Beloved ‘Glee’ Star’s 10-Year-Old Son Lands His First Movie Role

The young son of a beloved Glee alum is following in his mother’s and father’s footsteps. Josey Hollis Dorsey, the 10-year-old son of Naya Rivera and Ryan Dorsey, has landed an acting role in the movie The Burning Valley.

Ryan plays a character named Sam Pope in The Burning Valley, and Josey’s role is listed simply as “Son.” Tyler Miles stars as Nick Pope. The storyline revolves around a steelworker who finds himself unemployed after his mill is shut down.

The movie is the first for filmmaker Evan Coury, who recently graduated from Brooklyn College’s MFA Film Program, shares Trib Live. Filming just started and will wrap in mid-September.

Coury explains that the job loss sets the main character “on a journey as he wanders through his Rust Belt town.”

As Glee fans know, Rivera tragically died in July 2020 at the age of 33. She had gone swimming with Josey in Lake Piru in Ventura County, California, and drowned. Josey was just 4 at the time.

Shortly after Rivera died in 2020, People reported that Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said Josey and Rivera had been swimming together in the lake. After the boat she rented didn’t return, a search for the pair began. Sadly, Josey was found on the boat, but Rivera was missing. Her body was found several days later.

Ayub explained that after finding Josey, “It was during that time that her son described being helped onto the boat by Naya…He told investigators he looked back and saw her disappear under the surface of the water.”

He added, “We believe that she mustered enough energy to get her son back on the boat, but not enough to save herself.” Josey was found in the boat, alone, wearing a life jacket and sleeping.

While The Burning Valley is Josey’s first film role, he previously had a role in a West Virginia theater production of Seussical Jr. in 2024, according to KTVB7.

In March 2023, Ryan talked with Entertainment Tonight about raising Josey on his own. He and the Glee star were married from 2014 to 2018. “I’m doing the best I can…He’s, overall, a happy kid and I’m trying to keep it together and provide a safe and happy life for him.”

He admitted, “It’s hard for me when Josey will say certain things and if he misses his mom or whatever it is, or he’ll bring up certain moments that obviously he’ll never forget from the worst day of his life.”

Ryan and Josey have lived mostly out of the spotlight since Rivera’s death. Ryan does, however, share semi-frequent updates on Josey via his Instagram page.

No release date for The Burning Valley has been set yet.