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Josh MacDonald

Josh MacDonald is a writer & actor living in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. His feature screenplay The Corridor, a horror/thriller, went before cameras in February 2010, starring James Gilbert (The Tudors), Stephen Chambers (Casino Jack), David Flemming (North/South) and directed by Evan Kelly. The movie will debut on the festival circuit in the Fall of 2010.

Josh's comedy-drama feature Faith, Fraud & Minimum Wage was shot in April 2009, starring Martha MacIsaac (Superbad), Callum Keith Rennie (Californication, Battlestar Galactica), Ricky Mabe (Zach and Miri Make a Porno), Andrew Bush (Picnicface) and directed by George Mihalka (My Bloody Valentine). The movie will be released in theatres by Seville Pictures/ Entertainment One in October 2010.

The screenplay for Faith, Fraud & Minimum Wage was based upon Josh's original play Halo, a stage piece commissioned, produced and toured by Two Planks & A Passion Theatre during Josh's time as the company's Writer-In-Residence (2001). Halo has since been produced by many theatre companies across North America, from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, California to New York State. Published by Talonbooks, Halo has gone into a 3rd Printing, and is a curriculum title in various high schools and universities in Canada.

Whereverville was also commissioned and toured by Two Planks and a Passion Theatre. The play was shortlisted for The National Arts Centre's "On The Verge" Festival, and is also published by Talonbooks. Whereverville will be produced by The New Curtain Theatre in Clarenville, NF in October 2010.

Josh is the creator of the award-winning short movie Degrees, which has played at film festivals across the country. Also a successful stage play, Degrees was most recently produced at the Theatre On The Edge Festival, Saint John Theatre Company, N.B. in 2009. Degrees is available in book form directly from The Playwrights Guild of Canada.

Josh's family "tween" screenplay, Over Under Through, was a Top 4 finalist at The Canadian Screenwriting Awards. Josh has also written episodes of Collideascope / Teletoon's Olliver's Adventures.

Josh's other short films as a writer include: This 2 Shall Pass, Dealer, Ties That Bind (Yorkton Film Festival multiple award nominee) and Deadlines - all of which have played festivals and/or television.

Josh also works as a story editor/ dramturge for the screen and stage. His credits include Roller Town, Disturbance, There Are Monsters, The Con Artist, Suburban Zombie Christmas in 3D, Cheap Draft, Fuel and Toronto Adventures.

Josh was the playwriting instructor at Dalhousie University in 2006-2007, and he has also taught at the Neptune Theatre School and The Nova Scotia High School Drama Festival. Josh remains a very active member of the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia's "Writers In the Schools Program," which works to inspire students from Grade Primary to Grade Twelve in finding their own creative voices.

As a performer, Josh is the winner of a Best Actor prize (from the Atlantic Film Festival) for his work in Degrees. On stage, he has performed frequently at theatres across the country, most recently appearing in The Ross Creek Centre for the Arts' award-winning outdoor production of The Odyssey. Among his filmed credits, Josh played Captain Kid on the YTV children's series Pirates, appeared with Kelsey Grammer in The Real Howard Spitz, and can be seen for 38/100th of a second in the blockbuster movie Titanic.

Along with Shawn Majumder and Rose Cousins, Josh was a celebrity judge for Canada Writes / GO on CBC Radio in 2009. Josh has also been featured as a cover story for The Coast weekly and has been selected as one of the "100 Things to Love About Halifax" by HFX weekly. He is a graduate of Concordia University in Montreal, Que., with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Specialization in Theatre Performance.