Joseph Michael Cross (born May 28, 1986) is an American actor and producer. He began work as a child actor, starring in the 1998 films '' Desperate Measures'', '' Wide Awake'', and ''

Jack Frost Jack Frost is a personification of frost, ice, snow, sleet, winter, and freezing cold. He is a variant of Old Man Winter who is held responsible for frosty weather, nipping the fingers and toes in such weather, coloring the foliage in autumn, ...

''. He won the

Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture The Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture is an annual award given by the International Press Academy as one of its Satellite Awards. The category has gone through several changes since its inception. * From 1996 to 2010, two categor ...

for '' Running with Scissors'' (2006), and co-starred in ''

Flags of Our Fathers ''Flags of Our Fathers'' (2000) is a book by James Bradley with Ron Powers about his father, Navy corpsman John Bradley, and five United States Marines, who were made famous by Joe Rosenthal’s '' Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima'' photograph. Th ...

'' (2006), ''

Untraceable ''Untraceable'' is a 2008 American psychological thriller film directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, and Joseph Cross. It was distributed by Screen Gems. Set in Portland, Oregon, the film involves a seria ...

'' (2008), ''

Milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

'' (2008), and ''

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

'' (2012). From 1999 to 2004, Cross starred as Casey Hughes in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

soap opera ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...

''. In 2017, he appeared in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

limited series '' Big Little Lies'' and the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

crime drama series '' Mindhunter''.

Early life

Cross was born in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Pelham, New York Pelham is a suburban town in Westchester County, approximately 10 miles northeast of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 13,078, an increase from the 2010 census. Historically, Pelham was composed of five villages ...

, and attended Pelham Middle School and

Pelham Memorial High School The Pelham Memorial High School is the only high school within the town of Pelham, New York, United States. It is part of the Pelham Union Free School District. A small portion of land that is between Pelham and Pelham Bay Park, with a total ...

. For his undergraduate studies, Cross transferred from

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Career

As a child actor, Cross appeared in the Disney Channel Original television film '' Northern Lights'' (1997), and starred in the action-thriller '' Desperate Measures'', comedy-drama '' Wide Awake'', and Christmas fantasy film ''

'', all of which were released in 1998. He subsequently appeared in several television roles, notably portraying Casey Hughes in the

daytime soap opera ''

'' (1999–2004). In 2006, Cross played the young

Augusten Burroughs Augusten Xon Burroughs (born Christopher Richter Robison, October 23, 1965) is an American writer best known for his ''New York Times'' bestselling memoir '' Running with Scissors'' (2002). Early life Christopher Richter Robison was born in ...

in '' Running with Scissors'', a drama also featuring

Annette Bening Annette Carol Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American actress. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over four decades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominat ...

and

Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987) is an American actress and activist. She is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations for her work in ...

, and appeared as real-life Marine

Franklin Sousley Franklin Runyon Sousley (September 19, 1925 – March 21, 1945) was a United States Marine who was killed in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. He was one of the six Marines who raised the second of two U.S. flags on top of Moun ...

in the big-budget ''

'', a

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

-directed

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...

. Cross has said that he enjoyed the transition from appearing in ''Running with Scissors'', which he has described as "very character driven and smaller" to the high-profile "epic" ''Flags of Our Fathers''. ''Running with Scissors'' has been described by media sources as his "breakout performance", and he was nominated for the

Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer (Actor/Actress) is one of the awards given to people working in the film industry by the Critics Choice Association at the annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards. Winners and nominees 1990s ; ...

and won the Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. In 2008, Cross starred in the thriller film ''

'' (2008) with

Diane Lane Diane Colleen Lane (born January 22, 1965) is an American actress. Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at age 14 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film ''A Little Romance''. The two films that could have catapulted her to star ...

, and portrayed gay rights activist Dick Pabich in the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominated

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in N ...

biopic ''

'' (2008). He won the

Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Acting Ensemble The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Acting Ensemble is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. 2000s 2001 * ''Gosford Park'' ** ''Ocean's Eleven'' ** ''The Royal ...

with his ''Milk'' co-stars. The following year, he played William "Fred" Parsons in the West End production of '' Breakfast at Tiffany's'', at the

Theatre Royal Haymarket The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foot ...

, opposite

Anna Friel Anna Louise Friel (born 12 July 1976) is an English actress. Born in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, she has been acting professionally since age 13. Friel achieved fame with her portrayal of Beth Jordache on the British soap opera ''Brookside'' ( ...

. In 2012, Cross had a leading role as Declan Truss in Doug Karr's comedy film '' Art Machine''. He portrayed the lead role of Davis Green in the drama film ''

The Automatic Hate ''The Automatic Hate'' is a 2015 American comedy-drama film directed by Justin Lerner. It stars Joseph Cross and Adelaide Clemens as cousins who try to determine why their fathers have kept their respective families apart for decades. The film p ...

'' (2015), alongside

Deborah Ann Woll Deborah Ann Woll (born February 7, 1985) is an American actress and model. Woll played Jessica Hamby in the HBO drama series ''True Blood'' (2008–2014), which earned her a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award. She subsequently starred as ...

. He portrayed the lead role of Lernert in the science-fiction film '' Everything Beautiful Is Far Away'' (2017), alongside

Julia Garner Julia Garner (born February 1, 1994) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Ruth Langmore in the Netflix crime drama series '' Ozark'' (2017–2022), for which she received critical acclaim and won three Primetime E ...

. Cross made his directorial debut with the coming-of-age film '' Summer Night'' (2019), executive produced by

James Ponsoldt James Adam Ponsoldt (born 1978) is an American film director, actor and screenwriter. He directed the drama films ''Off the Black'' (2006) and ''Smashed (film), Smashed'' (2012), the romantic comedy-drama ''The Spectacular Now'' (2013), and the dr ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Joseph 1986 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Male actors from New Jersey Male actors from New York (state) American male child actors American male film actors American male soap opera actors American male stage actors American male television actors Columbia University alumni Living people People from New Brunswick, New Jersey People from Pelham, New York