Joe got his first chance on set as background playing a villager in Las Vegas, NM in the film The Ballad of Gregorio Cortes, starring Edward James Olmos. A year later he was cast as background playing a Russian Soldier in the original Red Dawn with Patrick Swayze, which was also filmed in Las Vegas, NM. These experiences sent him on a quest to work in film. He moved to Albuquerque, NM in 1983 and enrolled in UNM and graduated with a BAFA, Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts in 1988.