About Joe
Born and raised in Commack, a suburb of NYC, Joe Sabatino grew up the youngest of 3 children; who were ruled by a strong and funny Italian mother whose word was law and carried absolute power. Enjoying a wonderful and exciting childhood, Joe attained both his mother and fathers’ great sense of humor and optimistic “glass is half full” view on life.
After graduating High School, Joe attended James Madison University “JMU”, in Harrisonburg Virginia, where he played football for the “JMU” Dukes. Looking to expand his interests, Joe studied the diverse disciplines of show business when he enrolled in theatre, film and television courses. After graduating from James Madison he was scouted by various NFL teams, namely the NY Jets, Washington Redskins and the Houston Oilers. Looking once again to expand his options, Joe looked overseas and was successfully recruited to play professional football for the Torino Jaguars of Turin Italy. After living in Europe for a couple of years and appearing in a few television commercials and talk shows as an American football player living in Italy, Joe decided to return to the United States to chase his true passion in acting.
Over the past 2 decades, Joe has had and still continues a fantastic acting career on the stage and screen. Some of his recent credits include; guest starring on “Necessary Roughness,” “24,” “Greek,” “Raising The Bar,” “Prison Break,” “Cold Case,” “CSI” and “Desperate Housewives,” just to name a few. You might have also seen Joe on Steven Bochco’s famed “N.Y.P.D Blue” as Officer John Mackey (80+ episodes), “The Young and The Restless” as Joe Pendelton (75 + episodes) or as mafia tough guy, Miller, on “General Hospital” (31+ episodes).
If not on the small screen then you might have caught Joe on the silver screen in Warner Brothers blockbuster feature “The Ring,” Universal Studio’s “Time Cop 2,” or in Joel Schumacher’s Batman movies opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey.
Constantly reinventing himself, Joe has shifted gears in and now wears the “Producer’s” hat. He has just partnered with Sony/ MCA Universal Television as a supervising producer on “Necessary Roughness,” a sports drama, which will air on USA’s Television Network in July 2011. With an extraordinary pick-up of 11 additional episodes, “Necessary Roughness” has been officially green lit for a full season on USA before the pilot finished testing. In addition to “Roughness”, Joe is developing another sports show which he plans to develop at HBO, ESPN, FOX Sports or Showtime next fall. To keep his busy schedule in motion Joe is forming an independent film production company by partnering with “Hollywood Movie Works.” The “HMW” and Joe are slated to do 8 films over the next 6 years.
With a strong body of work encompassing the past 2 decades leading into a new producing career, Joe feels blessed for all his opportunities and good fortune.
His advice to all is simple: FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS!!!
Joe A. Sabatino 