Joseph Miñoso

Founder/Executive Creator

I was born in 1978 in the Bronx. We lived a hand-to-mouth lifestyle most of my childhood. It was a rough neighborhood. By the time I was eleven I was walking to school with mace. My brother-in-law was murdered as a result of gang violence, and my father abandoned us when I was 13, leaving my mother to be the sole breadwinner and parent. I was angry at the world and I started hanging out with the wrong crowd. I could have very easily been one of the statistics we hear about every day.

Then I found the theater. It was a world unlike my own, a world where I could create or be anybody that I wanted to be. It opened up my eyes to the intricacies of life. It helped me examine the various shades of gray between the black and the white stereotypes of humanity. It made me an educated man. I moved on to graduate with a BFA from Adelphi University and immediately went into an assistantship program at Northern Illinois University, where I received a Master of Fine Arts.

Upon graduating, I moved to Chicago where I joined and eventually became the associate artistic director of Teatro Vista. It is to date, still the largest Latinx theater in the Midwest. They were a tremendous family to me, and it was the first time in my experience as an artist where I was surrounded by people who were like me. Until that point, my experiences were overwhelmingly white. I was often the only Latino in the room. It helped me grow and know myself in ways I could have never imagined.

After my time as associate artistic director, I decided I wanted to move on to film and television. I was lucky enough to land a role on Chicago Fire on NBC, where I have been a series regular for the last eight seasons. All of these opportunities were afforded to me because of art; because I had an avenue besides hanging out on the corner and believing the world was as small as my block. I want to create that opportunity for every young Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgendered, and disabled person that feels voiceless. This is why I am building 

MASS EPIPHANY STUDIOS and V.O.I.C.E. VOCATIONAL ACADEMY.