Joshua Regnall Stewart (born February 6, 1977) is an American actor. He had his breakout with a main role as Officer Brendan Finney on the sixth and final season of the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
crime drama television series ''
Third Watch
''Third Watch'' is an American crime drama television series created by John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero that aired on NBC from September 23, 1999, to May 6, 2005, with a total of 132 episodes spanning over six seasons. It was produced ...
'' (2004–2005).
Following ''Third Watch'', Stewart had a main role as Holt McLaren on the
FX series ''
Dirt
Dirt is any matter considered unclean, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty.
Common types of dirt include:
* Debris: scattered pieces of waste or remains
* Du ...
'' (2007–2008) and a recurring role as Detective William LaMontagne Jr. on the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
and
Paramount+
Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, stream ...
police procedural series ''
Criminal Minds
''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Jeff Davis that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. It follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral ...
'' (2007–2020; 2022–2023; 2025).
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Stewart had supporting roles in the films ''
The Haunting of Molly Hartley'' (2008), ''
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'' (2008), and ''
Law Abiding Citizen'' (2009), along with the lead role in the horror films ''
The Collector
''The Collector'' is a 1963 thriller novel by English author John Fowles, in his literary debut. Its plot follows a lonely young man who kidnaps a female art student in London and holds her captive in the cellar of his rural farmhouse. Divided ...
'' (2009) and ''
The Collection'' (2012) and a main role as the Watcher on the
ABC series ''
No Ordinary Family'' (2010–2011). He made his directorial debut with the film ''
The Hunted'' (2013), which he also starred in.
Later in the 2010s, Stewart had supporting roles in the films ''
Transcendence'' (2014), ''
The Finest Hours'' (2016), ''
War Machine
War Machine (Col. James Rupert "Rhodey" Rhodes) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by David Michelinie, John Byrne, and Bob Layton as a supporting character for Iron Man, he first appeared i ...
'' (2017), ''
Insidious: The Last Key'' (2018), and ''
The Mustang
''The Mustang'' is a 2019 drama film written by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Mona Fastvold, and Brock Norman Brock, and directed by Clermont-Tonnerre in her feature directorial debut. It stars Matthias Schoenaerts as an incarcerated inmate wh ...
'' (2019). He had main roles as Solotov on season 2 of the
USA Network
USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...
series ''
Shooter'' (2017–2018) and John Pilgrim on the
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
series ''
The Punisher
The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher mad ...
'' (2019). In the 2020s, Stewart had a recurring role as Wallace on the
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...
miniseries ''
Manhunt'' (2024).
Stewart has frequently collaborated with director
Christopher Nolan
Sir Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British and American filmmaker. Known for his Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters with complex storytelling, he is considered a leading filmma ...
, appearing in supporting roles in his films ''
The Dark Knight Rises
''The Dark Knight Rises'' is a 2012 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the story with David S. Goyer. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the final instal ...
'' (2012), ''
Interstellar'' (2014), and ''
Tenet'' (2020), as well as Nolan's upcoming film ''
The Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...
'' (2026).
Early life
Stewart was born in
Diana,
West Virginia
West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
,
[ ] the son of Margie and Charles Regnall Stewart. His father was a
high school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
physical education teacher as well as a former
pastor
A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...
of the First Baptist Church in
Webster Springs and Holly River
Baptist
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
Church, and is now pastor at the Redeeming Grace Baptist Church in Webster Springs. His mother is a sixth grade teacher at Webster Springs Elementary. Stewart first attended
West Virginia Wesleyan College, then transferred to
West Virginia University
West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...
, where he studied business. After graduating from WVU, he moved to New York City to pursue acting.
Acting career
Early career
Stewart got his start doing local theater at the Landmark Theatre in
Sutton, West Virginia
Sutton is a town in Braxton County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 876 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Braxton County. Sutton is situated at a center of transportation in West Virginia. Interstate 79, a major no ...
, and eventually moved to
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 ...
to study at the T. Schreiber studios.
