Biography

Joe Amato started in broadcasting on the radio when he was 15 years old. He was a DJ and news anchor working for his small hometown radio station in suburban New York. In college he was a radio news anchor in Boston. He joined AFTRA at age 19. He filed NBC Radio News reports during a blizzard and during a Boston Marathon. The first famous professional athlete he ever interviewed was Reggie Jackson at Fenway Park. He graduated from Emerson College. After working as the youngest TV news writer in Boston at WBZ-TV Joe became an anchorman himself. For 25 years he was a comedic TV sports anchor/ reporter in Lubbock, Texas, New Orleans, Hartford and New York. He has excellent journalistic skills. Things then shifted: In New York Joe was stopped by a commercial agent looking for sharp suited men for major model campaigns. Joe took the offer and went on to appear in magazines like Fortune, Time and The Economist as an international traveler or tech entrepreneur. He's done print ads for the likes of Microsoft and Glenfiddich Scotch. Because of his many hours of live television he has strong improvisation skills. He booked TV commercials, films and internet projects in New York City using his authoritative and alternate comedic presence to play detectives, football coaches, crazy bosses, clueless scientists, newscasters and frat boy dads. His strong voice led him to commercial voice over work as well. He was one of the first big internet stars as the anchorman of the funny and clever Onion Network News videos. Today his demeanor, salt and pepper looks, strong voice have opened him to a wide range of movie and TV possibilities from SYFY to Thriller, Mafia, Mystery and to the Galaxies far, far, away. He lives in New York City and has that M20 bus drip and a mouthful of bleacher seats expletives.
- IMDb mini biography by: Chet Brinkley