Josie Totah


Josie Totah, formerly known as J. J. Totah, is an American actor. She is known for her recurring role on the Disney Channel series Jessie and a supporting role on the 2013 ABC comedy series Back in the Game. She received praise from critics for her role in the 2016 film Other People. In 2018, she starred in the short-lived NBC comedy series Champions.
Totah starred as Lexi in the 2020 revival of Saved by the Bell, which ran for two seasons.
Totah began her career playing male roles. She publicly came out as a trans woman in August 2018, changing her first name to Josie.
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Early life

Totah is the third child of Suheil and Christine Totah. She has a sister and brother; she is of Palestinian and Lebanese ancestry.

Career

Josie Totah began her acting career in 2012 when she was cast as the "Lil' Dictator" in the first production for AwesomenessTV. Beginning in 2013 she portrayed Stuart Wooten, a boy with a crush on series regular Skai Jackson, in the Disney Channel Original Series Jessie. Totah has guest starred on the TV shows New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, and Liv and Maddie.
Also in 2013, Totah was cast in a supporting role in the ABC comedy Back in the Game. In the same year, she and her mother appeared in an episode of Family Game Night. In 2015, she was cast in the sixth season Glee as the youngest member ever of the New Directions, which she played in four episodes. In 2016, Totah appeared in the film Other People, and received critical praise for her role with Variety, making her one of its Sundance Breakout Stars of the year. In October 2016, Deadline Hollywood reported that Totah would star in a new comedy for NBC which she helped develop where Totah was set to produce alongside executive producers Adam and Naomi Scott. In 2017, she appeared in the Netflix detective comedy Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie and the Marvel Studios film Spider-Man: Homecoming.
In January 2017, Totah joined Adam Devine in the Disney feature film Magic Camp. In February 2017, Totah was cast as Michael Patel, the son of Mindy Kaling's character, Priya Patel, in the new NBC comedy Champions, 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 reboot for NBC's streaming service Peacock, 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

She attended a Catholic school growing up. She considers herself "semi-religious".
On August 20, 2018, Totah wrote an article published in Time magazine in which she came out as a transgender woman.
Totah attended Chapman University, graduating in 2022. She was a member of a sorority.

Filmography

YearFilmRoleNotes
2012Kroll ShowBirthday Party KidUnknown episodes
2013–2015JessieStuart WootenRecurring role, 7 episodes
2013–2014Back in the GameMichael LovetteSupporting role
2013Family Game NightSelfContestant
2014Nina Needs to Go!FrankMain voice role, television shorts
2014The ExesCooperEpisode: "My Fair Stuart"
2014Sofia the FirstPrince JinVoice role, 3 episodes
2014New GirlToddEpisode: "Dance"
20142 Broke GirlsElliotEpisode: "And the Childhood Not Included"
2015GleeMyron Muskovitz4 episodes
2016Tween FestStop the Preston4 episodes
2016–2017Liv and Maddie: Cali StyleSkeeter Parham3 episodes
2018ChampionsMichael PatelMain role
2019The Other TwoElijahEpisode: "Chase Goes to a High School Dance"
2019No Good NickLisa Haddad4 episodes
2020Big MouthNatalie 3 episodes
2020–2021Saved by the BellLexi Haddad-DeFabrizioMain role; producer
2021iCarlyWillowEpisode: "iFauxpologize"
2022Human ResourcesNatalie 2 episodes
2022Mr MayorTiti B3 episodes
2023–presentThe BuccaneersMabel ElmsworthMain role
TBACarrieTinaIn production