Joel Courtney Bio

Joel Courtney in his first feature film landed the breakout role of Joe Lamb in paramount Pictures Super 8 Produced by Steven Spielberg J.J. Abrams Bryan Burk and Written and Directed by J.J. Abrams.

The film tells the story from the summer of 1979 when a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth - something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.

The film stars Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Gabriel Basso, Noah Emmerich, Ron Eldard, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee and Zach Mills.

A then 14 year old, Joel Courtney had realistic hopes for his summer in Hollywood visiting his older brother Caleb, take a few acting classes, and maybe audition for a commercial or two - then return home to Idaho with $100 in his pocket. Little did he know instead of returning to school in the fall he would be starting production on his first feature film in the starring role.

• June 2011: Super 8! 
• June 2011, Joel appeared in two episodes ("Creature Feature") of The Haunting Hour on the Hub network.
• August 2011, Joel filmed the movie Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in Bulgaria, playing the lead role of Tom Sawyer across from Jake T. Austin (Huck).
• September/October 2011, Joel filmed the movie The Between, playing the lead role of Nick across from Isabelle Fuhrman. 
• Winter of 2012, Joel filmed the Stephen King movie Mercy, produced by Blumhouse and Universal, and directed by Peter Cornwell. 
• Spring of 2013, Joel filed the independent movie Dear Eleanor across from Isabelle Fuhrman, Liana Liberato, and Jessica Alba. 
• In the Summer of 2013, Joel filmed the independent movie Sins of Our Youth with Lucas Till, Ally Sheedy, Mitchel Musso, and Bridger Zadina. 
• In 2014, Joel landed a leading role in the CBS/CW Network TV show The Messengers with Shantel Van Santen, Diogo Morgado, JD Pardo, Sofia Black-D'Elia, and Craig Frank. 

When not filming, Joel attends a classical high school in Idaho, studying various subjects including Latin, Logic, and Classical Literature. In his free time he enjoys playing basketball, lacrosse, running cross country and track and started swimming competitively at the age of four. Joel was born in Monterey, CA. He is the youngest of four children.