Josh Duhamel Biography

Joshua David Duhamel ( ; born November 14, 1972) is an American actor and former fashion model. After various modeling work, he made his acting debut as Leo du Pres on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children and later starred as Danny McCoy on NBC's Las Vegas.

Duhamel then ventured into film, appearing as one of the main protagonists in four of the Transformers films, most recently in the fifth entry, Transformers: The Last Knight (2017). He has also appeared in When in Rome (2010), Life as We Know It (2010), New Year's Eve (2011), Safe Haven (2013), and You're Not You (2014). In 2015, Duhamel co-starred on the short-lived CBS crime drama Battle Creek.

Early life

Duhamel was born in Minot, North Dakota. His mother, Bonnie L. Kemper, is a retired teacher and local businesswoman, and his father, Larry Duhamel, is an advertising salesman. He is of French-Canadian, Irish, English, German and Norwegian ancestry. Duhamel was raised Catholic.

His parents divorced during his youth. Although he remains close to both, he grew up with his mother and his three younger sisters, Ashlee, Kassidy and Mckenzee Duhamel. Duhamel attended Minot State University and played as the quarterback for the university's football team. He planned to attend dental school, but dropped out one-and-a-half credits shy of his undergraduate degree. He later completed his credits, and he received his degree in 2005.

Career

Duhamel has stated, "After college, I followed an ex-girlfriend to northern California, did a bunch of odd jobs." Duhamel had won the title of Male Model of the Year in an International Modeling and Talent Association (IMTA) competition in 1997 (the runner-up was actor Ashton Kutcher).

Duhamel began his acting career as an extra in the music videos for Donna Summer's "I Will Go With You (Con te partir)" and Christina Aguilera's "Genie in A Bottle" in 1999. Josh trained with Scott Sedita Acting Studios. Later that year, he won the role of Leo du Pres on the ABC soap opera All My Children. His work on the show, especially his character's pairing with Greenlee Smythe (portrayed by actor Rebecca Budig), garnered critical acclaim. In 2000, he posed fully nude for Greg Gorman's "As I See It" photography book.

In 2003, he earned a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for the Special Fan Award for America's Favorite Couple in 2002, shared with Budig, and a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Leo du Pres. Duhamel left All My Children in 2002 to pursue other acting opportunities. In 2003, Duhamel landed a primetime role on the NBC show Las Vegas, playing the head of security for the Montecito Casino, Danny McCoy. His character succeeded James Caan's as head of the casino after Caan departed the series at the end of the fourth season. The series ended in 2008.

Duhamel made his big-screen acting debut in 2004's Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! and continued on to star in the thriller Turistas (2006). After watching an episode of Las Vegas in which Duhamel's character had just returned from the war in Iraq, Steven Spielberg handpicked him for the role of Captain William Lennox in 2007's summer blockbuster film Transformers (a film for which Spielberg was the executive producer). Duhamel reprised the role in three of the sequels, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, released in June 2009, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, released in June 2011, and Transformers: The Last Knight, released in June 2017.

Duhamel was the official pace car driver for the 2009 Indianapolis 500, driving the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro Pace Car. In 2010, he played the lead role in the film When in Rome as Nick Beamon. In 2014 Duhamel starred in the touching drama You're Not You (2014) playing the husband of Kate (Hilary Swank), who suffers from the degenerative disease ALS.

On March 23, 2013, Duhamel hosted the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards, which was broadcast live from Los Angeles, California. He and his co-star from Safe Haven, Julianne Hough, performed a Safe Haven-themed showcase appearance via video on The Price is Right with Drew Carey.

Personal life

Duhamel met and began dating singer Stacy Ann Ferguson, better known by her stage name Fergie in September 2004, after Ferguson appeared on Duhamel's show Las Vegas with her band The Black Eyed Peas. The couple wed on January 10, 2009, in a Roman Catholic ceremony at the Church Estate Vineyards in Malibu, California. They have a son, Axl Jack Duhamel, born in August 2013. On September 14, 2017, the couple announced that they had separated earlier in the year.

Duhamel is a practicing Catholic and attends church.

In 2005, he became the co-owner of 10 North Main, a restaurant in Minot, North Dakota. In 2012, Duhamel was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame, a signature event of Norsk Hstfest.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	The Picture of Dorian Gray	Dorian Gray
2004	Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!	Tad Hamilton	Nominated "? Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Male Breakout Star Nominated "? Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liar
2006	Turistas	Alex	Nominated "? Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Horror/Thriller
2007	Transformers	Captain William Lennox	Nominated "? Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Rumble
2009	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	Major William Lennox
2010	The Romantics	Tom
2010	When in Rome	Nick Beamon
2010	Ramona and Beezus	Hobart
2010	Life as We Know It	Eric Messer	Nominated "? Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Romantic Comedy
2011	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Lieutenant Colonel William Lennox
2011	New Year's Eve	Sam Ahern
2012	Fire with Fire	Jeremy Coleman
2013	Movie 43	Anson	Segment: "Beezel"
2013	Safe Haven	Alex Wheatley
2013	Scenic Route (aka Wrecked)	Mitchell
2014	Wings	Ace (voice)
2014	You're Not You	Evan
2014	Lost in the Sun	John
2014	Don Peyote	Transient
2015	Bravetown	Alexander Weller
2016	Misconduct	Ben
2016	Spaceman	Bill "Spaceman" Lee
2017	This Is Your Death	Adam Rogers
2017	CHiPs	Rick
2017	Transformers: The Last Knight	Lt. Colonel William Lennox
2018	Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda	Jack Spier	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999-2002; 2011	All My Children	Leo du Pres	Contract role Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Nominated "? Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Nominated "? Daytime Emmy Special Fan Award: America's Favorite Couple Nominated "? Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Young Lead Actor
2002	Ed	Richard Reed	Episode: "The Shot"
2003-2008	Las Vegas	Danny McCoy	Main role, 106 episodes Nominated "? Teen Choice Award for Choice Breakout TV Star - Male Nominated "? Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actor - Drama/Action Adventure
2004-2007	Crossing Jordan	Danny McCoy	3 episodes
2008	The Replacements	Himself	Voice role, 3 episodes
2009-2012	Fanboy & Chum Chum	Oz	Voice role, 52 episodes
2011-2012	Bomb Patrol Afghanistan	Narrator	Voice role, 17 episodes
2012-2015	Jake and the Never Land Pirates	Captain Flynn	Voice role, 14 episodes
2015	Battle Creek	FBI Special Agent Milton Chamberlain	Main role, 13 episodes
2016	11.22.63	Frank Dunning	Recurring role, 4 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Skylanders: SuperChargers	High Volt (voice)
2017	Call of Duty: WWII	Sgt. William Pierson (voice and performance capture)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
2001	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	All My Children
	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Younger Lead Actor
2002	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
		Special Fan Award: America's Favorite Couple
2003	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
2004	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Breakout Star - Male	Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!
		Choice Movie Liar
		Choice Breakout TV Star - Male	Las Vegas
		Choice TV Actor - Drama/Action Adventure
2007	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actor: Horror/Thriller	Turistas
		Choice Movie Rumble:	Transformers
2011	Kids' Choice Awards	Best Actor, Arm Fart Hall of Fame
2011	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actor Romantic Comedy	Life as We Know It