Joe Lo Truglio

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Joe Lo Truglio
Lo Truglio in 2025
Joe Lo Truglio
Born12/2/1970
BirthplaceNew York City, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationActor, comedian
Known forCharles Boyle on Brooklyn Nine-Nine
EducationNew York University
Children1

Joe Lo Truglio (born December 2, 1970) is an American actor and comedian whose career has spanned more than three decades of sketch comedy, ensemble film work, and mainstream television. He first emerged as a member of the MTV sketch troupe The State in the early 1990s, then built a recurring presence in studio comedies directed by collaborators such as David Wain, Greg Mottola, and Judd Apatow. Lo Truglio is most widely known for his portrayal of Detective Charles Boyle on the Fox and NBC police sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which he played for eight seasons opposite Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, Melissa Fumero, Stephanie Beatriz, and Chelsea Peretti.[1] His film credits include Wet Hot American Summer, Superbad, Role Models, I Love You, Man, Paul, and Wanderlust.[2][3] A longtime member of the comedy collective known as Stella alongside Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black, and David Wain, Lo Truglio has remained closely associated with a generation of New York–rooted alternative comedians who transitioned from cable sketch series into film and network television.[4]

Early Life

Lo Truglio was born on December 2, 1970, in New York City.[5] He was raised in the New York metropolitan area and developed an interest in performance and comedy during his adolescence, eventually pursuing formal training in the dramatic arts at university in his home city.[5] His early exposure to the downtown New York comedy scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s shaped the sketch and improvisational sensibility that would define his subsequent career.[4]

Education

Lo Truglio attended New York University, where he studied at the Tisch School of the Arts. While at NYU he became part of a group of student performers who would later form the nucleus of the sketch comedy troupe The State. The collective, which included Kevin Allison, Michael Ian Black, Robert Ben Garant, Todd Holoubek, Michael Patrick Jann, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Thomas Lennon, Ken Marino, Michael Showalter, and David Wain, coalesced on campus before relocating its work to off-campus venues in lower Manhattan.[4][6] The group's work at NYU is widely cited as the origin point of an alternative-comedy lineage that later produced shows such as Reno 911!, Stella, and Wet Hot American Summer.[4]

Career

The State and early sketch work (1991–1995)

Lo Truglio's professional career began in 1991, when The State was picked up by MTV after airing material on the network's variety showcase You Wrote It, You Watch It.[4] The State debuted as a standalone sketch series in 1993 and ran for three seasons, during which Lo Truglio appeared as one of the show's eleven core cast members and contributed to the writing of its sketches.[6] The series became formative for a generation of comedy writers and performers, and Lo Truglio later participated in reunion projects, including a documentary-style special revisiting the group's history.[6]

Stella and the post-State years (1997–2005)

Following the conclusion of The State, Lo Truglio worked with several spin-off projects involving his former castmates. He became closely associated with the comedy unit Stella, which began as a live show at the Fez Under Time Cafe in New York and produced a series of short films distributed online — among the earliest examples of comedy made specifically for the internet by an established troupe.[4] The Stella shorts, featuring David Wain, Michael Ian Black, and Michael Showalter, often included Lo Truglio in supporting roles and helped establish a do-it-yourself digital model that anticipated later web-native comedy.[4]

In 2001, Lo Truglio appeared in the David Wain–directed feature Wet Hot American Summer, an ensemble comedy set at a fictional Maine summer camp in 1981. The film, co-written by Wain and Showalter, became a cult favorite and led to a Netflix prequel series and follow-up.[2] He continued to work in independent comedy throughout the early 2000s, contributing to projects involving members of the former State cast.[4]

Film roles (2006–2012)

Lo Truglio expanded into mainstream studio comedy during the mid- to late 2000s. He appeared in the 2007 Greg Mottola–directed coming-of-age comedy Superbad, written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, in which he played one of the misfit officers populating the film's police subplot.[3] Variety identified the film as a commercial breakthrough for its writers and producers and noted the supporting ensemble's role in shaping its comedic tone.[3] In the same period he appeared in Role Models (2008), directed by David Wain, and I Love You, Man (2009), directed by John Hamburg, opposite Paul Rudd and Jason Segel.

