What happened to Josh Holloway after the whirlwind success of Lost came to an end? What does an actor who once struggled to book guest roles do after the gleam of his big break wears off? We’ve got the whole story for you right here.
Holloway was born in 1969 in San Jose, California, the second of four brothers. When he was two, he moved with his family into a trailer in Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. His acting career got a huge break in 1993 in the form of the Aerosmith music video for “Cryin,'” when he played a thief who tries to snatch Alicia Silverstone’s purse. He eventually started grabbing TV guest roles on shows like Angel and CSI. His most significant pre-Lost project was perhaps the 2002 Sci-Fi original movie Sabretooth, in which he fights to survive the rampage of a prehistoric cat. But he was struggling so much that he almost quit acting to become a realtor in 2004. Later that year, though, his career really took off into the stratosphere.
In TV’s streaming age, it’s hard to convey just how big a deal Lost was in its heyday. Averaging over 15 million viewers a week during its first season, it inspired the sort of obsessive fan culture that makes even Game of Thrones viewers blush. In the modern media era where nerd culture reigns supreme, it might be difficult to appreciate how uniquely dedicated Lost’s fanbase was. As loveable rogue James “Sawyer” Ford, Holloway instantly shot into stardom in a way he probably never imagined possible.
One might think becoming a household name overnight would do wonders for Holloway’s acting career, but that actually wasn’t the case, at least not at first. During Lost’s 2004 to 2010 run, the only outside projects he worked on were just a few low-budget films. It isn’t hard to see why this was the case, as he and his family spent most of the year in Hawaii while he was shooting the the ABC series. Keep watching the video to see what happened to the actor who played Sawyer on Lost!
#SawyerLost #JoshHolloway
Getting Lost | 0:15
Double-edged sword | 1:31
Gaining Intelligence | 2:30
Joining a Colony | 3:12
A trip to Yellowstone | 3:52