The dynamic nature of actor Josh Pais’s approach toward constructing performance; harnessing creativity; and retaining the spontaneity associated with each moment on-screen is part of his signature. With over 100 roles to his credit, the Lower East Side native grew up in a culturally vibrant, evolving environment which led him to cultivate his own unique sense of identity as one of the finest performers in the film and television industry. His remarkable filmography includes memorable performances in Safe Men, in which he acted among contemporaries like Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn and Peter Dinklage; The Station Agent, penned and directed by one of his best friends, Tom McCarthy; the brilliant Lynn Shelton’s emotional masterpiece, Touchy Feely; Nicole Holofcener’s classically independent, Please Give, with Catherine Keener; and Charlie Kaufman’s directorial opus, Synecdoche, NY, acting opposite Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Along the way came multiyear arcs in television shows like Ray Donovan, alongside Liev Schreiber; and memorable scenes with Joaquin Phoenix in the seminal Joker (Todd Phillips; Scott Silver). You can immerse yourself into the techniques he has developed and experienced throughout his prolific career by visiting Committed Impulse (committedimpulse.com), and find him on his Instagram (@JoshPais). In our conversation, we discussed his documentary, 7th Street, describing the state of culture which governed his Alphabet City upbringing; collaborating with some of the best directors on the planet; and acting on projects which gave meaning to the landscape of film. His latest projects include Nicole Holofcener’s You Hurt My Feelings (David Cross; Amber Tamblyn; Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and David E. Kelley’s upcoming mini series, A Man in Full, with Regina King directing (Jeff Daniels; Bill Camp).
Opening Credits: Bureaucrat & The Conspirators - Yankees I Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US); The Rope River Blues Band - Wrist Lit I Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US); Closing Credits: POVALISHIN DIVISION - Сестра I Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)