JJ was born near Boston, MA, where he spent his childhood watching waaaaay too many movies. Seriously, his parents had to break their Back to the Future VHS just so he'd stop rewatching it. He studied film at Northwestern University, and is currently working as a freelance editor and director in Austin, TX.

His work has been featured on ESPN+, Gunpowder & Sky’s DUST channel, Film Shortage and Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture. In 2017, the Other Worlds Film Festival awarded him their O’Bannon Grant to make his latest short, Jettison, which premiered at the 2021 Austin Film Festival and made its LA debut at HollyShorts.