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Joshua Shelley (January 27, 1920 – February 16, 1990) was one of the actors blacklisted by movie studios as a result of the House Un-American Activities Committee's (HUAC) investigation of the Communist Party in Hollywood in 1952. He did not begin to again work regularly in Hollywood until 1973 when his career restarted.

In the summer of 1955, Shelley was one of a group of witnesses (also including Lee Hays of the Weavers) called to testify before hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee, investigating supposed Communist infiltration of the entertainment industry.

Shelley also gave a major supporting performance in Martin Ritt's comedy-drama about the blacklist era, The Front, starring Woody Allen.

The underlying controversy of the period in question was whether Communists in Hollywood used their positions to influence the content of American entertainment for the benefit of their Soviet bosses. Many would say they were just idealistic liberals, whose interest in Socialism was unrelated to their jobs as writers, directors or actors. But herein lies the irony.