Josh Brolin
☼ Born on 12 December 1968, in Santa Monica, California, USA
Biography
Rugged features and a natural charm have worked for Josh Brolin, the son of actor James Brolin. He has played roles as a policeman, a hunter, and the President of the United States.
Brolin was born February 12, 1968 in Santa Monica, California, to Jane Cameron (Agee), a Texas-born wildlife activist, and James Brolin. Josh was not interested at first in the lifestyle of the entertainment business, in light of his parents' divorce, and both of them being actors. However, during junior year in high school, he took an acting class to see what it was like. He played Stanley in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and became hooked. His first major screen role was as the older brother in the film The Goonies (1985), based on a story by Steven Spielberg. He then immediately moved on to work on television, taking roles on such series as Pilot (1987) and The Young Riders (1989). "Private Eye" was a chance for Brolin to play a detective. "The Young Riders" was set just before the Civil War, and was co-directed by Brolin's father, James Brolin.
After The Young Riders (1989), Brolin moved back to the big screen, with mediocre success. He played a supporting role in The Road Killers (1994), but the film was not a success. He followed up with the crime film Gang in Blue (1996), the romantic film Bed of Roses (1996), the thriller film Nightwatch (1997), and appeared with his father in My Brother's War (1997). However, nothing truly stuck out, especially not the box office flop The Mod Squad (1999). Th
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e 2000s initially brought no significant change in Brolin's career. He appeared in the independent film Slow Burn (2000), the sci-if thriller Hollow Man (2000) and starred on the television series Mister Sterling (2003). In 2004, he married actress Diane Lane but later divorced in 2013.
It was not until 2007 that Brolin received much acclaim for his films. He took a supporting role in the Quentin Tarantino-written Grindhouse (2007) which was a two-part film accounting two horror stories. He also played two policemen that year: corrupt officer Nick Trupo in the crime epic American Gangster (2007), and an honest police chief in the emotional drama In the Valley of Elah (2007) which starred Tommy Lee Jones and was directed by Paul Haggis. However, it was his involvement in No Country for Old Men (2007) that truly pushed him into the limelight. The film, directed by the Coen brothers, was about a man (Brolin) who finds a satchel containing two million dollars in cash. He is pursued by an unstoppable assassin (Javier Bardem, who won an Oscar for his work) and his friend, a local sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones). The film won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Brolin found high-profile work the next year, being cast as Supervisor Dan White in the film Milk (2008). His performance as the weak and bitter politician earned him an Oscar nomination, and Brolin received more praise for his fascinating portrayal of George W. Bush in the Oliver Stone film W. (2008). Despite the mediocre success of W. (2008), he was recognized as the best part of the film, and Milk (2008) was another triumph, critically and commercially.
Brolin then acted in the smaller comedy Women in Trouble (2009) before landing a number of large roles in 2010. The first of these was the film based on the comic book figure Jonah Hex (2010). The film was a box office flop and critically panned, but Brolin also forged a second collaboration with legendary director Oliver Stone for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010). Brolin played a large role alongside such young stars as Carey Mulligan and Shia LaBeouf, and older thespians such as Michael Douglas, Eli Wallach, and Frank Langella. Brolin's character was Bretton James, a top banker in the film, and also the film's chief antagonist. Brolin also appeared in Woody Allen's London-based film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) and a second collaboration with the Coen Brothers, which was a remake of True Grit (1969).
Despite his earlier mediocre success and fame, Brolin has maintained a choosiness in his films and, recently, these choices have paid off profoundly. Hopefully, he continues this streak of good fortune that his talents have finally given him.
In the role of actor
Dune: Part Two (01/03/2024)
Sean Kelly on Movies Podcast Dune: Part Two Play Episode Pause Episode Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds 1x Fast Forward 30 seconds 00:00 / 00:06:16 Subscribe Share Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify RSS Feed Share Link Embed Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:06:16 | Recorded on March 5, 2024Subscribe: Apple Podcasts […]
Dune: Part One (24/10/2021)
A new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel hits the big screen with Dune: Part One. In 10191 A.G., Duke Leto I (Oscar Isaac) of House Atreides is assigned by the Emperor to the desert planet of Arrakis to takeover harvesting of the precious substance melange, also known as “spice.” Leto’s son Paul (Timothée […]
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The war against the Mexican drug cartels heats up in Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Following a suicide bombing in Texas, where the terrorists sneaked in through the Mexican border, CIA Special Activities Division agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) is assigned by Secretary of Defense James Riley (Matthew Modine) to help instigate a war between the Mexican cartels, as […]
Deadpool 2 (19/05/2018)
The merc with the mouth returns to the big screen in Deadpool 2. Following the loss of his love Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), fall into a suicidal funk, until he is brought on by Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) as a trainee member of the X-Men. On his first mission, he encounters troubled […]
Avengers: Infinity War (28/04/2018)
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Brothers (25/04/2016)
The childhood of two siblings are documented by their filmmaker mother in Brothers. Aslaug Holm has been filming the lives of her sons Marcus and Lukas since birth. Events such as Lukas’ first day at school and Marcus’ soccer aspirations are captured over the course of around eight years. As the boys progressively get older, Holm […]
Hail, Caesar! (08/02/2016)
The Coen Brothers play homage to classic Hollywood in the kidnapping comedy Hail, Caesar!. Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is the head of production at Capital Pictures, who is supervising the production of multiple motion pictures, the highest profile of which being the biblical epic Hail, Caesar! A Story of The Christ. When the film’s star Baird Whitlock […]
Sicario (05/10/2015)
An FBI agent finds herself part of a morally ambiguous anti-drug task force in Sicario. Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is an agent of the FBI Special Weapons and Tactics Team, who uncovers dozens of bodies in the walls of a house in Arizona. With this being the result of Mexican cartel activity, Kate volunteers to Department of […]
Inherent Vice (31/12/2014)
Paul Thomas Anderson returns with this adaptation of the novel by Thomas Pynchon. Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is a private investigator, who is visited by his old flame Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston), who wants help involving her missing boyfriend Mickey Wolfmann (Eric Roberts). Doc’s investigation results in him crossing paths with Lt. Det. […]
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (23/08/2014)
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Men in Black III (27/05/2012)
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Radioman (01/05/2012)
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True Grit (24/12/2010)
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Jonah Hex (19/06/2010)
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Milk (04/12/2008)
Gus Van Sant returns somewhat to the mainstream (for the first time since 2000’s Finding Forrester with this biopic about the assassinated politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay man elected into public office and fought hard for gay rights in the United States. The film is presented using both documentary and filmed […]
No Country for Old Men (11/11/2007)
During their career, the Coen brothers went back and forth between dark dramas and comedies. During the 11 1/2 years since the release of Fargo, they really leaned onto the latter with only 2001’s The Man Who Wasn’t There being the only real non-comedy released during that time. As such, you can call No Country […]
American Gangster (03/11/2007)
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