Joseph Hursley (born March 19, 1979) is an actor and musician living in Los Angeles, California. He portrayed Otto in Resident Evil: Extinction.
Background[]
Hursley is proud to have been born and raised in Austin, Texas. His grandfather, Frank M. Hursley co-created the long running soap General Hospital. While his father Greg Hursley[1] is a talented architectural photographer, his mother, Kelle, is a nurse living in Austin. Hursley began his entertainment career after participating in the Schick "Groove n' Smooth" national talent search in 1999 (sponsored by Playboy). He was on vacation when he spotted the contest from the road. On a whim, he signed up and was chosen first to perform in front of a massive crowd. Hursley won that talent search and went on to start his own karaoke company at the tender age of 19. Karaoke Joe performed 500 shows over the course of the next few years. He developed quite a following in Austin. During his sold out final show he turned out a storied performance where he hung from a ceiling fan and broke a table. At age 24, he decided to pursue his passion and moved to Los Angeles, California.
Career[]
After working some odd jobs Hursley made his acting debut starring in MTV's 2005 reality prankster series You've Got a Friend.[2] The show was produced by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg. Hursley dove at the chance to play the slightly sinister roles each episode offered. He pushed the limits by getting the contestents to bend to his every whim. The show lent to his talents of improvising realistic, silly, and subversive comedy. His task was to play different "obnoxious friend" personas for hours on end and try to get the unsuspecting contestants to give up. It proved an entertaining but short lived series. After YGAF, Kutcher tapped him to join the Punk'd cast where he stumped various celebrities.
In late 2004, Hursley started the rock n' roll band The Ringers who have recently released their second album "Headlocks and Highkicks". Although there is a stigma surrounding most actors/musicians, Hursley seems to enjoy doing both and The Ringers were recently featured in music magazine SPIN.[3] It helped to shake off the stigma as he had previously proved when he played Maurice in the 2006 comedy film Accepted. The Ringers ended up not only in the film, but, on the soundtrack as well.
2007 brought more diverse roles. He portrayed, Otto, in the third installment of the film series Resident Evil: Extinction; and Rob, a creepy diner patron, alongside Jake Busey in Broken. Then in 2008, it must have been a culmination of his performing prowess and improv skills when Hursley starred as faux rock god White Gold in California Milk Processor Board's successful commercial campaign. In 2009, he had a brief cameo as a mechanic in Fast & Furious.
Throughout his career Hursley has had various roles in commercials and TV.[4][5] Most recently, guest starring roles on Monk and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.