Actor Joshua Rush Reaches His ‘Break Point’

For young actor Joshua Rush, Break Point could very well be the role that serves as his break-out-point as an actor. With a resume filled with some pretty pedigreed voice work (Family Guy, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Disney’s Lion King spinoff The Lion Guard), Rush now turns in an eye-catching screen performance in Break Point as Barry, a spirited little dude who calls it like he sees it. Break Point is somewhat of a combo of an underdog sports comedy and a quirky family drama in that two estranged brothers–Jeremy Sisto of Suburgatory and David Walton of TV’s About A Boy-team up despite their loathe/love relationship for an improbable attempt at a tennis doubles Grand Slam tournament. Whiplash‘s JK Simmons, or “OSCAR WINNER JK Simmons” as Joshua is quick to point out, plays dad to the sparring bros while Amy Smart rounds out the cast as the object of one of the brothers’ affections. YE was lucky enough to get to chat with Joshua about Break Point, his character Barry, and the possibility of breaking out.

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Walton, Sisto, and Rush as Barry In ‘Break Point’

In our chat, Joshua is confident, enthusiastic, and very quick witted, not unlike his Barry of Break Point. “I think everyone has a little Barry in them,” he says. The word Joshua uses to describe Barry is “flamboyant… He marches to the beat of a very different drum,” the actor says of his character. Josh as Barry definitely holds his own against his older and seasoned costars, and with perfect comedic timing, we might add. When speaking about the opportunity to work with the famous adults of Break Point, Joshua gets a bit fanboy, especially when talking about “Oscar winner” JK Simmons. He gushes about JK’s abilities and talents saying that JK’s success is beyond well-deserved, and that JK’s dry sense of humor was crazy fun to work with, but that also there was a lot to learn from working with such a well-versed actor. JK’s career trajectory from character actor to high profile Oscar winner is certainly proof that hard work in Hollywood pays off, and we asked Joshua if that’s a path he’d like to see his own career take. But in a very Barry-type way, Joshua skipped right to the point: “I want to play James Bond,” he says. “I’m gonna be honest with you, I just really really wanna play James Bond. He’s so cool! I’d have to brush up on my British accent though.” Josh, like Barry, doesn’t stand on ceremony, and he goes right for the gold! 

In addition to JK and James Bond, Joshua gets all fanboy about a few other things during our talk. He can’t control his enthusiasm for HBO comedy Silicon Valley, saying that he loves the acerbic humor of the show and loves seeing the jokes land week after week. He also swoons for Brit indie rockers (and Mercury Prize winners) Alt-J, professing his love for their debut album An Awesome Wave (which is definitely the better album).

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Joshua is also over the moon about his work in The Lion King spinoff The Lion Guard premiering as a TV movie on Disney this fall before becoming a full-fledged series in 2016. Josh describes The Lion Guard as The Avengers meets The Lion King,” and he describes his character Bunga as “foolish. But brave. But brave only because he doesn’t always think before he jumps in to things.” As Bunga, Joshua says he definitely provides some of the comic relief for the Disney project, not dissimilar from his role as outspoken Barry. We asked Joshua if comedy, then, was his preferred genre, the path he’d like his career to take as it certainly seems to be right in his wheelhouse. But Joshua wants to do it all: “I like doing both, comedy and drama. They both can have their drawbacks, but the payoff is great.”

With versatility like that, not to mention such a go-getter attitude (re: James Bond), it’s entirely possible that the scene stealing role of Barry may be only the first of many for young actor Joshua Rush.

Be sure to check out Joshua as the voice of Bunga when The Lion Guard hits Disney in November. Also, don’t miss Joshua as outspoken Barry in Break Point, out in theaters September 4th but On Demand and on streaming services like Google Play now before it hits theaters.

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