I recently had the honor of interviewing the exceedingly talented Josh Davis after having shared the stage with him in Odyssey: The Epic Musical. Ironically, as much as we got to know each other back stage and in the rehearsal room, this interview continued to reveal new and fascinating things about this rising star whose creativity and artistic spark was what originally inspired me to seek an interview with him.

Times Square (TS): So Josh, tell us a little about yourself. Where were you born? Where did you grow up?

Josh Davis (JD): I was born in Wilmington, Delaware and moved to Maryland when I was four. I took my parents with me, and as thanks they gave me a brother.  I grew up in Columbia, Maryland which is about two hours from the beach, two hours from the mountains, and right between DC and Baltimore. Columbia is actually a planned community designed by the same developer who built Baltimore's Inner Harbor and Fanual Hall in Boston.

TS: What do you do with your spare time?

JD: I'm an avid biker - mountain and road. I've recently gotten into mountain climbing and bouldering (pretty much if it has the word “mountain” in it, count me in). I'm also a real estate agent in NYC, so I spend a lot of time helping people find homes in the City. It beats waiting tables!

TS: Yeah, pretty much anything beats waiting tales. So, how long have you been acting?

JD: I think I've been acting since first grade where I played Captain Cook in Mr. Poppers Penguin's. I did all the shows in High School, but for some reason majored in Business at the University of Delaware. I didn't start acting professionally until 2002 after I had worked with The Discovery Channel for a few years.

TS: Business? What got you interested in being an actor of all things?

JD: I liked making people laugh. (I'm thinking about Mr. Popper's Penguins) I think I felt comfortable being in front of other people and I could make them laugh and that gave me a sense of accomplishment.

TS: You’ve been a Producer of your own work as well as having been an Associate Producer at The Discovery Channel. Having done both the business and the art, do you feel you have any special insights into the business vs. the art aspect of the entertainment industry?

JD: I learned a lot when I was producing for The Discovery Channel. I learned lighting, camera, sound, and producing while I worked for them. (I worked at a production company that they hired to make shows).

That experience gave me the knowledge (enough initially) to produce the feature film The Graduates. That was an intense seven week shoot where I was producing as well as acting.

I think you can find art in business and business in art. They complement each other and I think they should teach the business of acting in acting school. So much of what you do as an actor is business related, whether it is networking, negotiating contracts (if you don't have an agent), or producing your own work. It's important to have an understanding that what you create can be bought and sold and that you can make money from it. A lot of artists don't want anything to do with that world, and that’s fine if you have other people who take care of it for you. However, you either have to have money to begin with or work up to being able to afford those services, and that doesn't happen for the 99% of us who are pursuing acting on our own bank account.

TS: Do you have a “favorite role” of the ones you’ve played so far?

JD: I got to play Javert in Les Miserables. That was a lifelong goal of mine. I also played cop #3 on Guiding Light. I think I said, "Here is the report Captain." An amazing performance, and I'm still waiting for my Day Time Emmy. I'm sure it must have got lost in the mail.

I also just played Odysseus in The Odyssey an Epic Musical. It ran the gamut from comedy to drama so I got to stretch my acting legs in a fun role.

TS: Any parts you’d love to play that you haven’t yet?

JD: I'd like to play Henney in 39 steps, Berger in HairSpray, and Sweeney in Sweeny Todd. I'd also like to expand my experience in TV and Film. I would like to play a bad guy. I enjoyed playing Javert, who is technically the antagonist but isn’t really such a bad guy. I usually get cast as the protagonist or male love interest. I want some more challenging roles.

TS: What is the strangest/most interesting thing a role required you to do?

JD: How honest do you want me to be?  I shot a film in which I actually did play a pretty bad guy.  My character kid napped a girl and tried to rape her.  He did get shot in the end so he got what he deserved, but it was a very delicate and challenging scene. We - me the other actress, the fight choreographer and the director- talked the whole thing through many times before we started to rehearse. We blocked it extensively and left no room for error. It was supposed to be a very intense scene and it was. We rehearsed it in slow-motion a few times to make sure we knew exactly what we were doing so that no one would get hurt. Safety was the most important aspect and that made the actress I was working with feel comfortable. We shot it twice and that's all we needed and luckily it turned out looking very real… I actually had a hard time watching it.

