Josh Lucas(I)
- Actor
- Producer
- Cinematographer
Josh Lucas was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, to Michele (LeFevre), a
nurse midwife, and Don Maurer, an ER doctor.
Lucas' film career began by accident in 1979 when a small Canadian film
production shot on the tiny coastal South Carolina island, Sullivan's
Island, where Lucas and his family lived. Unbeknownst to the
filmmakers, 8-year-old Lucas was hiding in the sand dunes watching
filming during the climatic scene where teenage lovers engage in a lovesick fight. It was during this experience that Lucas decided to pursue
a career in film which he has now done for nearly 3 decades. Born to
young, radical politically active parents in Arkansas in 1971, Lucas
spent his early childhood nomadically moving around the southern U.S.
The family finally settled in Gig Harbor, Washington, where Lucas
attended high school. The school had an award-winning drama/debate
program and Lucas won the State Championship in Dramatic Interpretation
and competed at the 1989 National Championship. Brief stints in
professional theater in Seattle followed before Lucas moved to Los
Angeles. After receiving breaks playing a young George Armstrong Custer
in the Steven Spielberg produced Class of '61 (1993) and Frank Marshall's film
Alive (1993), Lucas' career toiled in minor TV appearances. Frustrated, he
decided to start over and relocated to New York City.
In NYC, Lucas studied acting for years under Suzanne Shepherd and
worked in smaller theater productions like Shakespeare in the Parking
Lot before receiving another break in 1997 when he was cast as Judas in
Terrence McNally's controversial off-Broadway production Corpus
Christi. The play led to his being cast in the films You Can Count on Me (2000) and American Psycho (2000). These films were followed by interesting
performances in the Oscar-winning
A Beautiful Mind (2001) and the
box-office hit
Sweet Home Alabama (2002).
Lucas has since worked with many of the film community's greatest
talents. He starred alongside Jon Voight in
Jerry Bruckheimer's
Glory Road (2006), for which Lucas
added 40 pounds to transform himself into legendary basketball coach
Don Haskins. Lucas also starred with
Kurt Russell and
Richard Dreyfuss in
Wolfgang Petersen's
Poseidon (2006). He starred with
Morgan Freeman and
Robert Redford in
Lasse Hallström's
An Unfinished Life (2005). He
also starred opposite Jamie Bell in
David Gordon Green's
Undertow (2004), which was also produced
by Terrence Malick. Additionally, Lucas
worked alongside Christopher Walken
in Around the Bend (2004).
He performed with Jennifer Connelly
and Eric Bana in
Ang Lee's
Hulk (2003). Other credits include
Wonderland (2003),
The Deep End (2001),
American Psycho (2000),
Session 9 (2001) and
You Can Count on Me (2000).
Lucas' theater credits include the off-Broadway run of "Spalding Gray:
Stories Left to Tell";
Tennessee Williams' "The Glass
Menagerie", which appeared on Broadway in 2005;
Terrence McNally's "Corpus Christi" at
the Manhattan Theater Club;
Christopher Shinn's "What Didn't
Happen"; and "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
Lucas has always been fascinated by documentaries and performed voice
work with film legend Ken Burns on the
documentary The War (2007), and also
provided voice-over work for
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience (2007),
Trumbo (2007) and
Resolved (2007). Lucas' first venture
into production was
Stolen (2009), in which he
played the single father of a mentally challenged boy. The film was the
first project to be produced through Lucas' production company, "Two
Bridges".
In the past few years, Lucas' films include The Lincoln Lawyer (2011),
Daydream Nation (2010), Peacock (2010), as Charles Lindbergh in Clint Eastwood's film
J. Edgar (2011), and the massive Australian box-office and critical success
Red Dog (2011), for which Lucas won Australia's best actor award (The I.F.
Award). He also played Beat Generation legend Neal Cassady in Big Sur (2013).
