One of the last bits of real information on Joshua Rudoy states that as of 2012 he was an investment advisor for Argyle Capital Partners, which, if you’re guessing already, means he advises various clients on their investments. But when he was a kid he had a short run as an actor as his credits go from 1986 to 1991. He didn’t do much that people might remember apart from his role in Harry and the Henderson’s, and Flatliners. Apart from that, he was in a few other projects, but by the time the 90s were in full swing, he was nowhere to be found. It’s possible that he could have quit to focus on school since he was still pretty young when he was in the business. He wasn’t the first person to step away from acting long before people thought he should have, but then again he wasn’t one of the most popular actors in the world either, since it’s bound to happen that people would need to look him up to see what he really did and what parts he really took on. There’s only one that comes to mind despite mentioning a couple, since like it or not, Harry and the Henderson’s was kind of forgettable apart from the title and the idea that the family took in a Bigfoot.
His role as Billy Mahoney in Flatliners though was absolutely nuts since he went off on Nelson, Keifer Sutherland’s character, with a vengeance that we don’t see out of a lot of kids in the movies. The reason behind this of course was that as a kid, Nelson was a bully and he and a bunch of friends ran Billy ragged until he finally climbed a tree, trying to get away from Nelson and the others. It didn’t stop there, unfortunately, since Nelson decided to take it further and knocked Billy out of the tree with a rock, which in turn killed Billy as he fell for quite a distance. Once Nelson and his med school friends started their experiment however, Billy returned, and in doing so he manifested in a way that was unprecedented as he beat the living hell out of Nelson with one implement after another, savaging him to the point that he needed stitches. At one point it was obvious that Nelson was cracking up since he couldn’t escape the specter that had come back to haunt him after his life after death experience, and he had to find some way to face him since Billy might well have torn him apart a little at a time until Nelson would have finally been committed. The way that Nelson finally confronted Billy was still pretty brutal since he went back to the same location where he’d killed himself before for his experiment, going under once more as he sought to right the wrongs of his past.
This time however Nelson was the one being bullied and was being chased by Billy and the phantoms of the other kids that had been by his side on that fateful day. Billy was given his revenge as he knocked Nelson out of the same tree with a rock, causing Nelson to fall to the ground, where Billy then confronted him and after a brief smile of understanding, one that appeared to say that Nelson finally understood what he’d done. After that, Billy disappeared through the bright light that appeared behind him, apparently content that Nelson had done enough. Nelson on the other hand finally made it back to the land of the living and was revived by his friends, who had finally caught up to him in order to try and stop him from making amends in such a radical manner. The expunging of sins that was done in this movie was a testament to how sins of the past can still hurt, and atonement is easier than we think at times, but also harder than anything we’ll ever do in our lives. As far as Joshua goes though, this was really one of his last big roles before he kind of disappeared from show business for good.
If he’s shown up since the 90s then it’s been kept on the down-low since there’s been no real talk of him coming back or doing anything noteworthy since his younger years. It’s enough to think that he’s made his own life away from the glitz and glam of show business though, and one can easily think that he’s managed to create his own path and that he’s made a good life for himself. There’s a possibility that he could have been famous had he kept going, but child stars don’t always make it after they grow up a bit, and there are plenty of stories in Hollywood to prove this.
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