Jo was born in Hereford in 1967 and studied acting at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, first coming to notice for his stage work with the English National Theatre in the late 1980s. From 1994 through to 2001 he was a prominent member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in London, Stratford-on-Avon and in touring productions and it was the Company that brought him together with his wife, actress Nancy Carroll, whilst they were working on a documentary about the theatre entitled 'In Search of Shakespeare'. He says "From the day we met to the end of the job nine days later we decided to get married". They had their first child, Nellie, in April 2008. As a departure from the Bard, Nancy and Jo appeared together in the West End in 2006 in a highly successful revival of the World War Two comedy 'See How They Run' and, in 2008, without Nancy, he was back in the West End in another light-hearted period piece, 'The Thirty-Nine Steps'. He has appeared on television in recurring roles in populist series like 'Medics' and 'Soldier,Soldier' and, seemingly par for the course for Royal Shakespeare Company actors, as a murder victim in 'Midsomer Murders'.