Josef Brown

Current Role

Josef Brown is currently playing the lead role of Johnny Castle in smash hit West End show, Dirty Dancing. The show is currently being shown at the Aldwych Theatre in London and has had rave reviews and sell-out performances since opening in 2006.

Early Life

Josef Brown was born in Australia and started dancing as a teenager. He claims that the character of Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing helped him to feel more comfortable about being a male dancer.

Josef Brown is a professionally trained dancer. He trained at the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne and the McDonald College of the Arts in Sydney, Australia. Josef was a member of The Australian Ballet from 1991 to 1996 and was promoted to solo dancer during this time. From 1997 to 2004 Josef was a leading dancer with the Sydney Dance Company and participated in international tours.

As a successful dancer, Josef Brown has performed all over the world. He was a member of the Modern Dans Topluluguu dance company in Turkey, has performed in dance productions in Australia and New Zealand and has toured internationally with the Sydney Dance Company.

A vegetarian for most of the last decade, Josef Brown has said that he cares about animals and would like to one day think about becoming a vegan. He claims that his vegetarian diet is also partially responsible for his physique.

Career Highlights

In addition to performing in a number of ballets with the dance companies listed above, Josef Brown has also performed as a singer/dancer in Man of La Mancha. In 2003, Josef received a grant from the Australia Council for the Arts which he used to film a short documentary in Palestine. This film work, Art During Seige, was shown on ABC TV in 2005.

Josef was the co-creator of a children's dance workshop at the Sydney Opera House and was a sitting member of the New South Wales Ministry for the Arts Board in 2005.

From late 2004 until early 2006, Josef took on his first acting role as Johnny Castle in the stage adaptation of Dirty Dancing in Australia and New Zealand. The show was a spectacular success and Josef was asked to star in the West End production.

Dirty Dancing broke West End box office records by taking an unprecedented number of bookings before the show even began previews. Book your tickets to see the sensational Josef Brown star as the iconic Johnny Castle.

Interesting Facts

• Josef Brown had not acted professionally before taking on the role of Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing
• Brown has dual-citizenship of both Australia and the UK because he has a British father and an Australian mother
• In 2005 Josef was awarded 'Best Performer in a Stage Musical' in the Australian Dance Awards for his role as Johnny in the Australian production of Dirty Dancing