His award winning student film Last Chance Dance caught the eye of Steven Spielberg who hired him to direct two Amazing Stories episodes, "Santa '85" and "The Doll", when he was 23 years old.
John Lithgow won a best actor Emmy Award for his role in "The Doll" and memorably said in his acceptance speech: "I'd like to thank the director, Phil Joanou -- remember that name."
While in post-production on Three O'Clock High, Joanou was introduced to the Irish rock band U2, and after a series of discussions, they asked him to direct their 1988 film Rattle and Hum.
The film divided critics upon release; it premiered in five cities: Dublin, London, Madrid, New York and Los Angeles in a one week period.
Joanou's collaboration with U2 continued on for over twenty years with the director shooting nine music videos for the band as well as a documentary ("40 Cents a Day") that covered Bono's journey throughout Africa for One and Project Red.
His other collaborations with the band include: "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" -- "If God Will Send His Angels" -- "Merry Christmas, Baby Please Come Home" -- "One Tree Hill" -- "When Love Comes to Town" -- "All Because of You" and "Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own".
The first installment directed by Joanou, Age 7 in America, was hosted by Meryl Streep and introduced on network television by Oprah Winfrey.
After several brief forays into TV - directing an episode of the mini-series Wild Palms and an installment of the anthology series Fallen Angels - Joanou returned to features with the Alec Baldwin vehicle, Heaven's Prisoners.
In 2005, Joanou began production on Gridiron Gang, based on the award-winning documentary that followed the first season of the inaugural football program at Camp Kilpatrick, a juvenile detention center in Los Angeles.