Born and raised in Minnesota, Joel McKinnon Miller studied opera and theatre at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. After college he moved to New York, joined John Houseman's The Acting Company, and spent 3 years touring the classics across the U.S. Joel then began performing Off-Broadway, which included working with Joseph Papp at The Public Theatre and in regional theatre.
In 1991, Joel made his television debut on Murphy Brown. He then went on to earn numerous television credits, including roles on Curb Your Enthusiasm (2001), Everybody loves Raymond (2005), The X-Files (1999), ER (2000), Las Vegas (2006), Glee (2012), Longmire (2017), Bones (2011), American Horror Story (2012), Station 19 (2023) and the HBO Max mini-series The Staircase (2022). Feature film credits include The Truman Show (1998), Super 8 (2011), The Family Man (2000) and Friday After Next (2002).
Joel is best known for his role as Detective Norm Scully on the NBC hit series Brooklyn Nine-Nine (8 seasons, 2013-2021) and as Don Embry on HBO's Big Love (5 seasons, 2006-2011). In 2023, he starred in and executive produced the indie film Wardcliffe.
Joel splits his time between California and Minnesota with his wife of 40 years, Tamara, and has two grown children, one son-in-law and world-famous dog, Elliot.
