Jo first trained as an actor at Drama Centre London. He worked extensively in theatre, film and television in both England and France, with Tony Richardson, Nick Roeg, Mike Newell, Anthony Page, Bill Douglas, François Truffaut, Roger Michell and Peter Brook. 

He then studied film at The National Film and Television School. His film Fragments won: Outstanding Film of the Year, at the 1984 London Film Festival. 

In 1994 he went back to the theatre as a director. He has directed many plays both in Continental Europe: Brussels, Paris, Venice, Stockholm and Rome, and in England at: Hampstead Theatre, The Gate, Riverside Studios, Manchester Royal Exchange, The White Bear, The Southwark Playhouse and The Arcola Theatre. 

As well as directing in the professional theatre he has directed over 100 productions with graduating students at leading Drama schools, including: Rada, Lamda, Drama Centre London, Arts Educational School, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, Guilford School of Acting. 

In the late 70s he was asked to teach acting to dancers at Maurice Béjart’s academy (Mudra) in Brussels, and subsequently to opera singers at The Verbier Music Festival and at The Banff Centre for Arts in Canada. 

In addition to directing and teaching he has run many workshops at The National Film and Television School, The National Theatre Studio, Room One, The Actors Centre, Caravancerai Productions, Prima Del Teatro and The Royal College of Art.

He joined Fonact at its very inception in 2015.