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Michael Joiner moved his family to Los Angeles in search of his big break but found it years later a lot closer to home.
The Independence resident plays the lead in “The Grace Card,” a gritty cop drama that was filmed last year in Memphis, Tenn., and opens nationwide Friday, including at AMC Independence Commons 20.
It’s the first big role for Joiner, who for years has made a living as a stand-up comedian. While in Los Angeles, he built a solid reputation with casting directors, booking commercial gigs and bit roles as cops in TV shows.
But when the recession hit, the jobs that he had been getting dried up.
“It wasn’t a good time to be an entertainer,” Joiner said. “Comedy had been keeping me alive – I had been getting five, six gigs a month, and suddenly I was getting zero or one.”
So Joiner moved his family back to the Kansas City area, where his wife had grown up.
That’s when the call came about “The Grace Card.” The film’s producers had seen a reel of Michael’s work and wanted him to play the lead.
“At the time, we didn’t believe it was going to be as big of a deal as it is now,” said Michelle Joiner, Michael’s wife. “We were back in Kansas City. We’d left LA, and we figured that the doors that were opening were still out there.”
Michael, too, was skeptical. He almost passed when he heard “The Grace Card” was a Christian film.
“Even though I’m a Christian, I have standards when it comes to acting,” said Joiner, who attends Crown Pointe Church in Lee’s Summit with his family. “I haven’t been too impressed with Christian films.”
It took a big name – Howard Klauser, who also wrote “Space Cowboys” – to get Joiner to look at the script.
He broke down the first time he read it.
“This wasn’t your average, low-quality, faith-based film,” Joiner said.
Even now, he downplays the religious aspects of the film, which also includes Academy Award winner Louis Gossett Jr.
“It’s the kind of movie I wish they wouldn’t stress too much the faith aspect because it’s entertaining, it’s gritty, it’s PG-13,” he said. “People who’ve seen the pre-screens aren’t necessarily Christian church folks, and they’ve loved it.”
Michael Joiner moved his family to Los Angeles in search of his big break but found it years later a lot closer to home.
The Independence resident plays the lead in “The Grace Card,” a gritty cop drama that was filmed last year in Memphis, Tenn., and opens nationwide Friday, including at AMC Independence Commons 20.
It’s the first big role for Joiner, who for years has made a living as a stand-up comedian. While in Los Angeles, he built a solid reputation with casting directors, booking commercial gigs and bit roles as cops in TV shows.
But when the recession hit, the jobs that he had been getting dried up.
“It wasn’t a good time to be an entertainer,” Joiner said. “Comedy had been keeping me alive – I had been getting five, six gigs a month, and suddenly I was getting zero or one.”
So Joiner moved his family back to the Kansas City area, where his wife had grown up.
That’s when the call came about “The Grace Card.” The film’s producers had seen a reel of Michael’s work and wanted him to play the lead.
“At the time, we didn’t believe it was going to be as big of a deal as it is now,” said Michelle Joiner, Michael’s wife. “We were back in Kansas City. We’d left LA, and we figured that the doors that were opening were still out there.”
Michael, too, was skeptical. He almost passed when he heard “The Grace Card” was a Christian film.
“Even though I’m a Christian, I have standards when it comes to acting,” said Joiner, who attends Crown Pointe Church in Lee’s Summit with his family. “I haven’t been too impressed with Christian films.”
It took a big name – Howard Klauser, who also wrote “Space Cowboys” – to get Joiner to look at the script.
He broke down the first time he read it.
“This wasn’t your average, low-quality, faith-based film,” Joiner said.
Even now, he downplays the religious aspects of the film, which also includes Academy Award winner Louis Gossett Jr.
“It’s the kind of movie I wish they wouldn’t stress too much the faith aspect because it’s entertaining, it’s gritty, it’s PG-13,” he said. “People who’ve seen the pre-screens aren’t necessarily Christian church folks, and they’ve loved it.”
But faith does play a part. “The Grace Card” tells the story of Mac McDonald, a downtrodden cop whose misanthrope attitude and misplaced racism are holding him back. He faces tough choices when partnered with a black, religious officer who offers McDonald a path to salvation.
Religion is part of Joiner’s story, too. He was working as a clean comedian in the early ’90s and living in Indiana when he was asked to headline at Michelle’s church’s banquet in Raytown.
Joiner, who bills himself as “God’s Smart Aleck,” says it takes a lot more than cutting out curse words to do clean comedy.
“Jerry Seinfeld is a good example,” Joiner said. “He might cuss a little bit here or there, but for the most part his stuff is observational, and he’s not getting overly sexual.”
Mutual friends introduced Michael and Michelle after the show. He soon moved to the Kansas City area to be with her, and the couple started their family here. But his dream of becoming an actor still beckoned.
“I knew ahead of time he had lived in LA before, in the ’80s, so I was always open to it,” Michelle said. “I was willing to make whatever inconvenient sacrifices to fit in every talent he had. I didn’t want us to get to the end of our lives and say, ‘What if we didn’t do that?’ ”
Having the support of Michelle and her family has made a difference, Michael said, especially when the Joiners were about to lose their home in Los Angeles.
When his mother-in-law saw “The Grace Card,” Michael said she began to cry as soon as she saw his name in the credits.
“She hasn’t cried so much since I said I was moving in,” he quipped. “OK, not really.”
As for comedy, Michael currently does five to seven stand-up shows a month. If he had it his way, he’d do a few shows each year and focus on acting.
“I love Independence. The Kansas City metro area is where I want to raise my children. If I can live here and still work as an actor in LA, that would be my ideal dream.”
‘God’s (Little) Smart Aleck’
Michael and Michelle have three sons – Dustin, 13; Jack, 11; and Max, 7. The oldest, Dustin, wants to follow in Dad’s footsteps.
“He literally came out of the womb wanting to entertain,” Michelle said. “He was making people smile and laugh before he was 1 year old. He’d eat baby food and have a big, sour reaction. If people laughed, he’d do it again and again.”
Dustin, a seventh grader at Pioneer Ridge Middle School, has cracked jokes on “America’s Got Talent” and “Steve Hardy’s Big Time Challege.” He even guest starred on an episode of “House.”
When he’s not in school, Dustin goes on the road with Dad, doing stand-up everywhere from churches to comedy clubs.
“My dad and I write it together. We find something that’s not very normal, or take something someone’s said, and we make a joke out of it,” Dustin said. “Most of my friends know I do comedy. I’ll post on Facebook when we’re going somewhere to perform.”
Dustin spent last weekend in Wyoming before his dad’s red carpet premiere. He’s also performed in New York, California and Montana.
You can learn more about the Joiners’ comedy at www.michaeljoiner.com.
