Joshua Atwill Pais (born June 21, 1958) is an American

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

acting coach An acting coach or drama coach is a teacher who trains performers – typically film, television, theatre, and musical theatre actors – and gives them advice and mentoring to enable them to improve their acting and dramatic performances, prepar ...

. He has appeared in the films ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (''TMNT'') is an American media franchise created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), D ...

'' (1990), ''

Music of the Heart ''Music of the Heart'' is a 1999 American biographical film, biographical musical film, musical drama (film and television), drama film directed by Wes Craven and written by Pamela Gray, based on the 1995 documentary ''Small Wonders''. A dramati ...

'' (1999), ''

Assassination of a High School President ''Assassination of a High School President'' is a 2008 American neo noir comedy film directed by Brett Simon and starring Reece Thompson, Bruce Willis, Mischa Barton, Emily Meade and Michael Rapaport. It was written by Tim Calpin and Kevin ...

'' (2008), '' I Saw the Light'' (2015) and ''

Motherless Brooklyn ''Motherless Brooklyn'' is a 2019 American neo-noir crime film written, produced, and directed by Edward Norton, based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Jonathan Lethem. Set in 1957 New York City, the film stars Norton as a private invest ...

'' (2019). He also appeared in nine episodes of ''

Ray Donovan ''Ray Donovan'' is an American crime drama television series created by Ann Biderman for Showtime. The drama, starring Liev Schreiber in the title role, is set primarily in Los Angeles (during seasons 1–5) and in New York City (during seaso ...

''. He is also the director of the 2002 documentary ''7th Street'' (the street he grew up on in

Alphabet City, Manhattan Alphabet City is a neighborhood located within the East Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its name comes from Avenues A, B, C, and D, the only avenues in Manhattan to have single-letter names. It is bounded by Houston ...

) depicting various personages living there between the years 1992–2002.

Early life

Pais was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and is the son of Lila Lee (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Atwill), a painter and poet, and Dutch-born physicist, professor, and writer

Abraham Pais Abraham Pais (; May 19, 1918 – July 28, 2000) was a Dutch- American physicist and science historian. Pais earned his Ph.D. from University of Utrecht just prior to a Nazi ban on Jewish participation in Dutch universities during World War II ...

. His father was from a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family of Portuguese descent, and his mother

converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( or ) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Thus, by convertin ...

Career

He has appeared in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

films including ''

'' (in which he was both in the costume and was the voice) as

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

, ''

'', ''

Scream 3 ''Scream 3'' is a 2000 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Ehren Kruger. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox Arquette, Parker Posey, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Foley, Lance Henriksen, Matt Keeslar, ...

'', '' It Runs in the Family'', ''

Phone Booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; typically the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

'', '' Little Manhattan'' and ''

Find Me Guilty ''Find Me Guilty'' is a 2006 American courtroom comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Sidney Lumet. The film is based on the true story of the longest Mafia trial in American history. Much of the courtroom testimony was taken from the ori ...

''. He played Assistant M.E. Borak in 15 episodes of the series ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...

'', between 1990 and 2002. He also played the Spanish teacher in the film ''

''. He had a recurring role as an obnoxious movie producer on the American crime drama series ''

''. He also appeared as a lawyer on ''

2 Broke Girls ''2 Broke Girls'' (stylized as ''2 Broke Girl$'') is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 2011, to April 17, 2017. The series was produced for Warner Bros. Television and created by Michael Patrick King and Whitn ...

''.

Personal life

Pais married actress

Lisa Emery Lisa Emery is an American stage, film, and television actress. Emery is best known for playing Darlene Snell on Netflix series ''Ozark''. Early life Emery was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of an aspiring actress from Charlottes ...

on August 27, 1990. They are parents of the actor Zane Pais. Pais and Emery divorced in 2003. In 2006 he married entrepreneur Marie Forleo.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pais, Josh 1958 births Living people Male actors from New York City American acting coaches American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American people of Dutch-Jewish descent American people of Portuguese-Jewish descent Jewish American male actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American drama teachers 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews American people of Portuguese descent