Joseph Puleo graduated from Lindenwood University’s School of Film in 2014. His short film Top Son (2016) was a Top 5 finalist in Kevin Hart’s LOL Network’s "Eat My Shorts" competition and screened at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal.

His debut feature documentary, America’s Last Little Italy: The Hill (2020), about the historic St. Louis neighborhood, aired on PBS stations nationwide. His second feature documentary, A New Home (2022), examines the experiences of Bosnian War refugees in St. Louis, home to more displaced Bosnians than any other city in the world. The film won the Mid-America Emmy for Best Documentary - Cultural and was nominated for Outstanding Regional Documentary at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards.

In 2025, Puleo was awarded the prestigious Better Angels Society Lavine Fellowship in support of his documentary Brothers in Blood: Black in Vietnam (2026). In 2026, his documentary Percy Green: Man of ACTION (2025) received two Gold Telly Awards.