Josie Leinart's Moves from TV to Courtroom
Make It Or Break It Actress Josie Leinart Discusses her Transition from Acting to Practicing Law.
When Josie Leinart thinks back to her acting origins, it doesn’t take long for her to reminisce on the days at her private Christian school with the guidance of her Principal Miss Patty. When Leinart was in the fifth grade, Miss Patty suggested that she audition for a performing arts school after watching her perform monologues over the years.
“In fifth grade, I auditioned and got into this performing arts school. Then I was in performing arts schools throughout middle school and high school. I got into UCLA through theatre. So honestly, that principal started everything for me really,” Leinart states. “You asked me that question and I honestly haven’t thought about that in so long, and it gives me all the feelings to think about how that one woman played such an instrumental part of my life.”
Once Leinart fully immersed herself into the entertainment industry and moved from Miami, Florida to Los Angeles, California, she went on to land the role of golden girl Kaylie Cruz in ABC Family’s Original Series “Make it or Break it.” The series followed four professionally trained gymnasts, Kaylie Cruz, Payson Keeler, Emily Kmetko and Lauren Tanner, navigating their personal lives as they train to make the US Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team.
Before Leinart went on to play Kaylie, she originally went into the audition room reading for Payson Keeler—the high-strung power gymnast with a golden ticket to the Olympics. 
“I was like ‘Oh My God! I love this. This is perfect for me. I just feel like this is it. This is my show.”
Leinart felt especially close to Keeler’s upbringing as a gymnast. When Leinart was younger, she quickly realized she’d much rather focus on tumbling on the floor instead of the beams, bars, and vaults of the gym. If only she knew that she and Kaylie Cruz would share the same specialty.
“I walked into the audition, and I didn’t open my mouth. The moment I stepped foot into that room, Holly Sorensen, which is the creator of the show,” Leinart clarifies. “Looked at me and said “Nope. This isn’t for you.””
To Leinart’s surprise, Sorensen was hoping for her to read for a new Latina character, Kaylie Cruz. Leinart went on to play Cruz for three years. The gymnast-centric hit TV show ended with Cruz, Keeler, and Tanner cheering amongst themselves after making the 2012 US Olympic team.
Leinart has gone on to feature on multiple shows including “21 & Over” and a series regular role on “The Mentalist.” When she was offered the role on "The Mentalist," she had already gotten into law school at Loyola Law School. Leinart was at a crossroads. She decided to pivot and defer for a year.
“I was on this hit show on this big network with big television actors making a lot of money and not that I wasn’t happy, but I wasn’t fulfilled.” Leinart stares. “I just knew that even being in the best of circumstances, it just tugged at my heart that I wanted to do more. So, it was great. I was able to put acting behind me on a high, and I went to law school knowing that.”
At the time, Josie had already met her now husband, Professional Football Player Matt Leinart. In that point in their relationship, her mind was wandering into thoughts revolving around being a wife and a mother.
“I would never say that my husband forced me to quit. It never even crossed his mind. it was 100% on me, but I had a very deep desire to do more than acting.”
Leinart’s desire for more led her to pursue a career in law. Once Leinart started law school, she realized she could not balance acting and academics like she was before. She could no longer leave in the middle of a quarter if she landed a TV show.
Now with three and a half years of practicing law under her belt and having raised two toddlers, the Miami native feels that she has a lot more autonomy in her career at this moment in time. She states that she has learned it takes time of learning your craft and paying your dues before you get to that point in a firm.
“It’s been a grind. It has been a serious, serious grind,” Leinart stresses. “I feel a lot more confident as an attorney, and I am now, in this new year definitely along with my husband, looking at different businesses and different ways that we can grow individually and together.”
Leinart’s hours may be filled with lawyerly and motherly duties, but the grind has not stopped. Late last year, the former actress premiered "Women of the League": a roundtable talk staring NFL wives Kym Jackson, Christen Harper, Whitney Risner, Allison Rochell and herself as host.
“The show really strives to bond, women on similarities and being transparent, and able to show the humanistic sides of these women in their lives. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. There’s a lot of sacrifice, and there’s a lot of hardship. There’s a lot of challenges. Some of them are different than our challenges, but some are very similar.”
The program showcases a side to NFL wives that social stigmas leave no room for on the table. The women get comfortable with sharing the sacrifices they have made, navigating social media, and finding their identity.
“I’m so glad that we have women like that that we can look up to. Also, what I think is amazing is to highlight positive healthy relationships, which I don’t think we see enough of often because it’s not a good headline,” Leinart states. “They are all [in]healthy, wonderful, happy, loving supportive relationships. So, I hope that women and young girls can look at that and really take that to heart.”
This is one of the many ways that Leinart has organically integrated herself into social media with. As social media continues to progress into something new every few minutes, Leinart has kept herself running at the same speed without losing her individual pace even though she did not start this career with a need for the expertise.
“You weren’t feeling the pressure to put your life out there. There wasn’t this feeling like I was in a fishbowl, and I was using social media very much on my terms. For a long time, I wasn’t very active on social media,” Leinart states. “Now, however, I still have that struggle, but I do see all the positives of social media. I think that having lived the life that I have lived [and] doing what I do now, I have a lot to offer in a positive way and I’m always very conscious of the content I put on my social media...I want to inspire not impress.”
Leinart uses her social media in a lighthearted and relatable manner by sharing content focusing on motherhood and married life. When she stops to think of her life as a mother of two and what it has taught her, she realizes how her priorities have shifted.
“I was always a straight A student. Had to be perfect. Had to be the best at everything. Even if I didn’t really care about what this thing was, I had to be the best,” Leinart states. “Now, I’m like, ‘well I don’t really need to do that.’ It’d take me away from being a mother and spending this time with my kids. That’s a heck of a lot more important to me than that. It’s just shifted my priorities and allowed me to be okay with not being the best at every single thing that I do.”
At 36 years old, Leinart has collected life lessons from entertainment, law, motherhood, and marriage. She carries more real-life experience than some will gain in a lifetime. With that, she is optimistic about the potential of the rest of her 2023.
“When I was an actor, I felt I’m not just an actor. Now that I’m an attorney, I’m not just an attorney,” Leinart states. “I feel like I could really marry my creative side and my attorney side and do something that’s unique to me. So, it’s a really exciting time for me. There’s just a lot of opportunity and I am genuinely so excited about this new year.”
Great Work!