Josie Totah Bio
Josie Totah is an American actress born in Sacramento, California, in 2001 or 2002 who began performing on screen as a child and rose to broader attention through television and film roles in the 2010s. Totah began her career portraying male characters before publicly coming out as a transgender woman in August 2018 and changing her first name to Josie; she has continued to pursue diverse roles across film and television while completing a degree at Chapman University.
Early Life and Background
Josie Totah was born in Sacramento, California, and is the child of Suheil Totah and Christine Totah. She grew up in a family of Middle Eastern descent and has referred to her upbringing in the Sacramento area; sources note she is the third child in her family and that she has a brother and a sister.
Totah attended Catholic school during her youth and has described herself as semi-religious. She later enrolled at Chapman University, where she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts and graduated in 2022; while at Chapman she was active in campus life and was a member of a sorority.
Path to Actress
Totah’s interest in performance emerged early and translated into screen work by 2012, when she appeared in an AwesomenessTV production. Early guest appearances on network and cable television provided practical experience working in comedy and family programming and helped her build a résumé that included both single-episode roles and recurring parts.
Her stage and screen exposure, combined with professional casting opportunities in Los Angeles, opened doors to recurring television roles and small film parts. Totah developed skills in comedic timing and character work while portraying a range of youthful characters, and those capabilities informed her later transition to more substantial supporting roles in feature films and network comedy series.
Josie Totah Career
Early Career (2012–2015)
Totah began professional acting work in 2012, first appearing in a production for AwesomenessTV where she was credited in promotional and short-form projects. In 2013 she gained wider visibility with a recurring role on the Disney Channel series Jessie, playing Stuart Wooten, a young boy with a crush on a series regular; the part introduced her to family-audience television viewers.
Across 2013 and the following years Totah guest starred on several sitcoms and family shows, including New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, and Liv and Maddie, and secured a supporting role on the ABC comedy Back in the Game. In 2015 she joined the cast of Glee for its sixth season as the youngest member of New Directions, appearing across multiple episodes and expanding her experience in musical-comedy ensemble work.
Breakthrough (2016–2020)
In 2016 Totah appeared in the feature film Other People, a performance that received critical notice; Variety named her among its Sundance Breakout Stars of the year and the role marked a shift toward higher-profile dramatic material. That critical recognition helped Totah secure further film and television roles and prompted coverage that highlighted her emotional range and on-screen presence.
Following Other People, Totah worked in both film and streaming projects. She appeared in Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie and had a small part in the Marvel Studios film Spider-Man: Homecoming, both released in 2017. That year she was also cast in the Disney feature Magic Camp and in the NBC single-camera comedy Champions, in which she played Michael Patel, the child of a character portrayed by Mindy Kaling; Champions aired during 2018.
In 2020 Totah joined the cast of the Saved by the Bell revival for Peacock, playing Lexi, a socially powerful cheerleader. The role expanded her visibility on a streaming platform and introduced her to a new audience while demonstrating her continued presence in serialized television comedy. Totah has balanced comedic and dramatic work through this period while speaking publicly about her identity and career direction.
Notable Works and Milestones
Key credits that illustrate Totah’s range include her recurring performance on Jessie, her supporting role in Other People, and substantial television work on Champions and the Saved by the Bell revival. Industry notice after Other People and inclusion on a Variety breakout list are documented milestones; by the early 2020s Totah combined film credits with recurring and series roles across broadcast and streaming platforms.
Josie Totah Award Nominations
There are no major award nominations recorded in the provided sources for Josie Totah. Coverage of her career has emphasized critical attention for specific performances rather than formal award nominations in major ceremonies.
Josie Totah Awards Won
The sources provided do not list major award wins for Totah. Public reporting has instead highlighted industry recognition such as press lists and breakout mentions associated with film festival coverage.
Josie Totah Family
Josie Totah is the daughter of Suheil Totah and Christine Totah and is reported to be the third child in her family, with one brother and one sister. Her parents have been named in published profiles and Totah has appeared publicly with family members in early media accounts.
Personal Life
Totah publicly came out as a transgender woman in August 2018 and changed her professional name to Josie; she described the transition in an essay published at that time. Her public statements and interviews since 2018 have addressed both her identity and her career choices as she has pursued a wider range of roles.
Education has remained a public aspect of Totah’s life; she attended Chapman University and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2022. Beyond those facts, the provided sources do not document additional personal relationships or private family details, and Totah’s residence is not specified in the supplied material.