Joey Sorge was born in Washington, DC and had what today is known as a ‘free-range’ childhood in Beltsville, Maryland. When he was 10, to keep him from spending too much time in 7-Eleven playing Galaga, choking on Marlboro’s and stealing chrome caps off car tires, Joey was dragged by his father into a community theatre production of The King and I. Leotards, tights and ballet slippers did not go over well with his buddies, but one of the neighborhood moms saw the show and said, “You are really good at this, Joey!” That. Was. The. Moment. He continued to do shows with his Dad and get crushes on older girls in shows like The Boyfriend, Annie Get Your Gun, Brigadoon, 1776, Muses Rage, and The Music Man. In high school, he had his first ‘real’ audition where he quickly forgot all the words to “On The Street Where You Live.” Walking home through tears because he ‘was never gonna be an actor,’ he learned he indeed got cast as a Protean in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. After a stern lecture on not upstaging upperclassmen, leading roles followed in Finian’s Rainbow, Annie, Grease and the plays Tartuffe, The Miracle Worker and Ordinary People; the latter earning him the best actor award from the Maryland Drama Association. Of course, Joey was quite active in sports as “Super Eagle,” the school’s mascot. He even lettered in tennis - as team manager and ball collector. Not kidding. They actually gave him a letter for that.
He spent his high school summers producing and performing in youth group productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, Godspell and West Side Story.
After high school, Joey attended the University of Maryland on a full scholarship. While there, he had principle roles in Little Shop of Horrors, Taming Of The Shrew, School For Wives, Lone Star, The Wiz, Purlie, A Flea In Her Ear, and Dogg’s Hamlet.
Armed with a Bachelor of Arts degree, he started paying his dues in the Washington, DC theatre scene. Shows included: Noises Off, Spiele ’36, Into The Woods, Beggar’s Holiday, Pousse-Café, Dollmaker’s Dilemma, The Art of Waiting and the lead role in George Walker’s Criminals in Love at the Roundhouse Theatre. His day job was performing in a children’s theatre company, Books Alive. He also worked for the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery adult outreach program, which performed musicals for assisted living and nursing home residents. He received his Equity card in a production of A Christmas Carol at the historic Ford’s Theatre.
In 1994, Joey took a break from DC and joined the m/s Crown Odyssey as a performer on a 6-month world cruise through the Mediterranean, Scandinavia, and Europe. Upon returning he was cast as Sparky in Forever Plaid at multiple regional theatres including the official Cleveland and Las Vegas companies.
After Plaid, he moved to NYC and got back into class at various studios like the Actors’ Center and The Michael Chekhov Acting Studio. Regional work continued and his first big break came when he auditioned for Stephen Sondheim. He was cast as Dino in the Off-Broadway production of Saturday Night at Second Stage. Joey then made his Broadway debut as Young Buddy in yet another Stephen Sondheim production, the revival of Follies at the Roundabout Theatre, starring alongside Treat Williams, Blythe Danner, Judith Ivey, Gregory Harrison, Polly Bergen, and Betty Garrett. After Follies, he was cast in the premiere of the Charles Strouse, Rupert Holmes, Lee Adams musical version of Paddy Chayefsky’s Marty at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, starring John C. Reilly.
Joey returned to Broadway as the male lead understudy in Thoroughly Modern Millie and quickly left to take over the role of Jimmy on the National Tour. The tour dropped Joey off in Los Angeles for the first time where he started his television career in “Numb3rs,” “Night Stalker,” “Commander in Chief,” and in the films “Contradictions of the Heart,” “Till We Stop Having Fun,” and “Audrey." He also started doing commercials for McDonald’s, Marshalls, Home Depot, Ford, Listerine (opposite Ana Gasteyer), and as the happy sleeping Advil PM guy!
New York called him back when he was cast in the broadway show, The Drowsy Chaperone. He created the role of ‘The Super’ and served as understudy for the roles of Aldolpho, Robert, and Gangsters. Toward the end of Drowsy, Joey got another big break to star as the Fonz in the National Tour of Happy Days – A New Musical. He was ceremoniously honored with the official leather jacket as the ‘New Fonz’ by Henry Winkler and the original TV cast of Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, during the “Bronze The Fonz” statue unveiling ceremony in Milwaukee, Wisconsin! Creator of Happy Days, Garry Marshall cast Joey in two of his blockbuster feature films, Valentine’s Day opposite Jennifer Garner and New Year’s Eve opposite Hilary Swank.
Upon returning to NY, Joey put on his tap shoes and took on the role of Don Lockwood in Singin’ In The Rain at the Ogunquit Playhouse. Broadway welcomed Joey back in the revival of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starring Daniel Radcliffe and John Laroquette. From there he joined the new broadway musical Nice Work If You Can Get It as the understudy to Matthew Broderick. Nice Work closed and he hit the regionals at theatres like Williamstown Theatre Festival, TUTS, Ogunquit Playhouse, Gulfshore Playhouse, Delaware Theatre Company, Phoenix Theatre and The Muny. He also joined the national tour of Anything Goes as Lord Evelyn Oakley starring opposite Rachel York.
In 2013, Joey started working on the development of the new musical, A Bronx Tale, written by Chazz Palmintieri and directed by Robert De Niro and Jerry Zaks, with music by Alan Menkin. He created the role of Rudy The Voice and worked on the production
for 3 years with an out of town tryout at Papermill Playhouse, and returned to Broadway in 2016. While on Broadway, he continued to pursue television and film with appearances in “FBI: Most Wanted,” "“Younger,” “The Deuce,” “The Good Fight,” “Elementary,” “Deception,” “The Path” and “Person of Interest,” plus the short films “Conditional” and “Providence,” and the web series, “Alphabet Boys.”
After closing Bronx Tale, Joey played Vittorio in the off-Broadway York Theatre production of Carmelina!, as part of their Musicals in Mufti series. He recently played Ludie in Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful at the Actors’ Ensemble in Chatham NY, and Bela Zangler in Crazy For You at the Sharon Playhouse. Just prior to the pandemic he starred as Tito Mirelli in Lend Me A Tenor at Westchester Broadway Theatre and as White Man #1 in the timely new play HELP by Claudia Rankine at The SHED in NYC.
His biggest achievement and most impressive life credit so far has been his marriage to wife and fellow actor, Lori Alexander. In their freshman year, they stood next to each other as strangers among 300 other drama club kids for the yearbook picture. They became high school sweethearts their senior year, were crowned King and Queen of the school and were married on the 15th anniversary of their prom date. Through all the ‘good times and bum times’ of an actors career she has been his foundation of love, support, patience and friendship. They live in New Jersey and have two beautiful daughters, Winona and Sophia, and their 7 year old Shitzu, Teddy. Onward...
