In the new Netflix comedy-drama Moxie, Josie Totah plays the character CJ.
This young mastermind is an actor, writer and producer. While often recognized for her role as Stuart Wooten in Disney’s Jessie, Totah has gone on to work with many popularized television shows and movies.
Who is Josie Totah?
After starring in the television series Jessie, Totah went on to be cast in the final season of Glee and made appearances in Disney’s Liv and Maddie. She also played a brief role in Spider-Man: Homecoming as Seymour, a student at Midtown High.
Most recently, she played Michael Patel in the comedy series The Champions, alongside the comedic legends Anders Holm, Mindy Kaling and Fortune Feimster. Totah then went on to produce and star in NBC’s Saved by the Bell continuation. She plays the popular cheerleader Lexi Haddad-DeFabrizio.
In 2018, Totah came out as transgender in a Times Magazine article which she wrote herself. She said, “I know now, more than ever, that I’m finally ready to take this step toward becoming myself. I’m ready to be free.”
She bravely shared how staying hush about her gender identity affected her throughout her past roles. She wrote, “It was fun to see her [Lea Michele on Glee] and the other girls wear dresses and put on lavish musical numbers. But it was also hard, because I wanted that to be me. It’s a feeling I’ve experienced in nearly every project I’ve worked on.”
Totah in Moxie
In Moxie, Totah’s character CJ is a transgender aspiring actor who felt dissuaded from trying out for the role of Audrey in her school’s musical production of Little Shop of Horrors. The character confides in her Moxie gal-pals that people at the school also refuse to use her new name.
Totah shared a picture with her castmate Alycia Pascual-Peña, who joined the cast of Moxie as Lucy. Her caption read, “We made a movie called #Moxie and it comes out on @Netflix on March 3…”
In an interview with Huffington Post, Totah spoke about how CJ is a step in a new, more progressive direction for transgender characters. She said, “I would love to see more trans projects which are not always associated with trans trauma and that experience.”
Totah added, “I felt that it’s important to the story – she wasn’t just transgender to be a diversity character. It contributed to the arc of the overall film, which was basically these girls being suppressed and oppressed by these men that were upholding a patriarchal structure against them.”
Moxie is currently streaming on Netflix.