Ryan Dorsey is set to share the screen with his 10-year-old son, Josey Hollis Dorsey, in The Burning Valley, giving the child his first movie role six years after Naya Rivera’s death. For a family that has already lived through a public loss, the shift from stage work to film is the clearest sign yet that Josey is entering acting on his own terms.
Josey’s IMDb page lists Ryan as “father” and the boy as “boy,” a small credit split that still marks a real first step in front of the camera. He had already made his stage debut in Seussical Jr. in 2024, when he was 8 years old, so this move does not come out of nowhere; it moves him from local theatre into a credited screen part.
Evan Coury sets the frame
The Burning Valley is written and directed by Evan Coury, who previously starred alongside Sadie Sink in the 2022 drama Dear Zoe. Coury said, “The movie is about a steelworker who loses his job when the mill announces a shutdown,” and added, “It sets him on a journey as he wanders through his Rust Belt town.” That gives the project a clear working-class frame rather than a vague family drama.
Ryan has his own screen history on TV, including Yellowstone, which makes the father-son pairing feel less like a novelty casting stunt and more like a genuine introduction to the business of acting. Josey is entering a film built around an adult lead, but his credit suggests a smaller part that lets him cross over without the pressure of carrying the story.
After Naya Rivera
The harder edge of the story is timing. Josey is stepping into film six years after Naya Rivera drowned in July 2020 while swimming off a rental boat in Lake Piru, California, at 33. Ryan once said, “It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments,” and that line still hangs over any public development involving their son.
Naya and Ryan wed in 2014, and she filed for divorce in 2016 shortly after Josey’s first birthday; the two split when he was 14 months old but continued to co-parent. That history makes Josey’s first movie role more than a standard child-actor credit. It is a family milestone that arrives with a heavy backstory, and the next question is simple: when will The Burning Valley be released?
