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DJ Qualls

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DJ Qualls
Qualls in 2014
Born
Donald Joseph Qualls

(1978-06-10) June 10, 1978 (age 46)
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1994–present

Donald Joseph Qualls (born June 10, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his work in films including Road Trip (2000), The New Guy, (2002) and The Core (2003), and for appearances on television series such as Breaking Bad, Supernatural, Scrubs, Lost, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.[1] He co-starred in the FX comedy series Legit, the Syfy horror series Z Nation and the Amazon Studios show The Man in the High Castle.

Early life

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Qualls was born in Nashville, Tennessee, one of five children of Donnie and Janice Qualls. He was raised in Manchester, Tennessee, and attended school in nearby Tullahoma. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma at age fourteen. After two years of treatment, his cancer was said to be in remission. According to Qualls, the chemotherapy at an early age sped up his metabolism and affected his growth, "It stopped my development," which explains his slender frame.[2][3] After graduating from Coffee County Central High School in 1995, where he was an active member in the Red Raider Band, Qualls attended King's College London, where he studied English literature. He returned to Tennessee, enrolling at Belmont University in Nashville, where he also began acting in a local theater company.[citation needed]

Career

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Qualls was an extra in the 1994 HBO film Against the Wall. He landed the small role of Jason in the miniseries Mama Flora's Family (1998) while participating in community theater. After auditioning for a one-liner in Road Trip (2000), he was asked to come from the Atlanta office to meet producer Ivan Reitman in California. He debuted in Road Trip as shy virgin Kyle Edwards.[4] After this, he worked as a model for Prada and photographers such as David LaChapelle and Steve Klein.[5] In Cherry Falls (2000), he played Wally, another virgin. In 2001, he played Neil Lawrence in Chasing Holden.[6] Qualls also appeared as a Y2K prophet opposite Rami Malek in the sci-fi mystery thriller Buster's Mal Heart (2017).

In 2002, Qualls played Archie in the film Comic Book Villains, Andrew in the film Big Trouble, Junior in the film Lone Star State of Mind, Dizzy Gillespie Harrison in the film The New Guy, and Rat in the sci-fi film The Core.[7][unreliable source?] He starred in the comedy Delta Farce. In 2005, he appeared as Shelby in the film Hustle & Flow.[8] His television work includes eccentric hunter Garth Fitzgerald IV on Supernatural and appearances on Monk, Scrubs, Criminal Minds, Lost, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Numb3rs, My Name Is Earl, Breaking Bad, The Big Bang Theory, and Memphis Beat.

Qualls appeared in a cameo in Britney Spears' music video "Boys" (2002) and was also in the "I'm Just a Kid" music video by Simple Plan (2002). He starred in the Paramount Pictures web series Circle of Eight.[9][10] He co-starred on the television series Legit as Billy Nugent, a 33-year-old man with muscular dystrophy.

Personal life

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In January 2020, Qualls came out as gay on his Twitter account, stating he was "tired of worrying about what it would do to my career,"[11] after announcing it at a Jim Jefferies show in San Diego.[12] Prior to this, he had referenced his sexuality on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in the early 2010s.[13]

Qualls revealed in May 2024 that he is currently in a relationship with fellow Supernatural actor Ty Olsson, and that the two are engaged to be married.[14]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2000 Road Trip Kyle Edwards
2000 Cherry Falls Wally
2001 Chasing Holden Neil Lawrence
2002 Comic Book Villains Archie Co-producer
2002 Big Trouble Andrew
2002 Lone Star State of Mind Junior
2002 The New Guy Dizzy Gillespie Harrison / Gil Harris
2003 The Core Theodore Donald "Rat" Finch
2005 Hustle & Flow Shelby
2005 Little Athens Cory
2006 I'm Reed Fish Andrew
2007 Delta Farce Private Everett Shackleford
2008 Familiar Strangers Kenny Worthington
2008 The Company Man Guy Short film
2009 Road Trip: Beer Pong Kyle Edwards
2009 All About Steve Howard
2009 Circle of Eight Randall[15]
2010 Last Day of Summer Joe Executive producer
2010 Amigo Zeke
2011 Running Mates Graham "One Ball" Jones
2011 21 & Over Counselor
2013 Small Apartments Artie
2013 Pawn Shop Chronicles JJ
2016 November Rule Kareem
2016 Buster's Mal Heart Brown/Last Free Man
2017 Silence Please! Douglas Short film
2018 Fifty Minutes Mr. Potter Short film
2024 Carved Hulu release[16]

