Joe Herrera

Joe Herrera is a Puerto Rican American actor. He has appeared in films Inheritance, Let There Be Light, The God Cafe, and The Girl In The Watermelon. On television, he has appeared as Willie on BET TV series The Family Business. Joe Herrera was born in New York, New York, to Puerto-Rican parents Jose Rafael Herrera and Elsa Miriam Gonzalez. He began his acting career during his early teen years with roles in Grease and Hans Christian Andersen. After receiving his actor training from Brooklyn College, in 1994, he made his Off-Broadway debut at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre in A Popol Vuh Story: Heart of the Earth, an original play written by Cherrie Moraga and directed by grand master puppeteer Ralph Lee, where Joe also worked with former cast-mates Wilson Jermaine Heredia and David Norona. In 1993, he landed the supporting role of Coco in his independent feature film debut, "The Girl in The Watermelon" directed by Sergio Castilla playing opposite of Meredith Scott Lynn. The film went on to the Sundance Film Festival in 1995 and was nominated for the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize. The film had a TV premiere on Starz on June 10, 1995. Joe continued to work on various New York Stage Productions and tour across the country as well as a musical theatre performer. He worked with award-winning songwriter Robert Lopez on Ferdinand the Bull the Musical in collaboration with TheatreWorksUSA, playing the supporting lead role of Alejandro the Bull. Joe later went on to further his training as an actor with Master-Teacher Lisa Dalton to study the Michael Chekhov Technique at the National Michael Chekhov Association. In 2017, he earned a Master of Arts Degree in Theatre at Regent University, graduating with honors and earning the Outstanding Graduate of the Year Award. After graduating Joe went on to act in several films, such as Student Emmy Award-Winning Short Film Revolving Child and Forget About The World, and several independent feature films that have garnered many film festival awards. He has also guest starred in BET Television Series, The Family Business . He has also dedicated time to teaching the art of acting to those who love to dive into the art of transformation. He serves as a Theatre Professor at Florida Southern College when he is not acting on set or on stage. He then spends some time teaching as a Teaching artist with the kids at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts as part of their Community Outreach Theatre Program. He is married to his wife, Vanessa and they have 5 daughters & 1 son. They all reside in the Central Florida area.