Leading film role for LIPA grad Joseph Wood III
Wednesday 23 September 2026
Acting graduate Joseph Wood III (2016) is making his feature film debut in a leading role.
Based in Atlanta, USA, he plays a pivotal role in Crash Out, an independent thriller now streaming on Amazon Prime.
A versatile practitioner, Joseph has worked across TV, film, stage and spoken word since graduating.
We caught up with him to discuss the film and his role, his career so far and his LIPA memories.
Tell us about Crash Out.
So, this is an independent film that we shot last year. It took us about two or three weeks, and I play a gentleman named Mason.
I am part of a group of podcasters and we get our big break, a big interview with this wellness guru named Sion. He has created this concoction that he claims allows you to stop drinking and smoking. During the interview, though, things get a little tense and a bit heated – and then, of course, chaos ensues and eventually we literally try to take him out, to kill him. And without telling too much, it's about the fallout from that.
How did you get involved with the project?
I met the director years ago when I was a senior in high school at a film camp. Then last year they were casting for a character in a TV series they were making, and we reconnected. A few months later, they called me for this project.
I have worked in film before, I had a supporting role in the 2013 Hallmark Channel made-for-tv movie, The Watsons Go To Birmingham, directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon, but playing a leading role was intense. We had fight sequences to do and there was a lot to learn, but I was able to use my stage combat training acquired from LIPA.
Tell us about some of your other career highlights over the last 10 years.
I would say the commercials that I've done. I've been very blessed to do a lot of commercials, a lot of industrials, which are training videos for corporations. I've been able to work with Ford, I was one of the faces for the Ford F-150 in 2024. As well as working with Home Depot, Walmart and Samsung.
I've also done a lot of voiceover work. I got signed by the agency, Damn Good Voices, while I was still at LIPA. Simon Cryer from the company came to do our voiceover reels in our third year and they took me on. And I did an episode of a show called Boomerang that was produced by Halle Berry and is a spin-off of her film with Eddie Murphy.
I'm very proud of being able to work in multiple mediums because LIPA really prepared me for all those things.
What's your favourite memory of LIPA?
I would say really LIPA allowed me to be more than an actor, be an artist. I always had a desire to write and record songs, but I was very nervous of singing growing up. At LIPA I used to record with Django Holder, who was on the Sound Technology course, and Chris Mohan would play guitar.
Those are some of my favourite memories. Staying up in the recording studios all night working. There was such a buzz of energy.
What's next for you?
Outside of acting, I grew up around a funeral home. Sometimes when I was due to fly back to Liverpool and LIPA, I would get bumped from the connecting flight in New York and my uncle would pick me up and tell me to get my suit on. I would work with him at his funeral home and assist him with all the different things that needed doing. I would love to do a show around this. I've had an idea for a very long time now and I'm now working on getting that off the ground. It’s called And Sons, it's a short film I’m writing that will also be the pilot for the series I have in mind.
Crash Out is available to rent on Amazon Prime. Tubi will begin streaming FREE on October 8.
