Joel Smallbone

Joel Smallbone (birthname: Joel David Smallbone) is a filmmaker, actor, and singer in the Christian music genre as a member of the pop duo, For King & Country, with brother Luke Smallbone. After Smallbone and Luke signed as the group, Austoville (and renamed For King & Country) with Warner Bros. Records, he began acting in feature films portraying Persian King Xerxes in The Book of Esther (2013), loosely adapted from the Biblical tale with co-stars Jen Lilly, Thaao Penghlis, and Robert Milano under David A.R. White’s direction.

Smallbone co-starred opposite Billy Rae Cyrus, Jennifer Taylor, Booboo Stewart, Larry Gatlin, and Madelyn Deutch under Johnny Reno’s direction in the Christian-themed drama, Like a Country Song (2014), which was released by CMD Distribution. Smallbone starred in and was co-editor (with director Ben Smallbone) of the Christian drama, Priceless (2016), on which Smallbone was one of the story writers, and which co-starred Bianca Santos, Amber Midthunder, Jim Parrack, and David Koechner, and grossed $1.5 million for distributor Roadside Attractions.

Joel Smallbone joined the ensemble of co-writer/producer/director Adam Anders’s Christian musical, Journey to Bethlehem (2023), with the cast of Fiona Palomo, Milo Mannheim, Lecrae, and Antonio Banderas (as King Herod), which played a money-losing gross of $7.8 million against a $6 million for Sony Pictures Releasing. Smallbone co-directed and co-wrote (with Richard Ramsay) his autobiographical family drama, Unsung Hero (2024), in which he starred with Daisy Betts, Kirrilee Berger, Jonathan Jackson, Candace Cameron Bure, and Diesel La Torraca (who portrayed Joel), and which was released by Lionsgate.