Josie Totah (born August 5, 2001), formerly known as J. J. Totah, is an American actress. She is known for her recurring role on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

series '' Jessie'' and supporting role on the 2013

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comedy series '' Back in the Game''. Totah received critical praise for her role in the 2016 film '' Other People''. In 2018, she starred in the short-lived

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

comedy series ''

Champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the Victory, victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and w ...

''. Since 2020, she has starred as Lexi in the 2020 revival of ''Saved by the Bell''. Totah began her career playing male roles but publicly

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as a trans woman in August 2018, changing her first name to Josie.

Early life

Totah was born in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, the third child of Suheil and Christine Totah. She has one sister and one brother, and is of

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

and Lebanese ancestry.

Career

Totah began her acting career in 2012 when she was cast as the "Lil' Dictator" in the first production for

AwesomenessTV Awesomeness (abbreviation of AwesomenessTV) is an American-based film and television studio as well as a multi-channel based multilingual television network owned by Paramount Digital Studios, a division of Paramount Global. Established in June ...

. Beginning in 2013, she began appearing as Stuart Wooten, a boy with a crush on series regular Zuri Ross, in the

Disney Channel Original Series This article lists past, present and future television programming on American basic cable channel and former premium channel, Disney Channel, since its launch on April 18, 1983. Current programming Original Live-action Animated Shorts Ac ...

'' Jessie''. Totah has guest starred on the TV shows, ''

New Girl ''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Television for Fox that originally aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around a kooky teacher, Jessica Day ( Zoo ...

'', '' 2 Broke Girls'', and ''

Liv and Maddie ''Liv and Maddie'', also known as ''Liv and Maddie: Cali Style'' for the fourth season, is an American comedy television series created by John D. Beck and Ron Hart that aired on Disney Channel from July 19, 2013 to March 24, 2017. The series ...

''. Also in 2013, Totah was cast in a supporting role in the

comedy '' Back in the Game''. In 2015, she was cast in 4 episodes of the sixth season ''Glee'' as the youngest member ever of the New Directions. In 2016, Totah appeared in the film '' Other People'', and received critical praise for her role with ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', making her one of its Sundance Breakout Stars of the year. In October 2016, ''

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'' reported that Totah would star in a new comedy for

that she helped develop where Totah was set to produce alongside executive producers

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

and Naomi Scott. In 2017, she appeared in 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 ...

detective comedy '' Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie'' and the Marvel Studios film '' Spider-Man: Homecoming''. In January 2017, Totah joined

Adam Devine Adam Patrick Devine (born November 7, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, singer, screenwriter, and producer. He is one of the stars and co-creators of the Comedy Central comedy television series ''Workaholics'' and '' Adam Devine's House Par ...

in the Disney feature film '' Magic Camp''. In February 2017 Totah was cast as Michael Patel, the son of

Mindy Kaling Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979),Additional archive on June 25, 2015. known professionally as Mindy Kaling (), is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer. She first gained recognition starring as Kelly Kapoor in the N ...

's character, Priya Patel, in the new

comedy ''

'', which was picked up to series in May 2017, and aired from March 8 to May 25, 2018, before being canceled. Totah was cast in a ''

Saved by the Bell ''Saved by the Bell'' is an American television sitcom created by Sam Bobrick for NBC. The series premiered, in primetime, on August 20, 1989, a Sunday night. Targeted at kids and teens, ''Saved by the Bell'' was broadcast in the United States ...

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for NBC's streaming service

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

, where she played the character of Lexi, a socially powerful cheerleader. In August 2022, she started a podcast titled ''Dare We Say'' with Yasmine Hamady and ''Saved by the Bell'' co-star Alycia Pascual-Peña.

Personal life

On August 20, 2018, Totah wrote an article published in ''

Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

'' in which she came out as a

transgender woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...

. Totah attended

Chapman University Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California. It encompasses ten schools and colleges, including Fowler School of Engineering, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Fowler School of Law, and Schmid College of Scie ...

, graduating in 2022. She was a member of a

sorority Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradua ...

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Totah, Josie 2001 births Living people 21st-century American comedians American stand-up comedians American comedians of Arab descent Actresses from Sacramento, California American people of Lebanese descent American people of Palestinian descent American child actresses LGBT people from California American LGBT actors Transgender actresses American film actresses American television actresses 21st-century American actresses Comedians from California