He can be seen in Kevin Connolly's Dear Eleanor (2016), the
Sundance Festival film Little Accidents and the NY indie film The Mend.
nurse midwife, and Don Maurer, an ER doctor.
Lucas' film career began by accident in 1979 when a small Canadian film
production shot on the tiny coastal South Carolina island, Sullivan's
Island, where Lucas and his family lived. Unbeknownst to the
filmmakers, 8-year-old Lucas was hiding in the sand dunes watching
filming during the climatic scene where teenage lovers engage in a lovesick fight. It was during this experience that Lucas decided to pursue
a career in film which he has now done for nearly 3 decades. Born to
young, radical politically active parents in Arkansas in 1971, Lucas
spent his early childhood nomadically moving around the southern U.S.
The family finally settled in Gig Harbor, Washington, where Lucas
attended high school. The school had an award-winning drama/debate
program and Lucas won the State Championship in Dramatic Interpretation
and competed at the 1989 National Championship. Brief stints in
professional theater in Seattle followed before Lucas moved to Los
Angeles. After receiving breaks playing a young George Armstrong Custer
in the Steven Spielberg produced Class of '61 (1993) and Frank Marshall's film
Alive (1993), Lucas' career toiled in minor TV appearances. Frustrated, he
decided to start over and relocated to New York City.
In NYC, Lucas studied acting for years under Suzanne Shepherd and
worked in smaller theater productions like Shakespeare in the Parking
Lot before receiving another break in 1997 when he was cast as Judas in
Terrence McNally's controversial off-Broadway production Corpus
Christi. The play led to his being cast in the films You Can Count on Me (2000) and American Psycho (2000). These films were followed by interesting
performances in the Oscar-winning
A Beautiful Mind (2001) and the
box-office hit
Sweet Home Alabama (2002).
Lucas has since worked with many of the film community's greatest
talents. He starred alongside Jon Voight in
Jerry Bruckheimer's
Glory Road (2006), for which Lucas
added 40 pounds to transform himself into legendary basketball coach
Don Haskins. Lucas also starred with
Kurt Russell and
Richard Dreyfuss in
Wolfgang Petersen's
Poseidon (2006). He starred with
Morgan Freeman and
Robert Redford in
Lasse Hallström's
An Unfinished Life (2005). He
also starred opposite Jamie Bell in
David Gordon Green's
Undertow (2004), which was also produced
by Terrence Malick. Additionally, Lucas
worked alongside Christopher Walken
in Around the Bend (2004).
He performed with Jennifer Connelly
and Eric Bana in
Ang Lee's
Hulk (2003). Other credits include
Wonderland (2003),
The Deep End (2001),
American Psycho (2000),
Session 9 (2001) and
You Can Count on Me (2000).
Lucas' theater credits include the off-Broadway run of "Spalding Gray:
Stories Left to Tell";
Tennessee Williams' "The Glass
Menagerie", which appeared on Broadway in 2005;
Terrence McNally's "Corpus Christi" at
the Manhattan Theater Club;
Christopher Shinn's "What Didn't
Happen"; and "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
Lucas has always been fascinated by documentaries and performed voice
work with film legend Ken Burns on the
documentary The War (2007), and also
provided voice-over work for
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience (2007),
Trumbo (2007) and
Resolved (2007). Lucas' first venture
into production was
Stolen (2009), in which he
played the single father of a mentally challenged boy. The film was the
first project to be produced through Lucas' production company, "Two
Bridges".
In the past few years, Lucas' films include The Lincoln Lawyer (2011),
Daydream Nation (2010), Peacock (2010), as Charles Lindbergh in Clint Eastwood's film
J. Edgar (2011), and the massive Australian box-office and critical success
Red Dog (2011), for which Lucas won Australia's best actor award (The I.F.
Award). He also played Beat Generation legend Neal Cassady in Big Sur (2013).
He can be seen in Kevin Connolly's Dear Eleanor (2016), the
Sundance Festival film Little Accidents and the NY indie film The Mend.