Stage, film and TV actor Joshua Aaron Charles was born September 15, 1971 in Baltimore, Maryland. Charles already performed stand-up comedy when he was just nine-years-old. During his teenage years, he spent his summers attending the Stagedoor Manor performing arts program in New York. One of its productions was titled Confrontation, where Charles' portrayal of the character Brian received a Festival Week Award for Best Actor in 1986. He also attended The Baltimore School of Performing Arts. Aside from acting, Charles loves sports and even won the Inaugural NFL Network Fantasy Football League in 2004.
Josh Charles made his big screen debut in the 1988 musical Hairspray, where he was cast as Iggy. In 1989, he played Knox Overstreet in Peter Weir's Academy-award winning film Dead Poets Society, which also starred Robin Williams and Ethan Hawke. He was lead actor on Sports Night as well, which was about a comedy/drama TV series where he took on the role of sports anchor Dan Rydell. Charles was also seen on other TV shows including Six Degrees , The Underworld, Our America and Wainy Days.
In 2004, he was part of The Distance Farm stage revival and earned a Drama Desk award for Best Ensemble Performance. He was Mark in The Well-Appointed Room, which was performed at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and at the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago. He was also part of Caryl Churchill's A Number and Adam Bock's The Receptionist. In 2008, Josh Charles joined the cast of HBO’s drama, In Treatment. He portrayed the struggling songwriter Jake, who has problems with his marriage due to his recurring fits of anger. Also that year, the actor gained a role in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He signed on for a role in John Krasinski’s Brief Interviews with Hideous Men as well.
Charles was featured on the covers of US magazine T.V. Guide in its 1999 and 2000 issues. He also did voice-overs for the US Army “Army Strong” commercials in 2006.