Josh Duhamel on his most memorable roles: Tad Hamilton , Transformers , Jupiter's Legacy , and more
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Josh Duhamel is in a super career phase — and not just because he plays the patriarch of a superpowered family on the just-released Netflix show Jupiter's Legacy. When EW recently called him up to talk about his most memorable roles, the actor was shooting the action-comedy Shotgun Wedding with an old bud: J. Lo. "We hung out years ago, me and her and Fergie," said Duhamel, 48, who was formerly married to the Black Eyed Peas singer. "Now I get to make a movie with her. I'm having a blast."
<em>All My Children</em> (1999–2002)
Duhamel's big break came playing the character Leo du Pres on ABC soap All My Children. "I said to myself, I'm going to dive in headfirst, because I don't know what plan B is," he recalls. "It was a big deal. I have no regrets."
<em>Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!</em> (2004)
The actor portrayed a bad-boy movie star opposite Kate Bosworth's supermarket cashier in DreamWorks rom-com Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!. "I went in to read, I knew it was between me and like three or four other guys," he says. "The story goes that Steven Spielberg looked at the screen tests and [said], 'If I was making this movie, I'd hire him.' I loved working with Kate Bosworth, and Topher [Grace], and Ginny Goodwin. I just had a blast making that movie."
<em>Transformers</em> (2007)
Transformers EP Spielberg also suggested the actor for the role of Captain Lennox in the robot blockbuster. "He's my guardian angel," says Duhamel. But? "He's never hired me for one of his movies, so maybe he's not that big of a fan," he adds, laughing.
<em>Love, Simon</em> (2018)
The actor played the dad of a closeted teen in charming coming-of-age film Love, Simon. "I liked that this guy didn't know how to deal with finding out his son was gay, but he was willing to listen," he says.
<em>Buddy Games</em> (2019)
Duhamel starred in and directed the critically-mauled comedy about old friends who compete against one another in a series of contests. "Buddy Games is always going to be near and dear to me," he says. "It's the first time I've ever seen anything from the inception all the way through to distribution. Just the amount of work, and the amount of obstacles, and the amount of battles and horse-trading that you have to do to get anything made gives me a whole new respect for the making of anything. I love raunchy comedies and that's what I set out to make. We got beat up, but I'm proud of it."
<em>Jupiter's Legacy</em> (2021)
As superhero the Utopian, Duhamel's fights aren't just with baddies in Jupiter's Legacy. "He can do anything, except deal with his daughter," says the actor. "I'm not a big superhero [fan] — it's just not something that I follow very closely. I wasn't really looking to do anything like this. But then I read the script and I was like, this is such a different take on the whole genre, because it was more of a family drama. It doesn't matter who you are, you're still dealing with the human aspect of life and how to raise kids."
Watch the trailer for Jupiter's Legacy above.
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