Joseph Fuqua

Joseph Bernard Fuqua (born May 3, 1962 in Washington, D.C.) is an American actor and playwrite. Joseph's parents were Brig. Gen. Stephen Ogden Fuqua Jr. (1911–1999) and Mary Ann Sherman Verspoor (1926–1967). Joseph's father remarried in 1969 to Frances Huston Spackman (née Hathaway), who adopted him 1971. At this point Joseph was the youngest of ten children. Joseph's grandfather was Maj. Gen. Stephen Ogden Fuqua (1874–1943), who was Chief of Infantry under President Herbert Hoover, and his great uncle was Henry L. Fuqua, Governor of Louisiana before Huey Long. Joseph attained his Actor's Equity card after a two year internship with The Cincinnati Playhouse in the park (this after three years at James Madison University). Joseph received his graduate level training at Yale Drama School and moved back to New York City upon graduation. He joined The Cuccaracha Theater of Soho and spent six years as a company member.

He is perhaps best known for his role as J.E.B. Stuart in the films Gettysburg and Gods and Generals. Joseph also appears in the film David Searching opposite Camryn Manheim. He also has an uncredited appearance as a stock broker in Ed's Next Move.

He has guest starred in such popular television series as The X-Files (in the episode "Synchrony"), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (in the episode "Rocks and Shoals"), Becker, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, The Profiler, G vs E, Brooklyn South and The Wright Verdicts. Joseph appeared in the pilots for Elementary and Numb3rs.

The great bulk of his work, however, has been in the legitimate theatre. Joseph has acted in over 100 plays over the past twenty-nine years, and has the honor of being the first permanent company member at the prestigious Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura, California. He has acted in twenty-four plays at Rubicon over the course of fourteen seasons (with his 25th appearance slated for Fall, 2012, in their 2011-2012 season). Joseph received an L.A. Ovation Award (Rubicon's first-ever Ovation Award) for his performance as George in Arthur Miller's All My Sons, directed by Rubicon Artistic Director James O'Neill.

Throughout his tenure at Rubicon, Joseph's versatility has been his defining characteristic, playing a variety of characters of different ages, types, dialects, and backgrounds. For Rubicon's 2006-2007 Balancing Acts season, Joseph took on an enormous challenge by tackling the title role in Shakespeare's Hamlet, under the direction of Rubicon Artistic Associate Jenny Sullivan, for which he received the 2007 Indy Award for Best Actor and the 2007 Santa Barbara Independent Award Leading Actor Award. His most recent appearance at Rubicon was as Elyot Chase in Private Lives (2011–2012). Joseph is slated to appear at Simon in the 2012-2012 RTC production of Our Town.

Along with acting at Rubicon, Joseph also is an instructor for their Adult Acting Classes, does private coaching, and served as Associate Director for their production of Jenny Sullivan's original play, J for J,and served as the play's director for the Los Angeles run starring John Ritter. He has directed the Youth Intern production of: This is Our Youth, and the Summer Youth productions of: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bard On A Wire, Macbeth, and The Life and Death of King John.

Joseph's stage appearances outside of Rubicon include: The Mystery of Irma Vep, Private Lives and Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks (Ensemble Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA), Fabuloso (Wellfleet Actors Harbor Theatre, Wellfleet, MA). Other regional theatre credits include The Arena Stage, Portland Stage, Dallas Theatre Center, Actor's Theatre of Louisville, South Coast Repertory, Santa Fe Stages, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, The Dallas Shakespeare Festival, The Manitoba Theater Center, The Edinburgh Festival, Studio Arena Buffalo, The American Stage Festival, People's Light and Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse and The Yale Repertory Theater.

Trivia: Joseph Fuqua is the First Cousin of the late Hercules Bellville. Brig. Gen Stephen Ogden Fuqua Jr, Joseph's father. was the only brother of Jeanette Fuqua Bellville who was Mr. Bellville's mother.