Joshua Rush
Quick Facts
Biography
Joshua Rush (born (2001-12-14)December 14, 2001) is an American actor. Rush began his career as a child actor playing roles such as Turner in the 2012 film Parental Guidance, and young versions of the characters Sylar and Chuck Bartowski on the television series Heroes and Chuck, respectively. Since 2016 he has voiced Bunga on the Disney Junior television series The Lion Guard, and from 2017 to 2019 he starred as Cyrus Goodman on the Disney Channel television series Andi Mack.
Early life
Rush was born in Houston, Texas. His father is a marketing strategist and his mother is a corporate documentary producer.
Like his Andi Mack character Cyrus, Rush is Jewish. Rush, who has celebrated his own bar mitzvah, requested Andi Mack creator and executive producer Terri Minsky, who is also Jewish, to write a bar mitzvah scene for his character, which occurs in Season 2 Episode 13, "Cyrus' Bash-Mitzvah!".
Career
Rush was ten months old when he first appeared in a local television special, as well as several ads and catalogs shortly thereafter. By age 2⁄2, he had the ability to identify cars by logo and body style, and was featured on the KHOU morning news in a segment on how to raise "smart kids."
Before working on Heroes, Rush appeared on Private Practice. His film credits include Blue Boy, The Journal, and Mindsight, and he played Carlos in the Baby Jamz: Daily Lessons and Jamz Sessions children's video with Solange Knowles. He has also acted in commercials for Space Center Houston and Safeco Insurance, and a video e-card for americangreetings.com. In 2009, Rush appeared on The Jay Leno Show as the "Super Duper Nanny Son." The same year he also appeared on Medium as Tanner Campbel, the boy in the banana costume, and on Criminal Minds as Ronny Downey.
Rush's first major television role came in 2009 when he was cast on Heroes. He played Zachary Quinto's character, Sylar, at a young age. This recurring role was part of a major plot point in season three. After Heroes, Rush had minor roles on Parenthood, CSI: NY, and Special Agent Oso.
In 2010, Rush began portraying a young version of Zachary Levi’s character Chuck Bartowski on Chuck. In this role, he worked with such actors as Scott Bakula and Linda Hamilton.Following his work on Chuck, Rush did ADR work on the Hallmark Channel movie "November Christmas", and commercials for McDonald's and GameStop.
In 2012, Rush appeared as Turner Simmons in the feature film Parental Guidance, which earned him a Young Artist Award nomination as Best Supporting Young Actor Age Ten and Under in a Feature Film. He also appeared as Jacob in the 2015 thriller film Emelie. He voiced Toby in Netflix and DreamWorks Animation's The Adventures of Puss in Boots and Breehn on Cartoon Network's Clarence.
As of 2016, Rush voices Bunga on the Disney Junior series The Lion Guard. From 2017 to 2019, he gained prominence through his historic role as Cyrus Goodman, the first gay main character on Disney Channel, the first to have a male love interest, TJ Kippen (Luke Mullen), and one of the two best friends of the title character on the Disney Channel series Andi Mack. In April 2019, it was announced he would voice the titular character in DreamWorks Animation Television series on Universal Kids, Where's Waldo?.
Politics, news, and activism
Rush has a weekly news series on social media that he started in 2018, titled News in a Rush, covering politics and current events in minute-long videos aimed to make younger viewers understand certain topics. Rush volunteered for the 2018 congressional campaigns of Beto O'Rourke, Ben McAdams, Harley Rouda, Katie Hill, and Katie Porter. He has served as the Under 18 Ambassador for National Absentee Ballot Day.In 2019, he interned at the United States House of Representatives.
Rush told Teen Vogue in an October 2019 interview that he identifies "as a Democrat, probably on the more progressive wing."
Personal life
Rush came out as bisexual on August 6, 2019.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | Parental Guidance | Turner Simmons | |
2013 | Saving Lincoln | Tad Lincoln | |
2013 | Escape from Planet Earth | Young Shanker | Voice role |
2014 | Mr. Peabody & Sherman | Carl | Voice role |
2014 | Break Point | Barry | |
2015 | Emelie | Jacob | |
2015 | Sex, Death and Bowling | Eli McAllister |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | Private Practice | Will | 1 episode |
2009–2010 | Heroes | Little Sylar | Recurring role, 6 episodes |
2009 | Medium | Tanner Campbel/Boy in Banana Costume | 2 episodes |
2009 | The Jay Leno Show | Super Duper Nanny Son | 1 episode |
2009 | Criminal Minds | Ronny Downey | 1 episode |
2010 | CSI: NY | Luke Garito | 1 episode |
2010 | Chuck | Young Chuck | 3 episodes |
2011 | Childrens Hospital | Seth | 1 episode |
2012 | House | Ryan | 1 episode |
2012 | Gravity Falls | Soldier Kid | 1 episode |
2014–2016 | Clarence | Breehn | Recurring voice role, 15 episodes |
2015 | 40's and Failing | Max | 4 episodes |
2015–2017 | Star vs. the Forces of Evil | Jeremy Birnbaum | Recurring voice role, 5 episodes |
2015 | The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar | Bunga | Television film |
2015 | Bones | Bradley | 1 episode |
2015–2018 | The Adventures of Puss in Boots | Toby | Main voice role |
2016 | The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show | Wheels | 1 episode |
2016–2019 | The Lion Guard | Bunga | Main voice role |
2017–2019 | Andi Mack | Cyrus Goodman | Main role |
2019 | Where's Waldo? | Waldo | Main voice role |