A Definitely Happy Beginning for Joshua Dela Cruz
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Joshua Dela Cruz with family on the set of “Blue’s Clues and You”
The likability needle points toward such luminaries as Bruno Mars and Olivia Rodrigo in music, the Thompson sisters in professional soccer, Harper brothers in the NBA, Kasama Restaurant—winner of two Michelin stars, and Joshua Dela Cruz whose four seasons as the host of “Blue’s Clues and You” made him an inspiration for children everywhere.
“I wouldn’t say the world is interested specifically in Filipinos,” says Dela Cruz, “but I think that the world is starting to open to everyone. I was just in Manila to do ‘Into the Woods’ (the Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine musical), and I came to know that the talent coming out of the Philippines is undeniable.”
Dela Cruz with Mark Bautista in “Into The Woods” Manila
In Manila, he observed that “Filipinos are so good at singing, dancing, and acting, they’re triple threats. We are finally able to get the recognition that so many people before us deserved.”
Dela Cruz has been in Los Angeles since early January for rehearsals to play Benigno Aquino Jr. in the Center Theatre Group production of “Here Lies Love” which runs from February 11th to March 22nd at the Mark Taper Forum.
The Case for Excessive Hours of TV
Dela Cruz was born in United Arab Emirates where his father, Roger, worked as a metallurgist while his mother, Adelfa, was a nurse in a military hospital. After two years in the Middle East, his family started their lives in America in Yonkers, New York, which was close to the Bronx hospital that employed his mother. His formative years were spent in New Milford, New Jersey.
He wasn’t a child actor, which means he grew up without an overbearing stage mother. Even as he performed in spring musicals in high school, he still didn’t consider a career in acting. “I would tell my mother I’m going to be a lawyer like a cool character I saw on TV. She told me, you should be an actor, since you watch so much TV.”
His ambitions changed when he was awarded a high school scholarship to Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. “It’s the big regional theatre in New Jersey,” as Dela Cruz describes Paper Mill. “Every year, they have something like the Tony Awards for New Jersey high schools, and I got nominated for Best Actor. The nomination came with a scholarship to study summer musical theatre at the conservatory.”
With fondness he recalls, “So, it was a full month, eight hours a day of essentially a college curriculum with singing, acting, and dancing. I was surrounded by students as old as seniors in high school to as young as fourth graders. I realized, maybe this is what I need to do because I loved the challenge of being constantly forced out of my comfort zone. Normally, I’m a very introverted person, so this was the perfect thing for me to get to know cool people.”
Going Anywhere the Work Is
Starting at age 20, his dreams of the legal profession were displaced by stints in Broadway and off-Broadway musicals, including “Aladdin,” “The King and I,” and “Merrily We Roll Along.”
For today’s Asians, a trip to New York is incomplete without seeing the Tony Award-winning musical “Maybe Happy Ending.” Fans will be impressed by the year 2016 on Dela Cruz’s résumé. He was right there in Seoul, Korea where it all began.
“I was part of the early readings and the development staging of the show. My wife saw the reading, and she said this is the best musical I have ever seen.” His eyes light up as if he is reliving his first encounter with the theatrical juggernaut. “It was Ashley Park (“Emily in Paris” on Netflix) and me playing Oliver and Claire during the developmental process. We were fortunate to do the musical in concerts in Seoul and Jeju in South Korea. Performing with the Korean cast gave me some of the best memories I’ve ever had.”
“I hope that I can play Oliver again. It’s my dream role!” he declares.
Josh v. Ben
From 2019 to 2024, Dela Cruz played the host of “Blue’s Clues and You” on Nick Jr. In Season 1, I sent emails to Nickelodeon with the hope of interviewing the only Fil-Am among the three actors who’ve played the sole human being on the preschool series. Like my emails to other mega-stars like Mars and Rodrigo, my requests vanished into cybersphere oblivion.
Dela Cruz on the set of “Blue’s Clues and You”
Two years after the show went off the air, I could finally ask the 36-year-old how he did it. “They told me, after the first time I auditioned, that over three thousand people auditioned for the role,” he indulges me with a look back. “At that point, they were still trying to figure out what they were looking for. Blue is my favorite color, so I wore blue to the audition. I remember when I came into the room, I saw one of the show’s creators, Angela (Santomero, Executive Producer and Head Writer), lean over to someone and say, he’s wearing blue. Little did I know that I would be part of the costume design.” The shirts of previous hosts Steve Burns and Donovan Patton were green and a variety of colors, respectively.
