Joshua Davis (born 1974) is an American

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

and

co-founder An organizational founder is a person who has undertaken some or all of the formational work needed to create a new organization, whether it is a business, a charitable organization, a governing body, a school, a group of entertainers, or any other ...

of ''Epic Magazine''.

Early life

Davis is the son of

Miss Nevada The Miss Nevada competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Nevada in the Miss America competition, and the name of the title held by that winner. The first Nevadan to compete at Miss America was Carol Lampe in 19 ...

winner Janet Hadland and Highlander film producer Peter S. Davis. Davis attended Stanford University, where he double majored in Economics and Modern Thought and Literature.

Career

Davis wrote the New York Times bestselling book Spare Parts, which grew out of his article "La Vida Robot." The story follows the lives of four teenage immigrants who built an underwater

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

. The book was a finalist for Columbia University's J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and was adapted into the movie ''Spare Parts'' by Lionsgate starring

George Lopez George Edward Lopez (born April 23, 1961) is an American comedian and actor. He is known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including Mexican American culture. Lopez has rec ...

Jamie Lee Curtis Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, children's author, and activist. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Lt. Barbara Duran on the ABC sitcom '' Operation Petticoat'' (1977–78). In 1978, she m ...

and

Marisa Tomei Marisa Tomei ( , ; born December 4, 1964) is an American actress. She came to prominence as a cast member on ''The Cosby Show'' spin-off ''A Different World'' in 1987. After having minor roles in a few films, she came to international attention ...

. It premiered in January 2015. In 2012, Davis was kidnapped in Libya while reporting an article for Mens Journal. Later that year, he lived with

John McAfee John David McAfee ( ; 18 September 1945 – 23 June 2021) was a British-American computer programmer, businessman, and two-time presidential candidate who unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian Party nomination for president of the United States ...

in Belize and documented McAfee's lifestyle and legal problems, including allegations of murder. In 2003, Davis covered the Iraq war for Wired. For The New Yorker in 2011, Davis wrote about

bitcoin Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...

when the cryptocurrency was worth five dollars. He has also profiled

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...

multiple times, including a 2010

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

cover story and in an early in-depth article about Tesla. Davis' first book, ''The Underdog'', was published by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

in 2005. It chronicles Davis' entry into unusual competitions around the world, including the US Sumo Open and the World

Armwrestling Arm wrestling (also spelled armwrestling) is a sport with two opponents who face each other with their bent elbows placed on a table and hands firmly gripped, who then attempt to force the opponent's hand down to the table top ("pin" them). The s ...

Championship in

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. Davis documented his time as a competitive arm wrestler in the film "The Beast Within," which won best documentary at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival. In 2013, Davis and Joshuah Bearman formed ''Epic Magazine'', a magazine and production company specializing in unusual true stories. Davis and Bearman have sold more than twenty articles to

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, ...

, with two films produced. Davis, in partnership with

J. J. Abrams Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as ''Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' For ...

and

Bad Robot Bad Robot is an American film and television production company founded on May 27, 1999 and led by J. J. Abrams and Katie McGrath as Co-CEO. Under its Bad Robot Productions division, the company is responsible for the television series ''Alias'' ...

, also produced the short documentary series "Moon Shot," which chronicles the work of those competing for the

Google Lunar X Prize The Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP), sometimes referred to as Moon 2.0, was a 2007–2018 inducement prize space competition organized by the X Prize Foundation, and sponsored by Google. The challenge called for privately funded teams to be th ...

Awards

In 2014, Davis was selected as a Finalist for a National Magazine Award in Feature Writing. In 2021, he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award as an executive producer of Little America. He lives in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Filmography

Bibliography

Books

* ''The Underdog,'' 2006 * ''Entrenched,'' 2011 * ''McAfee's Last Stand,'' 2012 * ''Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream'', 2014

Articles

*"If We Run Out Of Batteries, This War Is Screwed," ''Wired'', June 1, 2003 *"La Vida Robot," Best of Technology Writing, 2006 *"Say Hello to Stanley," Best of Technology Writing, 2007 *"Face Blind," Best American Science Writing, 2007 *"The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist," ''Wired'', March 12, 2009 *"The Crypto Currency," ''The New Yorker'', October 10, 2011 *"Fox Makes Epic First-Look Deal for Online Venture for Film Centric Journalism," Deadline, August 19, 2013 *"Magazine Writing, On the Web, for Film," ''The New York Times'', August 11, 2013 *"The Mercenary," Medium, August 19, 2013 *"Building An Epic Brand Around Incredible True Stories," Fast Company, August 23, 2013 *"Pipino: Gentleman Thief," Epic Magazine, 2014 *"Deep Sea Cowboys," Epic Magazine, 2017 *"Arab Spring Break," Epic Magazine, 2017

References

External links

Joshua Davis' HomepageEpic MagazineUnderdog Nation
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Joshua 1974 births Living people American documentary filmmakers American male journalists American memoirists American technology writers