Joe Castillo

Joe Castillo is a sand artist act from Season 7 of America's Got Talent.

Background
Born in the cosmopolitan city of Mexico, Joe Castillo was strongly influenced by his artistic family and the international art community. His mother taught painting. His father owned a graphic design and display company. By age five, he was enrolled in his mom’s art class for the neighborhood children. By eight, his father was teaching him to hand letter brush script. Then, at fourteen, he attended an artist’s chalk talk at a Christian youth camp in Mexico. He was so moved by the drawing and the powerful message that he accepted Christ that night. For the next forty years his love of art and his passion for God would inspire and guide his life.

After his father’s death in 1963, the Castillo family moved back to the United States. Joe finished high school, studied at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota and enrolled at Florida Bible College. At FBC he received a Bachelor’s degree in Bible. As an avid reader Joe developed a love for writing, teaching and using his artwork for telling stories. Using what he called WordStory®, Joe became a regular speaker at youth camps and churches.

During his twenty years in advertising, Joe kept his love for Art Stories alive by becoming an accomplished motivational performer/speaker in both English and Spanish. Joe has entertained and captivated thousands of audiences over a period of thirty-two years stories that inspire, motivate and touch the heart. His art has been sold worldwide. After eighteen years in advertising and the loss of his wife of twenty-six years to breast cancer, he sold his ad agency, went back to school and graduated from Asbury Seminary. His profound love of teaching the scriptures inspired him to illustrate what he was learning in a new way. These illustrations attempted to present the Bible in an intricate story-form that grew out of the Biblical passages. The ArtStories involved doing a four foot by eight foot mural while telling a Biblical story. The combination of using the eyes as well as the ears created a double impact more effectively reaching this visual generation. Using stories and hidden art Joe developed his unique ArtStory® messages.

His latest adventure in Story telling is something Joe calls SandStory®. Drawing in sand on a light table, he is able to create powerful, fluid illustrations for large audiences with an overhead video camera projected on a large screen. His presentations have been seen by thousands of people leaving them with a sense of awe. He has created performances for CBS, NBC, BBC, TED, over thirty Fortune Five hundred companies, Kings, presidents and dignitaries in more than 18 countries around the globe. 1

Audition
Joe Castillo's audition consisted of moving sand on a projector to project an artistic story of two people joining the American war effort on a screen to "Proud to Be an American." Howard Stern, Sharon Osbourne, and Howie Mandel all voted "Yes," sending the act to the Vegas Round.



Vegas Round
Joe Castillo was one of the Judges' Favorites in the Vegas Round. He was sorted into the "Novelty Acts" category. His performance consisted of portraying through moving sand with his hands the story of people in chains, to the song "Feeling Good." His audition was strong enough for the judges to send him to the Quarterfinals along with All Beef Patty, Aurora Light Painters, and Light Wire Theater.