After high school Josh Feinsilber, 12, wants to be the CEO of his own technology company. That’s one of his passions. But his other is performing.
He is already in his third main stage appearance at Village Theatre.
With no vocal training or prior experience, Feinsilber got where he is because he has a gift.
“My brother’s friend’s sister is an actor,” he said. “I went to one of her shows and I was inspired, so I auditioned for the kid’s stage.”
That was for “Hairspray,” and he didn’t get the part. No worries. He was referred to the Main Stage, auditioned for “Annie Get Your Gun,” where he landed the role as Annie Oakley’s brother, Little Jake. He followed that performance as a young boy in “Fiddler on the Roof,” at Village. Additionally he played the role of Winthrop in “The Music Man” at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theater.
In Les Mis, Josh plays Gavroche, the character that was possibly inspired by a figure in Delacroix’s painting “Liberty Leading the People,” and dies in the end. When asked how he felt about getting killed off in Les Mis, Feinsilber said he loves it.
“I like serious scenes rather than cheesy scenes,” he said. “I will always go for a serious character. I like to be a character who has a problem.”
Feinsilber is an alto, with no formal voice training. It just comes naturally. When he auditioned for “Annie Get Your Gun” he began with a monologue he made up on stage about America having a pie war with another country, then he sang “The Lazy Song,” by Bruno Mars he said.
Now he is enrolled in Village Theatre’s Institute Program, where he receives ongoing training for singing, dancing and acting every Monday. That with performing in Les Mis has made Village Theatre like a second home because he’s there seven days a week.
He balances all of this with being a seventh-grade student at Pacific Cascade Middle School, and studying for his Bar Mitzvah coming up next June at Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Bellevue.
His film debut is coming up in 2014, when “One Square Mile” is released. He was referred to the talent agency Big Fish NW Talent where he auditioned and got the part of young Drew, the main character. Young Drew is seen in flashbacks.
“One Square Mile,” filmed in Seattle, is about a teen, played by actor Kelly Blatz, lost and depressed, finding his way out of a tragedy at home and meeting a running coach, played by Academy Award nominee Richard Jenkins, who mentors the young man and helps him find his own possibilities and a positive sense of self.
Academy Award winner Kim Basinger plays the mother of the lead character. Feinsilber met Basinger.
“I didn’t really know who she was,” he said. “She had a person who held an umbrella wherever she went to shield her from the sun.”
He said most of the filming was around Lake Washington.
“I thought the movie experience was fun — I’m very interested in the technology behind the scenes,” he said. “I like the process.”
What he doesn’t like is that he made friends on the set who he doesn’t get to see anymore because they go to different schools.
Besides making movies, studying and performing in Les Mis, he also volunteers his services at the new MOD pizza in the Issaquah Highlands where he lives. When he was performing at the 5th Avenue Theater, he’d go to the MOD pizza nearby. When the one in Issaquah opened, the owners recognized him, so he now trades labor for pizza.
Feinsilber played violin last year, but changed his elective this year to video production.
As far as girls go — because with his beautiful smile and bright dark eyes he could be a lady killer — he’s waiting until college so he doesn’t leave someone behind if they go to different schools.
But with his charm, talent and drive, this young man may not have a choice on the matter.
