Joseph Carlson is presently an associate company member and resident teaching artist with the Helen Hayes award winning and New York Times heralded, Synetic Theatre.  He is currently finishing up a run as Leopold and Henrich Himmlisch in George Tabori’s Mein Kampf with DC’s international theatre Scena, after having just wrapped shooting on National Geographic’s Killing Lincoln, executive produced by Ridley Scott, wherein he played the role of Major Henry Rathbone. Later this year he will be appearing as Congressman Chilton Elliot in Stephen Speilberg’s Lincoln. Joe relocated to DC after completing an MFA in acting/directing pedagogy specializing in the application of Ritual Poetic Drama within the African Continuum under the tutelage of his mentor Dr. Tawnya Petiford-Wates at Virginia Commonwealth University. While in Richmond he worked professionally in theatre and film playing characters ranging from Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, Le Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liasons Dangereuses, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, and Renfield in Dracula, while also serving on the board for and an ensemble member of The Conciliation Project, a 501 c-3 social justice theatre company dedicated to using challenging dramatic works to promote and facilitate open and honest dialogue about Racism in America in order to heal its damaging legacy. Joe is SAG eligible, an equity membership candidate, and the recipient of Culture Works Innovative Project Grant for Theatre in Battery Park, a project inspired by Joe Papp’s Public Theatre.  Antihero, a film he co-starred in, has been making its rounds at film festivals and has received several Best Feature Film awards and nominations, and will be making it’s theatrical release in NY city’s Rerun Theater this September.