He continued to work with the State alumni network, appearing in Paul (2011), the science-fiction comedy directed by Greg Mottola and written by and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and Wanderlust (2012), another Wain-directed feature that reunited many of his longtime collaborators. During the same period Lo Truglio took recurring guest roles on television, including appearances on Reno 911!, the Comedy Central improvised series co-created by State alumni Garant, Kenney-Silver, and Lennon. He returned to the franchise when it was revived on the short-form streaming platform Quibi in 2020.[7]

Lo Truglio's television work in this period also included guest spots on shows reviewed by The New York Times, including appearances reflecting his profile in the New York comedy scene.[8] He had a supporting role on the Fox single-camera comedy Sons of Tucson (2010), an ensemble series reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle.[9] He also appeared in the NBC workplace comedy Free Agents, which premiered in 2011 with a cast that included Hank Azaria and Anthony Head.[10]

His earliest credited screen work also drew attention from arts coverage in the New York Times, which profiled his involvement in independent projects emerging from the downtown comedy circuit.[11] Lo Truglio's career trajectory during this period was also tracked by tabloid press, including a 2006 New York Post item on his rising profile.[12]

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013–2021)

In 2013, Lo Truglio was cast as Detective Charles Boyle in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, a single-camera police sitcom created by Dan Goor and Michael Schur for the Fox network. The series premiered on September 17, 2013, and The New York Times described the show as an ensemble workplace comedy anchored by Samberg and Andre Braugher, with Lo Truglio's Boyle established as a devoted and eccentric detective and the close friend of Samberg's lead character.[1] The role placed Lo Truglio at the center of one of the most prominent network comedies of the 2010s.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine ran for five seasons on Fox before being canceled in May 2018 and picked up the following day by NBC, where it continued for three additional seasons. The show concluded with its eighth and final season in 2021, by which point Lo Truglio had appeared in more than 150 episodes. In a 2019 interview with Digital Spy, he discussed Boyle's character development and the writing of plotlines that referenced contemporary political and ethical questions in policing.[13]

In interviews following the show's conclusion, Lo Truglio has expressed interest in a potential revival of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Speaking in June 2026, he said that while he would welcome a reboot, organizing the original cast and creative team for such a project would be logistically difficult.[14]

Recent work and projects (2022–present)

After the conclusion of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Lo Truglio continued to take on film and television roles and reunited with several of his longtime collaborators. He appeared in the 2023 reunion film Party Down, alongside Ken Marino and other cast members from the original Starz series. In a joint interview with Collider, Lo Truglio and Marino discussed their continuing creative partnership and the film's connection to the earlier television series.[15]

In 2026, Lo Truglio confirmed that he and Marino were developing two further projects together: a horror film titled Burnt and a separate horror-comedy that the two are co-writing. The pair gave an update on the projects in a feature published by IMDb News, in which they framed the films as the latest chapter in a creative collaboration dating back to their work in The State.[16]

Personal Life

Lo Truglio married actress Beth Dover, whom he met during the production of the 2012 film Wanderlust.[17] The couple have one child together, a son born in the mid-2010s; Lo Truglio publicly announced his transition to fatherhood in interviews promoting his television work at the time.[17] He has continued to reside primarily on the East Coast and in the Los Angeles area while working on television and film projects.[17]

In public appearances and interviews, Lo Truglio has been candid about the difficulty of balancing the demands of a long-running network series with family life, and has cited his collaborations with longtime friends — including Wain, Marino, Showalter, and Black — as a continuing source of professional stability.[15][16]

Recognition

As part of the ensemble cast of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Lo Truglio shared in the recognition extended to the series during its run on Fox and NBC. The show received a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy in 2014, the year following its premiere, and was nominated for further awards across its eight-season run.[1] Critical reception for the series, including reviews in The New York Times, highlighted the chemistry of the ensemble and singled out Lo Truglio's performance as Boyle as a defining element of the show's comedic identity.[1]

Earlier in his career, Lo Truglio's work with The State and Stella has been retrospectively credited by outlets including Vulture with helping establish the template for alternative sketch and digital comedy that flourished in the 2000s and 2010s.[4] He has also been included in retrospectives of Wet Hot American Summer, which has come to be regarded as a cult classic in the decades since its release.[2]

Lo Truglio has been the subject of authoritative cataloguing in international library databases, including a VIAF authority record and an entry in the catalogue of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, reflecting the international distribution of his television and film work.[18][19]

