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my car: jarod joseph

Jarod Joseph and his 2004 Range Rover.

Jarod Joseph

  • Profession: Actor
  • Age: 27
  • Hometown: Calgary

Notable achievements

  • TV credits include Fox’s Human Target, Cartoon Network’s Tower Prep, ABC’s V, Showcase’s Endgame and AMC’s The Killing
  • Film credits include Marley & Me, A Mile in His Shoes and Taken from Me

Currently

  • Plays Detective Nicholas Fleming in Rogue on DirecTV in the United States and The Movie Network and Movie Central in Canada
  • Plays Alan Durand in The CW’s Arrow

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Jarod Joseph was first cast in the 2010 fantasy film, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief alongside stars Uma Thurman and Sean Bean.

Numerous recurring roles followed, including Fox's sci-fi series Fringe, ABC's Once in a Lifetime and The CW's The L.A. Complex. Currently, the Canadian actor appears in two hit shows: the crime drama Rogue, on The Movie Network and Movie Central, and The CW's Arrow.

On screen and on the road, Joseph stands out from the crowd, driving a green 2004 Range Rover HSE SUV.

Why did you buy a 2004 Range Rover?

As long as I've been an adult, I've had an affinity for the Range Rover.

It's a clean-looking vehicle. It can stand out in any kind of setting. It's not too gawky as much as it is a big truck with a big engine. And the rappers drove it – it always had that going for it, too.

I bought this vehicle about six months ago and I'm learning it as I go. A friend of mine is a Range Rover guy so he's constantly hopping into the passenger side and saying, 'Do you know what this is?' It has really cool features. It's a bit of an older car, but it was doing stuff that cars are starting to do now.

I initially wanted a white Range Rover for many years and then a friend of mine took me to a dealership and we came across this one, which came in a different colour. It's a mint, American-money green. It's a big selling point for me.

It came with low-profile 22-inch rims, which I probably wouldn't have done myself. But since I've been driving the car I can't see myself in any other colour or any other style. At the beginning with the rims, I thought that's a little too much. Now, it's cool.

What's your favourite feature?

I can actually lower the passenger side for someone to step out. I like playing with that. It's a Batmobile moment for me.

What don't you like about it?

The price of gas. I spend about $135 every Friday.

Have you ever gone off-roading with it?

No. I'm more of a drive slow, keep the gas in the tank, put the music up and the windows down kind of guy.

I don't think I'll be getting too rough with it. It's still pretty fresh, though. I would like to take it on a road trip and go camping, though. That would be cool.

What do you listen to when driving

When the windows are up, I'm listening to anything from Coldplay to Matthew Good. When the windows are down, I've got my Kanye going. I've got the more up-tempo rap. It's perfect for summer rap.

Do you sing behind the wheel, too?

No. I don't have tint on the window so I'm not going to do that. If I have open road, I'll rap along or sing along and I'll put the seat back a little bit in a position where I can't see anyone on my right or left.

Mechanically do you know what's under the hood?

All I know is that it's held up well. There hasn't been too much down on the engine. I've been really lucky so far. Everybody I know seems to remind me that it has a tendency to have problems. But I've been lucky so far.

What was your first car?

My first vehicle was a Chevy Cavalier. It was pink because my favourite rapper at the time, Cam'ron, was priding himself as the first male rapper to wear pink.

Eventually, I started wearing pink. After that, I took it a step further and bought a pink vehicle. I went too far. I got the car at the end of the fad. I ended up being stuck with a raspberry-pink vehicle.

My worst memory was when I thought I was the coolest kid in school and I went to Canadian Tire and I bought hubcap spinners and I put it on my Chevy Cavalier. And I also bought a racing car decal. I was confused. I wanted to be Fast and Furious. And I also wanted to be Jay-Z and all that. Pulling up to the school and getting laughed at by my friends because I thought I was the coolest was probably my worst story.

What happened to your pink Cavalier?

If you ask my mom, she would say I was reaching for a CD and I went into a ditch and ruined the steering. But that's not necessarily true. Me and my friends drove it into the ground – we were kind of rough with it. We would fit everybody in it – the car just met its demise.

What else did you own?

I drove a 1989 Mustang – I bought it because I thought it was very similar to what Caine drove in Menace II Society.

Listen, I was really into this stuff back then. I wanted to be everybody but myself.

I bought this car and you had to rev the engine and hold the brake down at all times to get the car to start. It was terrible.

I also had a Hyundai Tiburon, which was a standard. To this day, I still can't drive [standard]. I had it for about a week and I was stalling left, right and centre. It was the dumbest thing I could have ever done. I got it at the auction because I was impulsive. I thought, 'This is my racing car!'

Then I drove it off the lot and they realized it wasn't supposed to be in the auction. They called me and made me bring it back. They gave me a Ford Explorer instead.

I would pick my friend up every Saturday in the dead of winter and we would go out to eat and clubs, but there was no heat ever in the vehicle. So we had our blankets and we'd wrap ourselves up every Saturday and we would throw it in the back once we got to where we were going and nobody had any idea we were in there freezing. We did that all winter. It was terrible. We toughed it out and we had a really good time with that car – that was our car.

Do you always buy used vehicles?

I bought used vehicles because I was broke all of the time.

If I was to get a newer Range Rover I'd probably get one a year or two younger rather than brand new for the simple fact that my mom and my family put it into my mind since I was young – you don't want to drive something off the lot, it depreciates. I'm always pretty conscious about where money goes. I think I'm a pretty smart guy when it comes to finances.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

pgentile@globeandmail.com

Twitter: @PetrinaGentile

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