Josh Charles Biography

Joshua Aaron "Josh" Charles (born September 15, 1971) is an American stage, film and television actor. He is best known for the roles of Daniel "Dan" Rydell on Sports Night, Will Gardner on The Good Wife, and his early work as Knox Overstreet in Dead Poets Society.

Personal life

Charles was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Laura (née Heckscher), a gossip columnist for The Baltimore Sun newspaper, and Allen Charles, an advertising executive. He began his career performing comedy at the age of nine. As a teenager, he spent several summers at Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Center in New York, and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts. Charles dropped out of high school, never receiving a diploma. He is a fan of the Baltimore Orioles (baseball) and Baltimore Ravens (American football). In September 2013, he married ballet dancer and author Sophie Flack. Charles is Jewish.

Career

Charles's film debut was in fellow Baltimore native John Waters's Hairspray in 1988. The following year, he starred alongside Robin Williams and Ethan Hawke in the Oscar-winning Dead Poets Society. Subsequent film roles have included Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, Threesome, Pie in the Sky, Muppets from Space, S.W.A.T, Four Brothers, After.Life, Crossing the Bridge, and Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.

On television, Charles played sports anchor Dan Rydell in Aaron Sorkin's Emmy Award-winning Sports Night, which ran for two years (1998"2000) on ABC and earned Charles a Screen Actors Guild nomination. In 2008, Charles played the role of Jake in Season 1 of HBO's In Treatment. In 2009, he returned to network television in CBS's The Good Wife, which stars Julianna Margulies, Chris Noth, and Christine Baranski. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2011.

In 1986, Charles headlined a production of Jonathan Marc Sherman's Confrontation. In 2004, he appeared on stage in New York in a revival of Neil LaBute's The Distance From Here, which received a Drama Desk Award for Best Ensemble Cast. In January 2006 he appeared in the world premiere of Richard Greenberg's The Well-Appointed Room for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, and followed this with a run at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, portraying the cloned brothers in Caryl Churchill's A Number. In 2007, he appeared in Adam Bock's The Receptionist at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In 2011, Charles was the narrator for NFL Network's A Football Life's debut episode on New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.

Filmography

• The Good Wife (2009"present) (TV Series) " Will Gardner. nominated- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2011)
• After.Life (2009) " Tom Peterson
• Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009) " Subject No. 2
• Law & Order: SVU: "Confession" (2008) (TV Series) " Sean Kelley
• In Treatment (2008) (TV Series) " Jake
• Six Degrees (2007) (TV Series) " Ray Jones
• The Ex (2007) " Forrest Mead
• The Darwin Awards (2006) " Paramedic
• Four Brothers (2005) " Detective Fowler
• Stella: "Meeting Girls" (2005) (TV) " Jeremy
• Seeing Other People (2004) " Lou
• S.W.A.T. (2003) " T J McCabe
• Our America (2002) (TVM) " Dave Isay
• My Father's House (2002) " Coach (scenes deleted, but included on DVD release)
• Zog's Place (2001) (documentary) " Himself
• Meeting Daddy (2000) " Peter Silverblatt
• Muppets from Space (1999) " Agent Barker
• Sports Night (1998"2000) (TV) " Dan Rydell
• Little City (1997) " Adam
• The Underworld (1997) (TVM) " Ehrlich
• Cyclops, Baby (1997) " Brush Brody
• Norma Jean & Marilyn (1996) (TVM) " Eddie Jordan
• Pie in the Sky (1996) " Charlie Dunlap
• Crossworlds (1996) " Joe Talbot
• The Grave (1996) " Tyn
• Coldblooded (1995) " Randy
• Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995) " Bruce (uncredited)
• Threesome (1994) " Eddy
• Cooperstown (1993) (TVM) " Jody
• Crossing the Bridge (1992) " Mort Golden
• Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991) " Bryan
• Murder in Mississippi (1990) (TVM) " Andrew Goodman
• Dead Poets Society (1989) " Knox Overstreet
• Hairspray (1988) " Iggy