full name  josalyn alaine weaver nicknames  josie, jos, never "jo" birthdate / age  June 12, 1987 / 27 birthplace  Brooklyn, NY raised in  Atlanta, GA current neighborhood  Greenpoint, Brooklyn occupation  actress (aka bartender) sexuality  straight relationship status  single education  BFA in Acting from Pace FAMILY Eric Weaver, father, 58, Partner at a prominent Atlanta law firm. Patricia Weaver, mother, 55, accountant in Atlanta. Reagan Weaver, sister, 30, 2nd grade teacher in Atlanta.

Josalyn Weaver will forever be disappointed that her entrance into this world was not dramatic enough, though she has a premonition that she'll leave this mortal coil in a grander fashion. That's exactly the sort of strange thing the child would tell her parents, beginning even at a young age, earning scoffs and eye rolls and eventually the understanding that their youngest daughter lived for the spotlight. And there were many bright lights just within reach as she grew up, at least for the first 10 years of her life, which were spent in a cozy neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Josie's mother, Patricia, who worked in Manhattan as an accountant, and her father, Eric, who also trekked into the city for his daily job as an attorney, liked the family-friendly atmosphere and the chance to retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city on the weekends. And while their oldest daughter, Reagan, was content to occupy herself with getting into the sort of harmless trouble that kids do with their neighborhood pals, Josalyn was always itching to get into the city and see a show, the lights, and the people. She was only 7 years old when she announced the fact that she planned to be an actress, and she never wavered from that claim.

However, Josalyn would have to find a new way to connect with her beloved art of the theatre when her father was offered the position of partner in an influential Atlanta lawfirm, one he would have been remiss to turn down. So the family relocated, and while Josie no longer had Broadway at her fingertips, it was clear she still had it in her sights. Her teenage years were spent in voice classes, acting troupes, rehearsals and camps, anything she could do to make herself competitive enough as a performer to get back to New York City and on the stage.

So it was with great excitement and anticipation that she packed up her things and moved into Manhattan to attend Pace University and seek her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting. There's a quote about the city, "One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years," and as soon as Josie returned, she knew that's where she had belonged all along. Her collegiate career was successful if not overwhelmingly remarkable; she worked her way through the ranks of the theatre department and earned some impressive undergraduate credits, and then she was spat out into the wild world of auditions after graduation.

Though her parents were supportive and always eager to help, Josalyn wanted to maintain as much independence as she could (though she secretly conceded to letting her mother pay her cell phone bill for the first few years she was working on her own). As an aspiring actress, this meant for Josie what it did for most of her kiln, she would have to pick up odd jobs in between shows, and she became quite a talented bartender and waitress in the process. Though her career has had peaks and valleys, with a few roles in festival shows, off-off Broadway plays, and one glorious year on tour as a chorus girl, she has yet to really achieve any sort of big break, but she doesn't give up hope or ambition.

While she works toward her goals as an actress, Josie has managed to make a nice, comfortable regular existence for herself. She shares an apartment in Greenpoint with a girl she met at an audition (who has since given up on her acting career in favor of an alternative certification in teaching) and makes a living tending bar at the Black Rabbit bar in between her professional gigs. While she still has a journey ahead of her to achieve her dreams, the life she's made for herself in the meantime is not half bad. And she has finally made an art out of making an entrance anywhere she goes, when she decides that's what she wants, at least.

LIKES Sushi, to the point that she needs interventions to eat other things at times. VH1 I Love the Decades specials (she will blow off many plans if she catches a marathon of them on). Wine of all kinds. Learning new accents and practicing them in everyday conversation. Comic book shops. Costume parties. Rap music. Showtunes. Mashing up rap music and showtunes. Going to midnight showings of movies. Sweet tea, the one thing she misses about the South. Dogs, to an absurd and embarrassing degree. Beer, really cheap beer, craft beer, whatever kind is available.
DISLIKES Red meat. Christopher Isherwood's theatre reviews (she will rant about this for ages). Country music. The New York Post. Iron Man, for no specific reason except that she had a horrible experience at the first movie and it put a bad taste in her mouth. Birds. The G train (though she sort of loves to hate it and enjoys being able to complain about it). Horror films. Pretention.
STORYLINES

FACTS

Josie rides her bike everywhere she goes in Brooklyn, though she's never gotten into the habit of taking it over the bridge or on the subway. It is not the standard hipster fixie seen around much of her neighborhood, but rather an old mountain bike.

She always carries around a deck or two of cards in her bag and she has been known to get games going with total strangers in bars. She's a master of creating a communal party atmosphere.

Josalyn is absurdly good at her bartending job. It's a mixture of her gift for reading people, her ability to listen and play bartop shrink, her good memory, and being really good and creative with a drink. Even though it's not her true ambition, she loves her job and her work family, and she has a strong report with a steady group of regulars who come in often. She's made many friends through work that way.

Her absolute best friend in the world is Topher Kobelski, whom fate kept throwing into her life again and again until they finally realized they were meant to be friends. They live a few blocks away from each other and while they definitely have their own lives and friends, they are largely inseperable in many ways.

Josie is a very casual dater and can be hard to pin down when it comes to any kind of romantic entanglement. She has only had one serious long-term relationship, which was during her college years. On average, her relationships have lasted 2-3 months at the most, and she doesn't currently see any problem with that.

Unsurprisingly to anyone, Josie is a very emotional person, though she tries her hardest to keep any emotional outbursts under lock and key until she is safely alone or with very trusted company. Only her best friends see this side of her most frequently, as she prefers to keep a tough, invulnerable face on to most people.

She has a lovely voice and can play the piano and guitar passably. Josie has been a part of several attempts at forming a band, though none have really taken off. However, she is a karaoke queen (when she's not doing a show and having to preserve her voice).

Josie is the kind of girl who likes to simply decide how things will be and then function that way. She's been known to make up her own words or interesting and not quite accurate uses for existing words and phrases, for instance. However, she's not entirely stubborn about other people subscribing to the things she decides are so.