Josh Charles

Actor Josh Charles enjoyed early success with roles in "Dead Poets Society" (1989) and "Threesome" (1994) but was perhaps best-known for his Emmy-nominated turn as womanizing lawyer Will Gardner in political drama "The Good Wife" (CBS, 2009-2016). Born in Baltimore, MD to a gossip columnist mother and ad executive father, Josh Charles began performing as a nine-year-old and while attending the Baltimore School for the Arts made his screen debut playing a council member in John Waters' cult classic "Hairspray" (1988). A year later, he was cast as prep school romanticist Knox Overstreet in inspirational drama "Dead Poets Society" (1989) while in TV movie "Murder in Mississippi" (1990) he portrayed Andrew Goodman, the real-life civil rights activist killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan. After playing Christina Applegate's love interest Bryan in comedy "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" (1991), Charles shared the screen with Stephen Baldwin in both drug-smuggling tale "Crossing the Bridge" (1992) and love triangle dramedy "Threesome" (1994), showed up in sporting drama "Cooperstown" (1993) and took minor roles in "Things to Do In Denver When You're Dead" (1995) and "Coldblooded" (1995). Charles then played Marilyn Monroe's rumored lover Eddie Jordan in "Norma Jean & Marilyn" (HBO, 1996), was cast as the romantic lead in "Pie in the Sky" (1996) and added buried treasure adventure "The Grave" (1996), sci-fi thriller "Crossworlds" (1996) and relationship drama "Little City" (1997) to his filmography. Charles landed his first recurring role, sports news anchor Dan Rydell, in the Aaron Sorkin-created "Sports Night" (ABC, 1998-2000), before playing an agent in "Muppets from Space" (1999), aspiring writer in "Meeting Daddy" (2000) and real-life radio producer Dave Isay in "Our America" (2002). Charles continued to rack up the credits with supporting parts in actioner "S.W.A.T." (2003), open relationship comedy "Seeing Each Other People" (2004), vengeance tale "Four Brothers" (2005) and rom-com "The Ex" (2007) before landing an eight-episode stint as couples therapy patient Jake on "In Treatment" (HBO, 2008-2010). A year later Charles was cast as Alicia's old law school friend Will Gardner on "The Good Wife" (CBS, 2009-2016), famously being fatally shot in the fifth season in one of the decade's most shocking TV deaths. During his six-year spell on the hit legal drama, Charles also showed up in psychological horror "After.Life" (2009), John Krasinski's directorial debut "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" (2009) and dramedy "Adult Beginners" (2015) took top billing as businessman Gary Newman in arthouse two-hander "Bird People" (2014) and guested on ten episodes of period drama "Masters of Sex" (Showtime, 2013-16) as perfume mogul Dan Logan. After playing Sarah Silverman's husband in indie drama "I Smile Back" (2015) and lawyer Bryan Kelder in LGBT tale "Freeheld" (2015) Charles got the chance to showcase his comic talents as rich brat Duke Snyder in "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" (Netflix, 2015-19), rival camp leader Blake in "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp" (Netflix, 2015) and the boyfriend of Tina Fey's war reporter in "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" (2016). But he soon returned to more dramatic fare, playing a financier in political drama "Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer" (2016), a child psychiatrist haunted by his past in "The Journey" (2018) and a basketball coach in "Amateur" (2018), as well as enjoying a seven-episode spell as Dr. Jerome Oziel in "Law & Order True Crime" (NBC, 2017). After being cast as sports agent Casey Close in Roger Ailes biopic "The Loudest Voice" (Showtime, 2019), Charles played another real-life figure, automotive engineer Bill Collins, in docudrama "Framing John DeLorean" (2019).