After he graduated high school Bissell attended University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working in the theater department.

Bissell soon moved to Los Angeles to exploit his talent in the entertainment capital of the world.

In 1980 he was awarded an Emmy for his work on the show, and around that time he was discovered by Steven Spielberg while he was shooting on the same lot.

Bissell would later receive a BAFTA nomination for production design on Spielberg's next project E.T.

Bissell's collaboration with George Clooney began in 2002 with Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, followed by Good Night, and Good Luck which landed him an Oscar nomination, Leatherheads, The Monuments Men, Suburbicon, and most recently The Midnight Sky.

Little known fact: when working on Nick Castle's The Boy Who Could Fly, "Bissell-ing" was invented.