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1998 Mama Flora's Family Jason 2 episodes
2002 Scrubs Josh Episode: "My Student"
2005 Lost Johnny Episode: "Everybody Hates Hugo"
2005 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Robie Boatman Episode: "Scared Crazy"
2005 Criminal Minds Richard Slessman Episode: "Extreme Aggressor"
2005 Punk'd Himself Season 6, Episode 7
2006 Monk Rufus / Computer Geek Episode: "Mr. Monk and the Big Reward"
2006 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Henry Garden Episode: "Post-Mortem"
2007 Numb3rs Anthony Braxton Episode: "Primacy"
2007 My Name Is Earl Ray-Ray 3 episodes
2007 The Big Bang Theory Toby Loobenfeld Episode: "The Loobenfeld Decay"
2008 Good Behavior Donnie Stryker Television film
2009 Breaking Bad Getz Episode: "Better Call Saul"
2010 Memphis Beat Davey Sutton 20 episodes
2011–2020 Supernatural Garth Fitzgerald IV/Mr. Fizzles 6 episodes
2013 Hawaii Five-0 Marshall Demps Episode: "Kupouli 'la"
2013 Perception Agent Rudy Fleckner 5 episodes[17]
2013–2014 Legit Billy Nugent Main character (26 episodes)
2014–2018 Z Nation Citizen Z Series regular, 28 episodes
2015–2018 The Man in the High Castle Ed McCarthy Series regular, 30 episodes
2016 Time Traveling Bong Future Man 2 episodes
2016 Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry Himself 1 episodes
2017 Fargo Golem 2 episodes
2019 Creepshow Clark Willson 1 episode
2022 Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities Jenkins Brown (voice role) 1 episode

Music videos

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Year Artist Title Role Notes
2000 Barenaked Ladies "Pinch Me"
2000 Eels "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" Kyle Edwards Uncredited
2002 Simple Plan "I'm Just a Kid" Dizzy Gillespie Harrison / Gil Harris Uncredited
2002 Britney Spears "Boys"

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Nominated work Result
2006 12th Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (shared with the cast)
Hustle & Flow
 Nominated

References

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  1. ^ "DJ Qualls Biography". Yahoo! Movies. Archived from the original on December 21, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  2. ^ "Hi, Im DJ Qualls. Im an actor from such movie masterpieces as Road Trip, The New Guy, Hustle & Flow, and Sandra Bullock's razzie award winning film, All About Steve. I recur on Supernatural, Perception, and am a regular on the FX series Legit. • r/IAmA". reddit. March 21, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  3. ^ Abrams, Tamar (August 19, 2010). "DJ Qualls: Putting the "Character" in Character Actor". HuffPost. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  4. ^ Mark Plante (January 28, 2008). "DJ Qualls Interview for Hustle and Flow". The Cinema Source. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012.
  5. ^ Steve Head (April 4, 2003). "A Conversation with DJ Qualls". IGN. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  6. ^ Bonnie Laufer (May 10, 2002). "Star Chat: A conversation with DJ Qualls". Tribute MovieMail Newsletter.
  7. ^ Bonnie Laufer (March 21, 2003). "Star Chat: A conversation with DJ Qualls". Tribute MovieMail Newsletter.
  8. ^ Jenny Halper (July 25, 2005). "INTERVIEW: DJ Qualls on "Hustle & Flow"". Cinema Confidential. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011.
  9. ^ "Finale of Paramount's Circle of Eight Now LIVE!". Dread Central. June 25, 2012.
  10. ^ Heyman, Jessie (September 26, 2011). "D.J. Qualls Tweets: Beaten By Vancouver Police For No Reason". HuffPost. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  11. ^ Bollinger, Alex (January 13, 2020). "Actor DJ Qualls comes out as gay". LGBTQ Nation. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  12. ^ Qualls, DJ [@TheOnlyDJQualls] (January 10, 2020). "It is 11:20pm. I just came out on stage at a @jimjefferies show in San Diego. Yep, I'm gay. Been gay this whole time. Tired of worrying about what people would think of me. Tired of worrying about what it would do to my career" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. ^ "11/12 Visits In Chrono. Order [Mostly HD]". June 9, 2017. Retrieved November 1, 2023 – via YouTube.
  14. ^ "Spotify". open.spotify.com. 16:36. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  15. ^ "Join Paramount's Circle of Eight". Dread Central. May 23, 2012.
  16. ^ "Peyton Elizabeth Lee To Star In Hulu's Horror Comedy 'Carved'". movies.mxdwn.com.
  17. ^ "Exclusive: DJ Qualls Returns to TNT for Perception". TV Guide.
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