He was a company member of the 13th Street Repertory Theatre. He continued his theater in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, performing in ''Light Bulb'' and ''Beacon'' alongside
Robert Forster
Robert Wallace Foster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019), known professionally as Robert Forster, was an American actor. He made his screen debut as Private L.G. Williams in John Huston's '' Reflections in a Golden Eye'' (1967), followed ...
and
Brooke Shields
Brooke Christa Shields (born May 31, 1965) is an American actress. A child model starting at the age of 11 months, Shields gained widespread notoriety at age 12 for her leading role in Louis Malle's film ''Pretty Baby (1978 film), Pretty Baby ...
.
Stewart appeared as an extra in
The WB
The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on ter ...
series ''
Dawson's Creek
''Dawson's Creek'' is an American teen drama television series about the lives of a close-knit group of friends in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, beginning in high school and continuing into college. It aired from January 20, 19 ...
'' episode "
To Green, With Love". In 2003 he filmed a pilot for a
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
for
ABC entitled ''Then Came Jones''.
In the pilot he played the character of Bill Jenkins.
Stewart later appeared as Sean Cleary in the ''
CSI'' episode "
Bad to the Bone", which aired on April 1, 2004. That same year, he also appeared in a commercial for
Levi's
Levi Strauss & Co. ( ) is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's ( ) brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, ...
501 Original jeans. Stewart also had a recurring role in ''
Criminal Minds
''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Jeff Davis that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. It follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral ...
'' as Detective William LaMontagne Jr., SSA Jennifer "JJ" Jareau's boyfriend and later, husband.
Starring television roles
Stewart got his break when he was cast as
Brendan Finney in the final season of the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
series ''
Third Watch
''Third Watch'' is an American crime drama television series created by John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero that aired on NBC from September 23, 1999, to May 6, 2005, with a total of 132 episodes spanning over six seasons. It was produced ...
''. As Finney, he played the son of
IAB captain
Cathal "CT" Finney.
After ''
Third Watch
''Third Watch'' is an American crime drama television series created by John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero that aired on NBC from September 23, 1999, to May 6, 2005, with a total of 132 episodes spanning over six seasons. It was produced ...
'' was cancelled, Stewart started filming a movie entitled ''Lenexa, 1 Mile'' (released on DVD as ''Full Count''), alongside
William Baldwin
William Joseph Baldwin (born February 21, 1963) Note: While birthplace is routinely listed as Massapequa, that town has no hospital, and brother Alec Baldwin was born in nearby Amityville, which does. is an American actor and the second-younge ...
,
Michael Beach, Jennifer Hall, Timothy Ryan Hensel,
Chris Klein,
Austin Nichols,
Jason Ritter
Jason Morgan Ritter (born February 17, 1980) is an American actor. The son of actors John Ritter and Nancy Morgan, he is known for his work in television series such as ''Joan of Arcadia'' (2003–2005), ''Gravity Falls'' (2012–2016), '' Anot ...
,
Michael Rooker
Michael Rooker (born April 6, 1955) is an American actor who mainly plays roles of antagonists. He first rose to prominence for portraying the titular role in '' Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'' (1986), and is best known for starring as Mer ...
, and
Paul Wesley
Paweł Tomasz Wasilewski (; July 23, 1982), better known by his stage name Paul Wesley, is an American actor and film director. He is known for starring as Stefan Salvatore in '' The Vampire Diaries'' (2009–2017) and James T. Kirk in '' Star ...
.
This was also the directing debut of
Jason Wiles. After filming wrapped, Stewart began filming a new television series starring
Courteney Cox Arquette entitled ''
Dirt
Dirt is any matter considered unclean, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty.
Common types of dirt include:
* Debris: scattered pieces of waste or remains
* Du ...
,'' for the
FX Network
FX (originally/formerly Fox Extended) is an American pay television channel owned by FX Networks, a division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company. Based at the Fox Studios lot in Century City, Los Angeles, F ...
, where he played the character of
Holt McLaren
''Dirt'' (styled ''d!rt'' for logos) is an American television series broadcast on the FX (TV channel), FX network. It premiered on January 2, 2007, and starred Courteney Cox as Lucy Spiller, the editor-in-chief of the first-of-its-kind "glossy ...
.
On June 8, 2008, Cox Arquette announced that ''Dirt'' had been cancelled. During the 2010–2011 season, he appeared as Joshua in ABC's ''
No Ordinary Family''.
In 2017, Stewart starred as Solotov on the second season of the
USA Network
USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...
thriller drama ''
Shooter''.
