Joseph Zito is a renowned action film director, recognized for his successful movies that reached the top grossing position in the country. Three of his notable films, Missing in Action (1984),Invasion U.S.A. (1985),and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984),debuted at number one in the box office during their initial weeks of U.S. theatrical release.
Missing in Action, starring Chuck Norris, is his most successful film and, along with Invasion U.S.A., set new box-office records for the action star. The movie not only spawned a series of sequels but also turned martial arts veteran Chuck Norris into a legitimate movie star and household name.
Joseph Zito attended the City University of New York, where he majored in economics as an undergraduate and later earned a Master's degree in psychology. He has worked in the motion picture industry as a director, producer, and writer, and even fulfilled a childhood fantasy by owning a grand old movie palace, the Sanders Theatre in New York.
Zito also operated a post-production editorial service and gained recognition as a film "doctor," performing emergency surgery on ailing films to turn them into healthy box office prospects. As a director, he began by making documentaries and then transitioned to directing feature films, including Abduction (1975) and The Prowler (1981).
Zito often directs movies in exotic locations, having filmed "Missing in Action" in Southeast Asia, Red Scorpion (1988) in Africa, Delta Force One: The Lost Patrol (1999) in the Middle East, and Power Play (2003) in South America.
Delta Force One: The Lost Patrol, a large-scale action adventure, tells the story of a team of international peacekeepers on a perilous search for a missing convoy of soldiers. Power Play, starring Dylan Walsh and Alison Eastwood, is about a newspaper reporter who uncovers unorthodox scientific testing causing devastating earthquakes throughout Los Angeles while investigating the disappearance of three radical environmentalists.
As a frequent lecturer at universities and colleges, including USC, University of Ohio at Bowling Green, and UCLA, Zito shares his expertise with students. He is currently working in the Middle East as a producer on a large-scale hospital drama television series.
