Six years after Naya Rivera’s tragic death, her son Josey is stepping into the spotlight
Naya Rivera’s son is following in his late mother’s footsteps and has booked his first movie role six years after the Glee star’s tragic death.
Josey Hollis Dorsey, 10, will be starring in The Burning Valley alongside his actor father Ryan Dorsey, at least according to Josey’s IMDb page.
Naya Rivera’s son Josey was just four when she died, now he’s following in her footsteps. nna\nmaloon
Ryan is credited as “father” and Josey as “boy”, though more may be revealed about their roles closer to the film’s release.
The Burning Valley is written and directed by Evan Coury, who previously starred alongside Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink in the 2022 drama Dear Zoe.
No synopsis has been made available yet, but Coury gave a few hints about the film’s plot in a recent interview with US newspaper The Tribune-Review.
“The movie is about a steelworker who loses his job when the mill announces a shutdown,” he said.
“It sets him on a journey as he wanders through his Rust Belt town.”
This will be Josey’s first time in front of the camera, though it’s not his first time acting.
The 10-year-old made his stage debut in a local theatre production of Seussical Jr. in 2024, when he was just eight.
Tragically, his mother Rivera didn’t live to see Josey step into acting.
Josey’s father Ryan Dorsey is also an actor, known for his roles on TV shows like Yellowstone. @dorseyryan
She and Josey were swimming off a rental boat in Lake Piru, California, when she drowned in July, 2020.
“It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments,” Ryan told People after Rivera’s death.
She and Ryan wed in 2014 and welcomed their son soon after, but the marriage didn’t last and Rivera filed for divorce in 2016, shortly after Josey’s first birthday.
Rivera and Dorsey split when Josey was just 14 months old but continued to co-parent. Instagram
Rivera was just 33 when she died and her passing sent shockwaves through the Glee community, both for fans and her former co-stars.
Best known for her role as Santana on the show, Rivera was the third main cast member to die tragically young.
Cory Monteith, who played golden-hearted jock Finn Hudson struggled with substance addiction in the leadup to his sudden death in 2013.
Monteith was just 31 when his body was discovered in a hotel room in Vancouver, Canada.
Cory Monteith and Rivera both died tragically in their early 30s. Fox
His cause of death was ruled to be a combination of heroin and alcohol toxicity.
Mark Salling, who played bad boy Noah Puckerman, died by suicide five years later in 2018.
He was 35 and was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to child pornography possession charges.
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