Josie Totah | |
---|---|
Born | Sacramento, California, U.S. | August 5, 2001
Other names | J. J. Totah |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 2012–present |
Josie Totah [1] (born August 5, 2001), formerly known as J. J. Totah, [2] [3] is an American actress. She is known for her recurring role on the Disney Channel series Jessie and a supporting role on the 2013 ABC comedy series Back in the Game . She received praise from critics for her role in the 2016 film Other People . In 2018, she starred in the short-lived NBC comedy series Champions . Totah starred as Lexi in the 2020 revival of Saved by the Bell, which ran for two seasons.
Totah began her career playing male roles but publicly came out as a trans woman in August 2018, changing her first name to Josie. [4]
Totah was born in Sacramento, California, the third child of Suheil and Christine Totah. [5] She has a sister and brother; she is of Palestinian and Lebanese ancestry. [6]
Josie Totah began her acting career in 2012 when she was cast as the "Lil' Dictator" in the first production for AwesomenessTV. [7] Beginning in 2013 she portrayed Stuart Wooten, a boy with a crush on series regular Skai Jackson (Zuri Ross), in the Disney Channel Original Series Jessie . [8] 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 the same year, she and her mother appeared in an episode of Family Game Night . [9] In 2015, she was cast in the sixth season Glee as the youngest member ever of the New Directions, which she played in four episodes. [10] 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. [11] [12] [13] In October 2016, Deadline Hollywood reported that Totah would star in a new comedy for NBC which she helped develop where Totah was set to produce alongside executive producers Adam and Naomi Scott. [14] 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 . [15] [16] In February 2017, Totah was cast as Michael Patel, the son of Mindy Kaling's character, Priya Patel, in the new NBC comedy Champions , [17] which was picked up to series in May 2017, [18] and aired from March 8 to May 25, 2018, before being canceled. [19] 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. [20]
In August 2022, she started a podcast titled Dare We Say with Yasmine Hamady and Saved by the Bell co-star Alycia Pascual-Peña. [21]
On August 20, 2018, Totah wrote an article published in Time magazine in which she came out as a transgender woman. [1]
Totah attended Chapman University, graduating in 2022. She was a member of a sorority. [22]
Year | Film | Role |
---|---|---|
2016 | Time Toys | Boomer |
Other People | Justin | |
2017 | Handsome | Charles |
Spider-Man: Homecoming | Seymour O'Reilly | |
2020 | Magic Camp | Judd |
2021 | Moxie | CJ [23] |
TBA | Faces of Death | TBA |
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | Kroll Show | Birthday Party Kid | Unknown episodes |
2013–2015 | Jessie | Stuart Wooten | Recurring role, 7 episodes |
2013–2014 | Back in the Game | Michael Lovette | Supporting role |
2013 | Family Game Night | Self | Contestant |
2014 | Nina Needs to Go! | Frank | Main voice role, television shorts |
The Exes | Cooper | Episode: "My Fair Stuart" | |
Sofia the First | Prince Jin | Voice role, 3 episodes | |
New Girl | Todd | Episode: "Dance" | |
2 Broke Girls | Elliot | Episode: "And the Childhood Not Included" | |
2015 | Glee | Myron Muskovitz | 4 episodes |
2016 | Tween Fest | Stop the Preston | 4 episodes |
2016–2017 | Liv and Maddie: Cali Style | Skeeter Parham | 3 episodes |
2018 | Champions | Michael Patel | Main role |
2019 | The Other Two | Elijah | Episode: "Chase Goes to a High School Dance" |
No Good Nick | Lisa Haddad | 4 episodes | |
2020 | Big Mouth | Natalie (voice) | 3 episodes |
2020–2021 | Saved by the Bell | Lexi Haddad-DeFabrizio | Main role; producer [20] |
2021 | iCarly | Willow | Episode: "iFauxpologize" |
2022 | Human Resources | Natalie (voice) | 2 episodes |
Mr Mayor | Titi B | 3 episodes | |
2023 | The Buccaneers | Mabel Elmsworth | Main role |
Year | Title | Artist | Role |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | "Days of Girlhood" | Dylan Mulvaney | Pool Extra |
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