Biography

Joel Johnstone grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he started acting as a teenager. In high school, he enrolled in summer theatre programs at both Northwestern University and the famed Steppenwolf Theatre. At the age of 18, Joel moved to New York City and earned his BA in theatre from Fordham University at Lincoln Center. He also studied abroad at the British American Drama Academy, partaking in both programs at Oxford University and in London.

Joel has captured the industry's attention with his impressive body of work in television, film and theatre. Most notably, audiences know Joel from Amazon's Emmy Award-winning comedy series, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." He portrayed Archie Cleary, best friend, business partner, and loyal drinking pal to Joel Maisel (Michael Zegen), Midge's ex-husband. Joel won a SAG Award for Best Comedy Ensemble as part of the show. In addition to its 22 Emmy wins, Maisel was the recipient of multitude of other awards, including best comedy series at the Golden Globe Awards, Critic's Choice Awards, the Peabody Awards, Producers Guild Awards, Writers Guild Awards, and many more.

Other notable TV credits include recurring as Jack Nikolayevich, the odd but brilliant medical examiner on CSI: Vegas, portraying famed Mercury 7 astronaut Gus Grissom in the ABC mini-series "The Astronaut Wives Club," additional recurring roles on HBO's "The Newsroom" and "Getting On." Film credits include Disney's adaptation of "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" alongside Steve Carrell, "Deliverance Creek," alongside Lauren Ambrose, and most recently "Grizzly Night", alongside Brec Bassinger and Oded Fehr.

Joel has also written, directed, and produced his own short film, "The Pilgrim & The Private Eye" which played the international festival circuit and won multiple awards. Recently he produced and starred in the audio drama, "The Assignation", which was an official selection at Tribeca Film Festival.
- IMDb mini biography by: author