Joshua Leonard (born 17 June 1975 in Houston, Texas) is an American actor, most famous for his role in The Blair Witch Project.
Leonard is the son of a theater professor. He was raised in State College, Pennsylvania. When he was six, he was convinced by his father to appear in plays like Life With Father. However, when he reached his teens, he decided he didn't want to act. He pushed to obtain his GED at age 16 and underwent survival training with Outward Bound as preparation for a year and a half stay in Mexico where he volunteered with a youth services organization. After teaching poor children in Puebla, working as a gardener and hiking through the jungles of Central and South America, Leonard returned to the U.S. to spend a year at Penn State. He then decided to head to Manhattan and try his luck as a filmmaker and photographer.
In New York, Leonard found work taking portraits of musicians, toiled as a band promoter, acted in occasional student films, and worked in various production capacities on shorts and documentaries. In 1998, he auditioned for and landed one of the three principal roles in The Blair Witch Project. Although he reportedly only earned an initial salary of $500, the experience proved rewarding in other ways as the film combined acting and photography — two things he enjoyed. After the premier screening at Sundance and the subsequent hype of the film, Leonard found himself in the spotlight, appearing in magazine covers and getting roles for other movies. Ultimately, he earned $4 million from the revenues of the film.
In 2000, he appeared in HBO's Sacrifice, starring Michael Madsen and Bokeem Woodbine, and in In the Weeds, starring Eric Bogosian and Molly Ringwald. Leonard made his studio film debut with Cuba Gooding, Jr. in Men of Honor. He followed with an appearance in Scott Kalvert's Deuces Wild in 2001. In 2004, he starred in the horror film Madhouse .
