He grew up in front of the camera. At just five years old, Joseph Mazzello began his acting career by starring in Presumed Innocent (1990) and has never – really – left the big and small screens since.
“I come from a show business family,” he explained in an interview with the magazine “Schön!”. » in 2018. And added: “My parents were dancers, my dad performed on Broadway and they opened a dance studio together. »
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Promising beginnings
Enough to inspire her big sister, who spent her time imitating her parents’ choreography. So they came up with the idea of casting him, assuming that the money he earned would later cover his college costs.
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“I started memorizing his audition lines and playing them to my parents, who thought, ‘Maybe we should do the same thing with Joe.’ And that’s how it started,” Joseph Mazzello said.
Steven Spielberg’s call
Joseph Mazzello first starred in the television film “Unspeakable Acts” (1990). After starring with Harrison Ford in Presumed Innocent (1990), he starred opposite Elijah Wood in Bobby’s Dream (1992).
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Joseph Mazzello gained fame through the role of Tim Murphy in “Jurassic Park” (1994) by Steven Spielberg. The director had auditioned the young actor for Book or the Revenge of Captain Hook (1991).
Steven Spielberg had not hired Joseph Mazzello because he was considered too young for the role, but he had promised to call him back. And he did it. The 10-year-old found himself in the cast of “Jurassic Park” alongside Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum.
A busy break
Joseph Mazzello continued his career and made a number of films…until high school: “When I was in high school I turned down a lot of roles and told my agent last year that I was taking a break” , he confided.
He wanted to focus on going to college. In 2001, he was accepted into the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of South Carolina (USC). Studies that he financed thanks to his fee for his appearance in “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (1997).
“I graduated from the University of South Carolina and as I was making student films and acting in my friends’ projects, I realized that my break had been quite long and that I could move on,” he said.
Steven Spielberg, the return
Therefore, Joseph Mazzello returned to films in the late 2000s. We saw him in “The Social Network” (2010) by David Fincher and in the series “L’enfer du Pacifique” (2010), produced by Tom. Hanks… and Steven Spielberg.
Rami Malek and Joseph Mazzello in the series “Hell in the Pacific” (2010) © “Hell in the Pacific” / HBO
“The last two castings were against Spielberg and although he was very happy to see me, it was clear straight away that I had to prove myself to get the role, which I did – luckily,” he always remembered “Nice!” “.
Much more stressful auditions than those for “Jurassic Park”: “Because as a child I had no idea who Spielberg was. “He was just a pretty nice guy with a beard,” joked Joseph Mazzello.
The front of the screen
Since then, Joseph Mazzello has starred in the film “GI Joe: Conspiracy” (2013), the series “Person of Interest” (2014) and “Elementary” (2016), as well as the biopic about Freddie Mercury and Queen: “Bohemian Rhapsody” (2018). .
Alongside Rami Malek, whom he met on the set of “L’Enfer du Pacific”, Joseph Mazzello plays bassist John Deacon. For the casting, he learned to play “Another one bites the dust,” but the only criteria that interested Bryan Singer was that he could imitate the “British” accent.
A child’s dream
Joseph Mazzello also tried his hand at directing, first with the short film “Matters of Life and Death” in 2007, then with the feature film “Undrafted” in 2015, for which he also wrote the script and took care of the production.
A childhood dream. Joseph Mazzello found newspaper clippings his mother had kept from when he was starring in “Bobby’s Dream” (1992): “I said I wanted to be a director one day. I think this is something I’ve always wanted to do. »
While he waits for his next production, Joseph Mazzello, who celebrated his 40th birthday in September 2023, will soon be seen in “Unexpected” with Anna Camp.