On February 26, 2018, it was announced that Stewart would join as a series regular in the second season of
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
's ''
The Punisher
The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher mad ...
''. Stewart joined alongside cast member
Alexa Davalos, who is Stewart's wife in real life.
Feature films
Stewart made his mainstream feature film debut in 2008's ''
Curious Case of Benjamin Button'' playing the character of Benjamin's crewmate, Pleasant Curtis. Also that year, he appeared in ''
The Haunting of Molly Hartley'' in the role of Mary Hartley's teacher, Mr. Draper. In 2009, he had his first feature film starring role, in the
horror movie
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include monsters, apocalyp ...
''
The Collector
''The Collector'' is a 1963 thriller novel by English author John Fowles, in his literary debut. Its plot follows a lonely young man who kidnaps a female art student in London and holds her captive in the cellar of his rural farmhouse. Divided ...
'', playing the part of Arkin, a man attempting to rob a house to make enough money to pay off his wife's debts to
loan shark
A loan shark is a person who offers loans at Usury, extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of debt collection, collection, and generally operates criminal, outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, ...
s. In 2010, he starred, alongside
Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Jamie-Lynn Sigler (born May 15, 1981) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Meadow Soprano on the HBO series ''The Sopranos'' from 1999 to 2007.
Early life
Sigler was born in Jericho, New York, on May 15, 1981, the daughter ...
in the movie ''
Beneath the Dark'', (originally titled ''Wake'') inspired by the novel ''
The Shining''.
He appeared in
Christopher Nolan's final film in his Batman Saga, ''
The Dark Knight Rises
''The Dark Knight Rises'' is a 2012 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the story with David S. Goyer. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the final instal ...
'' as
Bane's right-hand man, Barsad.
He appeared as the main protagonist in the 2012 webisodes, ''
The Walking Dead: Cold Storage'', which are based on the popular television show ''
The Walking Dead''. In 2013, Josh finished filming his directorial debut, ''The Hunted'', in which he also stars. Stewart reunited in 2014 with director Christopher Nolan as the voice of CASE in the sci-fi epic ''
Interstellar''. The same year Stewart was cast in the Disney film ''
The Finest Hours''.
Directorial debut
Stewart's directorial and writing debut was the 2013 film ''
The Hunted''. He co-produced the film along with ''
The Collector
''The Collector'' is a 1963 thriller novel by English author John Fowles, in his literary debut. Its plot follows a lonely young man who kidnaps a female art student in London and holds her captive in the cellar of his rural farmhouse. Divided ...
'' producers Brett Forbes and Patrick Rizzotti. The found footage film revolves around Jake (Stewart) and Stevie (Ronnie Gene Blevins) who want their own TV show. In an attempt to grab the media's attention, both Jake and Stevie head to the dense, secluded woods in West Virginia, armed with only their bows and a camera, to find the biggest guy they can. However, as the sun sets over the mountains, they soon realise they are not alone in the woods and something supernatural is hunting them instead. The film screened at
TIFF
Tag Image File Format or Tagged Image File Format, commonly known by the abbreviations TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is w ...
and eOne Films have since picked up the North American distribution rights.
Personal life
In 2007, Stewart married Deanna Brigidi. They have two children: daughter Ryan Justine (b. 2008) and son River Jacob (b. 2010). They separated in 2014 and divorced in 2016.
On February 27, 2012, Stewart went into cardiac arrest after contracting
salmonella
''Salmonella'' is a genus of bacillus (shape), rod-shaped, (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two known species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' ...
. His wife performed CPR for several minutes. Stewart now has an
implantable cardioverter-defibrillator
An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or automated implantable cardioverter defibrillator (AICD) is a device implantable inside the body, able to perform defibrillation, and depending on the type, cardioversion and pacing of the h ...
in his chest.
Stewart married actress
Alexa Davalos on May 19, 2019.
They starred together on the second season of the Netflix series ''
The Punisher
The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher mad ...
''.
Filmography
Movie
Television
References
*
*
External links
*
Josh Stewartat
TVGuide.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Josh
1977 births
Living people
Male actors from West Virginia
American male film actors
American male television actors
People from Webster County, West Virginia
West Virginia University alumni
21st-century American male actors
American male voice actors
20th-century American male actors