Joe grew up in Park Ridge and Wheaton, Illinois, for 27 years. Ever since watching Evel Knievel live at the old Chicago amphitheater jump 10 buses at age 8 and seeing Hooper (1978) in the theaters as an impressionable 13-year-old boy, he knew he wanted to become a Hollywood Stuntman.
After many odd jobs, sales was his niche, but stunts always loomed in the background. He was a successful food broker, selling steak and seafood door to door throughout the Chicagoland area. When a stunt school opened in Chicago in 1988, Joe jumped at the opportunity. From there, he honed his stunt skills and learned about the motion picture industry, hustling sets and working as an extra. After several years he hustled the sets and got his big break doubling for Steven Seagal and hasn't looked back. Since then, Joe has also doubled for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Will Ferrell, John Cusack, Jeff Goldblum, David Hasselhoff, Dan Marino, and Vince Vaughn. He has been nominated twice for the World Stunt Awards and has won two Emmy awards for best action sequences for television.