Legacy

Lo Truglio's career bridges two distinct eras of American screen comedy: the cable sketch comedy boom of the early 1990s and the streaming-era prestige sitcom. As a member of The State, he was part of a cohort that Vulture has described as foundational to contemporary alternative comedy, with members of the troupe going on to create or star in Reno 911!, Stella, the Wet Hot American Summer franchise, Childrens Hospital, and Party Down.[4][6] Lo Truglio's continued participation in projects emerging from this network of collaborators — from the Stella shorts in the early 2000s to the Party Down reunion film and his ongoing work with Marino in the mid-2020s — has made him one of the more consistent throughlines of the State diaspora.[15][16]

In mainstream television, his portrayal of Charles Boyle on Brooklyn Nine-Nine contributed to a network sitcom that became a reference point in discussions of representation, workplace comedy, and the depiction of policing in popular culture during the 2010s and early 2020s.[13] The series' decision under showrunners Goor and Schur to engage with contemporary social issues, including episodes that addressed racial profiling and police accountability, drew commentary in trade and entertainment press, with Lo Truglio among the cast members who spoke publicly about the show's evolving tone.[13]

Lo Truglio's career also reflects a broader pattern by which performers from New York's downtown comedy scene of the late 1980s and 1990s moved into film and network television without abandoning their independent and improvisational roots. His filmography, encompassing both studio comedies such as Superbad and I Love You, Man and independent ensemble work, illustrates this trajectory and has been catalogued in detail by databases including IMDb.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 HaleMikeMike"Brooklyn Nine-Nine, With Andre Braugher and Andy Samberg".The New York Times.2013-09-17.https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/arts/television/brooklyn-nine-nine-with-andre-braugher-and-andy-samberg.html.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Wet Hot American Summer's David Wain talks ten years later".Entertainment Weekly.2011-08-02.https://ew.com/article/2011/08/02/wet-hot-american-summer-david-wain/.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Superbad".Variety.2007-08-09.https://variety.com/2007/film/reviews/superbad-1200557352/.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 "How the DIY Stella Shorts Somehow Introduced the Future of Mainstream Comedy".Vulture.2017-12.https://www.vulture.com/2017/12/how-the-diy-stella-shorts-somehow-introduced-the-future-of-mainstream-comedy.html.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Joe Lo Truglio". 'IMDb}'. Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 RadishChristinaChristina"Joe Lo Truglio Talks About The State Special That Airs This Fall".Collider.https://collider.com/joe-lo-truglio-talks-about-the-state-special-that-airs-this-fall/.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  7. ↑ "Reno 911! Revival Quibi Cast".Variety.2020.https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/reno-911-quibi-cast-1203509249/.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  8. ↑ StanleyAlessandraAlessandra"Television Review".The New York Times.2008-08-12.https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/arts/television/12line.html.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  9. ↑ WiegandDavidDavid"TV review: 'Sons of Tucson'".San Francisco Chronicle.2010.https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/TV-review-Sons-of-Tucson-3196412.php.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  10. ↑ "Anthony Head joins NBC's Free Agents".Digital Spy.https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a310802/anthony-head-joins-nbcs-free-agents/.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  11. ↑ "Arts Briefly".The New York Times.2006-09-16.https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/16/movies/16arti.html.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  12. ↑ "Starr Report".New York Post.2006-09-01.https://nypost.com/2006/09/01/starr-report-1248/.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Joe Lo Truglio on 'A Higher Loyalty'".Digital Spy.https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a30015173/brooklyn-nine-nine-joe-lo-truglio-a-higher-loyalty/.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  14. ↑ "Joe Lo Truglio admits 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' reboot would be 'tough' for THIS reason".The National Desk.2026-06-25.https://thenationaldesk.com/news/entertainment/joe-lo-truglio-admits-brooklyn-nine-nine-reboot-would-be-tough-for-this-reason.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 "Ken Marino and Joe Lo Truglio on the Party Down Movie".Collider.https://collider.com/ken-marino-joe-lo-truglio-interview-party-down-movie/.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 "Wanderlust Stars Ken Marino and Joe Lo Truglio Give Update on Horror Movie Burnt; Confirm They're Also Writing a Horror-Comedy". 'IMDb}'. Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 "Actor Joe Lo Truglio Is a First-Time Dad".Hollywood.com.http://www.hollywood.com/general/actor-joe-lo-truglio-is-a-first-time-dad-60559443/.Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  18. ↑ "Joe Lo Truglio". 'VIAF}'. Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  19. ↑ "Joe Lo Truglio". 'Bibliothèque nationale de France}'. Retrieved 2026-06-29.

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