Joan was born and raised in New Orleans, LA in the 1960s. She was destined to become an actress when she played a pair of roller skates in her first play, at age five. Joan did, move on to more serious roles. She acted throughout school, and in several regional theatre groups. Joan attended the Herbert-Berghof Acting Studio, in New York City, where she studied with Uta Hagen, Michael Beckett and several other gifted teachers. She also attended the University of Missouri at Columbia. She then took a leave from her acting studies to complete an AA degree in Biblical Studies at a private Christian college. After spending some years doing spiritual outreach work, she decided to finish her Theatre degree. She attended Cal-State University, Northridge and completed her studies at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg in 1996. She then returned to LA to pursue her acting career in film and television.

Over the past years, she has had co-starring roles on such TV shows as, "Rude Awakening", "The Jamie Foxx Show" and "Tracey Takes On…" In 2003, she appeared on "Malcolm In the Middle", "Judging Amy" and "ER's 200th Episode". On July 23rd, she will appear on the hit show, "Monk" on USA Network. In film, she has had roles in; "Mr. Chick Magnet", "Echos of Enlightenment", "Donnie Darko", "Daddy Daycare", and the upcoming holiday film "Surviving Christmas", starring Ben Affleck and Christina Applegate. She can currently be seen in "Baadasssss!", Mario Van Peeble's film about his father Melvin's struggle in 1970 to conceive the first "black hero" film. "Baadasssss!" was a part of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, where it received standing ovations at every screening. It was released in May, by Sony Pictures Classics. Joan is proud to be a part of this important piece of film history.