He also had a say in another aspect of the show. “They hadn’t yet decided the name of the host character. They originally chose Nick. But they couldn’t use it because the studio was Nickelodeon. So, Nick became a placeholder.”
“Then I got an email from my agents that they were asking if they can use your name for the show. They assured me it would be okay if you don’t want them to use Josh. The alternative was Ben, but they still felt that Josh was a great fit for the show.”
“Blue’s Clues and You” educated and entertained the age two to five demographic. His five years on the show tracked the transition from books and paper to computers and smartphones. “Electronic screens were everywhere, so we had to decide how do we tackle that transformation. The show’s creators, Angela and Traci (Paige Johnson, Director of Animation and Design) thought we shouldn’t avoid phones. The fact that we incorporated a handy-dandy notebook phone was such a huge nod to the time, and we could use it to call Blue’s friends and family members.”
“Blue’s Clues and You” ended two years ago. Dela Cruz has moved on with an all-new production for youngsters. “I’m currently working on a kids show with the supervising producer of Blue’s Clues. We’re self-producing it to be available on YouTube because I hate paywalls. I want to make sure there is quality content for kids that you won’t have to pay for.”
Playing Ninoy
In 2012, he was involved in the first production of “Here Lies Love” at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. While an understudy to the Ferdinand Marcos character, he was introduced to David Byrne, who was a principal partner in the show’s creative team.
David Byrne and Dela Cruz from the “Here Lies Love” closing night party at Williamstown Theatre Festival
“While David Byrne is not Filipino, he does have love and respect for the people of the Philippines.” Dela Cruz believes that Byrne’s outsider status made the story palatable to a wide audience. He explains, “Because he doesn’t have a Tita, Tito or someone else in his family who was pro-Marcos or anti-Marcos, he was looking at the historical facts without any emotional attachment. This detachment helps because everybody can come to the party without worrying whether this is a pro- or anti-Marcos show.”
He feels a greater weight of history in playing Benigno Aquino today in Los Angeles than he did in the role of Ferdinand Marcos in Williamstown. “I was always drawn to Aquino for everything he stood for and the music that was given to him,” recalls Dela Cruz as he compares the two rivals. “It was brilliant for David to give Aquino a fresh voice that was loose and poppy. And it swung in contrast to the music Marcos would sing, which is very structured and kind of military and very straight.”
His reverence borders on hero worship for the leader whose assassination sparked the People Power Revolution that toppled the Marcos government in 1986. He says the character of Aquino in the musical “lives in this place that’s accessible for so many people to dance and move. And that’s what Ninoy did. He was such an incredible public speaker. He was so charismatic and wildly funny.” He adds, “The human element that connects with people wasn’t only the things he stood for to the end but that he was such a pacifist. Being that way drew so much criticism toward him.”
To Dela Cruz, the late Twentieth Century hero maintains a relevance that’s conveyed in the musical. “In these times when it feels like you have to be violent in order to get what you deserve or to even protect the most human rights, I find the contradiction interesting that it was Aquino’s pacificism that sparked the People Power Revolution and real change.”
Here Lies Love
A St. Valentine’s Day Story for the Ages
In August 2026, Dela Cruz and his wife, Amanda Phillips, will be celebrating their tenth anniversary. They were part of the second class to graduate from the BFA in Musical Theatre program at Montclair State University in New Jersey. “I met Amanda early on in college, but we didn’t get together until our senior year.”
Dela Cruz with wife Amanda Phillips
Imagine a suspenseful drum roll, then he continues, “We were on summer break before our senior year when I got a phone call from Amanda. She told me that our mutual friend, Carlos, had booked a summer stock job, but he couldn’t do the dance reel they were working on. She asked me if I could help with it.”
He agreed to dance with her, though he conducted the favor “purely as friends. From then on, we spent time together and stayed together ever since as friends, and then as best friends.”
“I would tell my mother I’m going to be a lawyer like a cool character I saw on TV. She told me, you should be an actor, since you watch so much TV.”
Wikipedia says that he proposed to Amanda in Central Park while performing a dance duet to the Frank Sinatra classic, “You Make Me Feel So Young.”
I couldn’t contact him again to corroborate the Wikipedia post, but it sounds true. Everything Joshua Dela Cruz does is likable.
Anthony Maddela is a staff correspondent for Positively Filipino. He lives with his family in Los Angeles.