Six years after losing his mother, actress and singer Naya Rivera, 10-year-old Josey Hollis Dorsey has gotten his first theatrical role.
The son of Rivera and actor Ryan Dorsey has landed a part in upcoming The Burning Valley, a Rust Belt drama that recently began filming in Arnold, Pennsylvania, according to People, per The Tribune-Review. Hollis Dorsey’s IMDb page lists his character simply as "Boy" while Ryan Dorsey is cast as "Father."
The film is written and directed by Evan Coury, a New Kensington, Pennsylvania native making his feature debut. The filmmaker explained that the project is “about a steelworker who loses his job when the mill announces a shutdown.” “It sets him on a journey as he wanders through his Rust Belt town,” Coury told the Tribune-Review.
While the film marks Hollis Dorsey’s screen debut, in 2024, he appeared in two Children's Theatre of Charleston productions in West Virginia, including Seussical Jr., where he played one of the Wickersham Brothers.
Ryan, 43, has spoken openly about raising Josey in the years since Rivera drowned at Lake Piru on July 8, 2020. Josey was 4 at the time and was found asleep on the boat. Ryan told People in February 2025 that Josey later confessed he had been trying to rescue his mother from the rough waters, likely a rip current.
"He was trying to find a life raft, and there was a rope, but there was a big spider on the rope, and he was too scared to throw it," Dorsey recounted. "I keep reassuring him, 'Buddy, that rope wasn't going to be long enough.'"
Rivera, best known for playing Santana Lopez on Fox's Glee, was 33 when she died. Her body was recovered five days after she went missing.
In January, Dorsey and his son honored the late actress in two Instagram Stories on what would have been her 39th birthday, per People. “Grateful for giving us our sweet boy @joseydorsey," Dorsey wrote.
