as Glenn Talbot in Hulk. He later gained success in leading roles in movies such as Glory Road, Poseidon, and Stealth. In Glory Road, he starred as legendary basketball coach Don Haskins, a role for which he gained 40 pounds.
His next project is Boaz Yakin’s Death in Love. He completed his first venture into production with Stolen Lives, in which he plays the single father of a mentally challenged boy. Other upcoming projects include Tell-Tale and Peacock. It was announced in July 2008 that Lucas will be starring in the new Showtime series Possible Side Effects, a drama about three brothers who run a family-owned pharmaceutical company.[6]
Earlier this year, Lucas was seen on stage in the off-Broadway run of “Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell.” Lucas also recently completed his second collaboration with documentary film legend Ken Burns, after being involved in Burns’ “The War.” Lucas’ other recent documentary work includes “Operational Homecoming,” “Trumbo,” and the Los Angeles Film Festival Audience Award-winning “Resolved.” In February 2010 was casted for the Anders Anderson thriller film Stolen, which stars alongside Rhona Mitra and Jon Hamm.[7]
Personal life
Lucas resides in New York City, New York.[8] He also owns a house in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California.[9][10]
He dated Mexican actress Salma Hayek in 2003.
A YouthAIDS Ambassador, Lucas "first joined the YouthAIDS team when he shot the ALDO HIV/AIDS awareness campaign in April, 2005. Soon after, he officially accepted his role as a YouthAIDS Ambassador at the YouthAIDS 2005 Gala, Faces of Africa. HIV/AIDS prevention is particularly important to him as his mother 'has made a career counseling young men and women with the hopes of educating them about the ravaging and often deadly effects of this too common and easily preventable disease.'"[11]
Lucas has been mistaken for actor Bradley Cooper in the past.[12]
Lucas supported Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, volunteering to help potential voters register at colleges in Pennsylvania.[13] Lucas knocked on doors and phone banked, wearing an Obama shirt for 45 days.[13] He was also in Denver, Colorado for the 2008 Democratic National Convention with a group of actors called the Creative Coalition.[14][15]
He dated Canadian actress Rachel McAdams for a few months in 2009.[16]
On Jimmy Kimmel Live on July 16, 2009, he said he was an avid fan of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League, even joining the Bills Backers of LA.[17]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Snowy River:The McGregor Saga | Luke McGregor |
| 1993 | Alive | Felipe |
| 1996 | True Blue | Dan Warren |
| 2000 | You Can Count on Me | Rudy Kolinski (Sr.) |
| American Psycho | Craig McDermott | |
| The Weight of Water | Rich Janes | |
| 2001 | Session 9 | Hank |
| The Deep End | Darby Reese | |
| When Strangers Appear | Peter | |
| A Beautiful Mind | Hansen | |
| 2002 | Sweet Home Alabama | Jake Perry |
| 2003 | Hulk | Major Glenn Talbot |
| Secondhand Lions | Adult Walter | |
| Wonderland | Ron Launius | |
| 2004 | Around the Bend | Jason Lair |
| Undertow | Deel Munn | |
| 2005 | Stealth | Lt. Ben Gannon |
| An Unfinished Life | Sheriff Crane Curtis | |
| 2006 | Glory Road | Coach Don Haskins |
| Poseidon | Dylan Johns | |
| 2008 | Death in Love | Eldest Son |
| 2009 | The National Parks: America's Best Idea | Various historical figures (voice) |
| Tell-Tale | Terry | |
| Stolen | Matthew Wakefield | |
| Peacock | Officer Tom McGonigle | |
| 2010 | In Praise of Shadows | Boss |
| Little Murder | Ben Chaney | |
| Life as We Know It | TBA |
References
- ^ Lucas disclosed his full name on The Tonight Show, May 3–4, 2006
- ^ "Josh Lucas". Retrieved 2009-01-16.
- ^ Interview in New York Times Magazine March 2005 "A Gentleman Comes To Call,"
- ^ "IMDB". Retrieved 2007-10-15.
- ^ "Wing Commander III Game Guide: Tamayo". Retrieved 2007-10-15.
- ^ "Josh Lucas Signs on to New Showtime Series". TV Guide. 2008-07-30. TVGuide.com
- ^ Stolen Is IFC Films' Latest Acquisition
- ^ "Josh Lucas Cast in POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS Pilot for Showtime". 2008-07-30. Retrieved 2008-08-19. CBS Corporation.com
- ^ Josh Lucas, Richard Schiff, Alan Cumming Turn Pundits at DNC
- ^ Josh Lucas' House
- ^ "POPULATION SERVICES INTERNATIONAL: YouthAIDS Ambassadors". YouthAIDS.org
- ^ "'I'm not Matt': Lucas plays name game". USA Today. 2002-10-01. USAToday.com
- ^ a b "Josh Lucas Has Been Wearing the Same Shirt for 45 Days Straight". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ "Searching for Oprah in Denver". Capitol Hill Publishing Corp. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ "Chatting with Anne Hathaway and Josh Lucas". Politico/Capitol News Company. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ Rachel McAdams and Josh Lucas spotted kissing at Moet Purple Ball
- ^ [1]
External links
- Official website
- Josh Lucas at IMDb
- A candid interview with Josh Lucas
- Aboutfilm.com interview (October, 2004)
- IGN films interview (September 24, 2002)