Exclusive Interview
Inside Joseph Purcell’s Rise as the Swoonworthy King of Microdramas
Joseph Purcell has had a breakout year.
The 27-year-old has been steadily nabbing leading roles in the vertical microdrama space. He’s already filmed 10 verticals for Inkitt CandyJar, which specializes in “bite-sized” romance shows designed to be watched on your phone. This makes it easy for clips to take off on social media, and Purcell has become the internet’s “It” guy. Several of his projects, such as His Nerd and Falling for My Bodyguard, have led to him getting recognized in public as “the guy from TikTok.”
There was one fan encounter in a coffee shop that’s particularly memorable for the actor, who spent most of his childhood in Australia before moving back to Los Angeles. “She jump-scared me,” he recalled. “And I put my coffee down on the table, and it hit the table and spilled all over my lap. And I look up at her, and I’m like, ‘No, that’s not me.'”
In early 2025, Purcell launched his microdrama career with His Nerd, in which a robotics whiz (Amanda Troya) and a popular jock (Purcell) fake-date. A short while later, he appeared in The Glow Up Game as a billionaire playboy who turns a barmaid (Kirsten Kendall) into an It-Girl. In Private Lessons, a tutor (Lauren Hyland) falls for Purcell’s bully. Purcell then played a bad boy who falls for his roommate’s fake girlfriend (Makenna Barrett) in The Bad Boy Wants Me.
He filmed all of them in a single year. Sometimes, Purcell will get about a week to prepare with the script. With others, he has only days to prepare before he hits the ground running. “It’s honestly not as hectic as you’d think,” he clarified. “I mean, I can’t really compare it to anything else. I haven’t worked on too many horizontal projects, but it’s always a great time and no one’s super stressed.”
The momentum has continued through 2026. The actor, who is the son of Prison Break star Dominic Purcell, started the year off with Rooming With the Devil, in which step-siblings confront their forbidden attraction at a snowed-in ski lodge. Then came the self-explanatory Falling For My Bodyguard, which went mega-viral this spring.
Inkitt CandyJar
“It’s changed a lot so quickly,” he said, referring to the past year. “The production value across the board from all the companies seems to be getting a lot better. CandyJar has, I think, always had really good shows and production value from the start. I’ve been lucky enough to work with them like more or less exclusively the whole time.”
Though he went to another vertical platform for Club of Desire, which saw him reunite with his Glow Up Game costar, Purcell has worked closely with CandyJar since. After friends-to-lovers summer romance Sumner Comes First, Purcell and Kendall worked together again for Enemies, playing the sheriff’s privileged son and a biker’s rebellious daughter. The two actors have become fan favorites amongst CandyJar subscribers.
“I love working with her more than anyone else,” Purcell said of Kendall, adding that his favorite of theirs is their first microdrama together, The Glow Up Game. He recalled instantly becoming friends during the shoot. “She’s my favorite vertical actress to work with. By a long shot,” he added.
Inkitt CandyJar
Despite being arguably the most recognizable actor on the platform, Purcell doesn’t always get to pick his scripts or costars. For Enemies, Purcell had to do a chemistry read with Kendall, even though they’d worked together twice before. “They send me the ones [the scripts] they think are going to be best for me, and we kind of work together and shift the script around a little bit,” he explained. “But yeah, I get to pick between a few, and I feel so lucky that I get to do that.”
When it comes to “shifting the script,” Purcell doesn’t write on them, but the Inkitt CandyJar team takes his character-focused input into account. That was the case while shooting his latest, a supernatural romance called Haunted, in which Purcell contributed to his character’s wardrobe. He plays the son of a serial killer who falls for a classmate who can see ghosts (Halle Fletcher).
It’s a genre switch-up for Purcell. “I think getting to do anything different is exciting as an actor and just creatively working on something that you haven’t pulled from before; it’s just a new challenge, and not knowing how to do something and discovering how to do it in the process is creatively satisfying,” he said.
Inkitt CandyJar
Next up is a chef romance called Table Manners. “[The Bear] is one of my favorite shows,” Purcell said. “I was so excited to do this one. And we drew a lot of inspiration from The Bear. We tried to make it as good as we could. I absolutely loved playing that character. One of my probably top two favorite performances that I’ve been able to do.” (Haunted is up there, too.)
Outside of the microdrama space, Purcell has been auditioning for horizontal projects, including TV shows. He’s gotten close a couple of times, but he hasn’t “cracked the code yet.”
For those eager to see him as a romantic leading man, he’s not ruling anything out, whether it’s a rom-com or a sports romance. Purcell wanted to go into professional sports before turning to acting. “I played basketball for the majority of my life, so I think basketball would be epic [for a sports romance],” he said, adding that he thinks it would be fun to learn a sport for a role.
While he continues to find success in the vertical space, Purcell has his family in his corner. His dad has given him advice as his acting career has taken off. “You know, it’s just kind of, ‘Learn your lines, hit your mark, say them.’ And I think that is really wise advice because you can overcomplicate yourself,” he said. “I love to work a lot and do my research and stuff, but at the end of the day, when you’re on set, that’s all you kind of need. If you’ve done the work, it’ll show up.”
Purcell also works alongside his step-mom, Tish Cyrus, who’s been managing his career. “She wants the best for me,” Purcell explained. “She’s not doing it for herself. And it’s a really kind of comforting thing. She does everything she can for me in my personal life and in my professional life. So it’s just awesome having a rock like that in both worlds.”
