James Wolk, Breakout Star of 'Ordinary Joe,' "Can Definitely Carry a Tune"

Sep. 27 2021, Published 11:53 a.m. ET

Do you ever remorseful about now not asking an individual out or pursuing the occupation you had been as soon as captivated with? NBC's newest drama sequence, Ordinary Joe, examines the hypothetical questions preoccupying Syracuse University grad Joe Kimbreau (James Wolk).

Ordinary Joe brings into distinction three other timelines that discover how Joe's lifestyles would have panned out had he made a radically other choice on graduation day. In one model of the tale, Joe becomes a a hit singer.

But does James, the actor, sing?

Does 'Ordinary Joe' star James Wolk sing?

Ordinary Joe brings audience thru three iterations of Joe's life story — all of which hinge on the way he chooses to spend his graduation day. The Joe who asks out resident cool girl Amy Kindelan (Natalie Martinez) becomes a musician. In some other timeline, Joe is married to his very best buddy, Jenny (Elizabeth Lail). In the 3rd, he works as a policeman.

But the universe wherein Joe is a musician has audiences wondering: Did actor James Wolk shoulder the singing scenes by means of himself?

After graduating from the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance in 2007, James went on to look in TV shows like Lone Star, Shameless, and Mad Men. As James instructed Backstage, he can sing — however he does not consider himself a certified. As it seems, James is a baritone, and an overly humble one, at that.

"When I first started, I auditioned for the Green Day musical on Broadway [American Idiot.]," James mentioned to the outlet. "I'm so not a tenor; I'm a baritone. And I'm also not a professional singer. I’m singing on this show [Ordinary Joe] and it's amazing, but I'm working with a vocal coach."

"I can definitely carry a tune, but I can carry a tune as a baritone, not a tenor," he added. "But at 22, you go, 'Oh, I can do anything.' So I'm literally screaming these high notes in this room with all these amazing Broadway folk. It was so clear when I was singing, they were like, 'This guy, get him out of here.'"

But the singing scenes in Ordinary Joe were simply section of the challenges the actor faced. As James defined, taking pictures three timelines is terribly demanding on actors, and navigating the different versions of their characters made for interesting interactions between solid contributors.

"We are all of us playing three versions of ourselves in this world where our decisions have drastically changed who we've become. I think the biggest challenge is, in one of the worlds, my wife is played by Elizabeth Lail, she plays Jenny," he mentioned. "One day, we'll be standing around our son and it'll be his birthday and we're having a loving moment as husband and wife and as parents. And then, the next day, we'll be in a totally different world where we haven’t seen each other in 10 years."

"She's just this woman I had a relationship with in college," James persisted. "As an actor, the challenge is playing all of those beats and nuanced moments."

Catch new episodes of Ordinary Joe every Monday at 10 p.m. EST on NBC.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaKhfmbymv4yjmKado2LEsLjKZqqippc%3D