Joe Amato(I)

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 became a radio news anchor in Boston. He joined AFTRA at age 19. From there he filed NBC Radio News reports during a blizzard and during a Boston Marathon. The first famous professional athlete he 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 with stints in various markets like Lubbock, New Orleans, Hartford and New York. Joe was stopped by a commercial agent and was told they were looking for sharp suited men for commercial campaigns. Joe went on to appear in magazines like Fortune, Time and The Economist as an international traveler or entrepreneur. He also started booking 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. Because of his many hours of live television he has strong improvisation skills. He was one of the first big internet stars as the anchorman of the funny and clever Onion Network News videos. Today his on camera attitude, salt and pepper looks, strong voice and demeanor have also opened him to a wide range of theatrical roles from SYFY to Thriller, Mystery and to the Galaxies far, far, away.