Biography
Born in Eastleigh, Joe grew up in Nairobi and attended primary and secondary school in Kasarani. Thereafter, he studied accounting at Visions Professional Institute (2002 -2006) and found a job in that field at the Aga Khan University Hospital where he worked for four years. Until that point, his life was pretty ordinary. Then, while reminiscing about his high school days, he recalled that he had acted in several plays. Indeed, he had pursued his passion for acting at college, and had even joined a youth group that staged plays at several festivals. At one point, he had even produced a low-budget play together with a few of his friends, and it garnered a lot of interest from people. That was when he decided that he wanted to be an actor and producer. He got serious about it. In 2008, he started attending auditions. He got his first role that same year in a play by a traveling theatre group. This marked his official entry into acting, and his exit from accounting. So far, he has watched only two such plays, one by John Gachuhi ,and the other by Maggie Karanja. The enthusiasm with which he talks betrays his interest in live performances. Eventually, Joe chose to act on television. His first audition landed him his first role. He played a supporting role in the series Guy Center, which gave a much-needed boost to his CV in the TV industry. However, this stroke of luck was not enough to land him another role for the next two years. And this was in spite of his determination, which saw him attend auditions weekend after weekend. Eventually, he got a spot in the second season of Changes. By that time he had started learning how to keep calm during auditions. Pivotal role Finally, in 2013, when Hollywood came hunting for African talent, Joe was more than ready. The creators of The Fifth Estate were looking for two actors who would play pivotal roles in a movie about the Wikileaks movement. The two roles were those of Oscar Kamau King'ara and John Oulu, both human rights activists involved in investigating several civilian murders by the police during the 2008 crackdown on the outlawed Mungiki. Oscar's part went to Peter King while Joe acted as John Oulu. The casting for the film was handled by a Kenyan agency, Blue Sky. He had to travel to Belgium to shoot a scene that was supposed to depict Kibera. What's amazing is that the set in the movie, though shot in Belgium, looks exactly and completely like Kibera. One would not suspect it was done abroad. It would take a lot of convincing for one to believe that it was done by set designers. As for the African cast, Congolese living in Belgium were cast as Kibera residents for the scene. Joe Kinyua and Peter King were the only Kenyans. When Joe auditioned for his role, he knew nothing of the international appeal the film would draw. Many have pointed out that it is a politically-motivated movie. It even led to a bitter exchange between Cumberbatch and the man he portrays in the film
* Julian Assange, with the latter saying that the film intended to
depict him and his work (Wikileaks) in a negative light. The Fifth Estate might have been the highlight of his acting career in 2013, but the actor affirms that there is still more to come. He was recently featured in a number of television movies commissioned by M-Net to air on Africa Magic. He is also shooting an upcoming TV series called How to Find a Husband alongside Kenyan actress Lizz Njagah.
