Mr. Bologna's acting career dates back to his days as an undergraduate at Brown University. After a tour of duty in the Marines, he began directing documentaries and commercials and writing special comedy material.

In 1965, he married writer/actress Renée Taylor. They wrote the Broadway play Lovers and Other Strangers, in which Mr. Bologna made his professional acting debut. They then collaborated on the screen version, which earned them their first Oscar nomination and critical acclaim.

In 1971, the duo co-wrote Made for Each Other, which marked Mr. Bologna's feature film acting debut. The feature was re-released in 1985 and has developed a tremendous cult following.

Bologna and Taylor received an Emmy Award for co-writing the television special Acts of Love and Other Comedies. They wrote and co-starred in the television special, Bedrooms, for which they received a Writers Guild award. The duo also created the television series Calucci's Department on CBS.

Additionally they co-wrote, co-directed and co-starred in the feature film It Had to be You, based on their Broadway play. More recently, they shared the same duties in their original feature film, Love is All There Is, starring Angelina Jolie in her first film role.

In between writing projects, Mr. Bologna's acting career flourished. His feature film credits include: My Favorite Year, The Woman in Red, Blame It On Rio, Chapter Two, Honor Thy Father, Coupe de Ville, Cops and Robbers, Mixed Company and The Big Bus. He also played Adam Sandler's father in the box office hit Big Daddy, and Chris Isaac's Uncle on the show of the same name.

On television, Mr. Bologna starred in the moves One Cooks, the Other Doesn't; A Time to Triumph, Sins, Torn Between Two Lovers, Copacabana, An Inconvenient Woman, The Danger of Love, Citizen Cohn, and the series Rags to Riches. He also appeared in the Showtime original feature comedy Family Therapy opposite Robert Loggia and Angie Dickinson. Joe also made a guest appearance on The Nanny, playing (ironically) "Sylvia Fine's lover", and is soon to be seen in an HBO movie "Fathers & Sons".

Bologna and Taylor are following up their long running The Bermuda Avenue Triangle, with their semi-autobiographical comedy, If You Ever Leave Me I'm Going with You. they recently completed successful runs in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Miami, and Atlantic City. They will soon re-team in the Independent feature comedy Returning Mickey Stern.