TS: You have some military training? What’s the story on that?

JD:  Haha, OK I knew that would come back to bite me. On my resume I list that I had some military training which is, I suppose, technically true. I did a show in DC that was based on letters home from soldiers in Vietnam. The director wanted us to know what it was like to train in the military so he had an Army Drill Sergeant come in one weekend and put us through a typical day of training. We got yelled at, did push-ups, got yelled at and ran for a few miles, got yelled at and trained with fire-arms, got yelled at and practiced attack and recon drills, and then got yelled at some more. It was very intense, but the whole time I was thinking, “It'll all be over at the end of the day”. So yes, I have technically had military training, though I would not go so far as to brag about it, nor would I compare my battle wounds with those of a legitimate soldier. It was all in the name of art!

TS: You just finished heading the cast of Odyssey: The Epic Musical in the title role.  What was your favorite part of working on such a large-scale workshop?

JD: My favorite part of the experience is two-fold.  One was working with the actors. We had some amazingly talented and seasoned performers: Eddie Korbich and Colleen Zenk, as well as some impressive up and coming actors like Janine Devita, Emma Zacks and Colleen Ballinger. Working with such a talented cast challenged and inspired me to bring all of my creativity and focus to work every day.  The second was helping to develop the character since this particular incarnation of Odysseus had not been created before.

TS: Sounds like an awesome experience. So, what’s next?

JD: Well, I have a few solo concerts I'm singing at in December and an Internet project I'm working on. Other than that, I'm open and available for work. (Shameless actor plug.)

TS: Speaking of heroes (Greek or otherwise), do you have a hero/role model?

JD: Probably not who you would expect: There is a scientist named Paul Stamets who I had the privilege of meeting and working with briefly whom I admire greatly. He's a mycologist (someone who studies mushrooms) and I can honestly say, a true genius. He’s done an enormous amount of work to help restore the earth’s ecosystems from the ravages of modern industrial gluttony. You should check out his talk on TED.Com and you'll understand what I mean.

Also, though I've only know her for a short time, Colleen Zenk really made a big impression on me.  She played my mother in Odyssey and was very supportive throughout the process. She had acted on As the World Turns for 32 years before it went off the air, but what was more impressive and humbling than that was that she has survived cancer twice and won. She even had to learn to speak again after one of her surgeries where doctors removed part of her tongue and there she was on stage, singing. It was an amazing testament to the power of life and the power of having a positive attitude about your circumstances, whatever they might be.

TS: I hear you do some advocacy for hemp.  What got you supporting it?

JD: This is true. I am the Senior Editor for Hemp.com. Industrial hemp is an amazing plant and is severely misunderstood and miscategorized. I'd say most people including our Federal Government and most states and politicians think Hemp is Marijuana. It's true that they come from the same genus Cannibis, but they are two distinct species of plant. Hemp has little-to-no THC (tetrahydrocanibinal), the active drug in Marijuana, so it CAN NOT be used as a drug. It CAN however provide food, oil, and extremely strong fiber for textiles and plastics, and pretty much 24,999 other products, including paper. In fact, we could end clear-cutting of forests for paper if we simply allowed our farmers to grow industrial hemp. The benefits of this plant go on and on, and yet the government is ignorant to this and continues to ban its use in the U.S.  If we want to compete in the global economy we must educate ourselves and our leaders about this plant. Ok – I’ll get off my soapbox. I'm just very passionate about this.

TS: Anything else we should know about THE Josh Davis?

JD: That's right, I am THE Josh Davis. There might be others who mothers named them as mine did... But ain't nobody else like me.

If anyone wants to know more about hemp, needs an apartment in NYC, or wants to hire me as an actor/singer, they can send me an email at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or www.joshadamdavis.com (shameless plug #2). 

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