Joey D. Vieira
- Actor
- Composer
- Writer
Joey D. Vieira has just celebrated 65 years in show business. As a
child, he co-starred in the first version of
Lassie (1954) to come to television,
winning, in the years 1954 to 1958, two Emmy Awards for "Best Family Television show". Those four years
of the long-running series, with
Tommy Rettig as "Jeff" and Joey as his best
friend "Porky", are still entertaining audiences today under the name
"Jeff's Collie". Joey then started making appearances on other top
television series, including
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959),
My Three Sons (1960) and
Hank (1965). He also starred in live TV
shows like Playhouse 90 (1956),
Shirley Temple's Storybook (1958),
a Bob Hope Special and "The George
Gobel Show". Joey made his first feature film in 1955 when
he costarred with Charlton Heston in
The Private War of Major Benson (1955).
Other memorable movies over the decades include
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986),
Red Heat (1988) and costarring with
Mel Gibson in
The Patriot (2000) as "Peter Howard".
Joey has a diversified background in many other areas of entertainment. He
has produced several recording artists including
Rick Springfield and
Taylor Dayne and has produced and directed
national television and radio commercials for such heavyweights as
AT&T, Ford, Subaru, Northern Telecom and Mattel Toys. As a writer, Joey
co-created the 3-hour musical variety special for
NBC,Motown Returns to the Apollo (1985),
which won an Emmy for Best Variety Special of the Year. He has also
directed presentation videos for some of the top corporations in the
world...Bally's, Spiegel Catalog, Paramount Properties, Holiday Inns of
America, and the government of the Isle of Mann, to name a few. Lately,
Joey has written six original screenplays of different genres and
signed with Innovative Artists Talent and Literary Agency for
representation. He recently starred in four independent films including
The Dwegons (2011) an animated feature film where Joey does the voices of
seven characters. Joey says he looks forward to many more years in the biz and hopes
they will be at least half as exciting and rewarding as the past half-century has been.
