Joe Shishido was born in the Kita Ward of Osaka, Japan. He had two older brothers, one younger sister and a younger brother who also became an actor under the name Eiji Go. Shishido attended schools in Tokyo and Miyagi. In 1952, he graduated from high school and enrolled in the theatre course at Nihon University. Two years later, he auditioned for the Nikkatsu Company\'s New Face contest. He was one of 21 selected from 8,000 applicants. Shishido dropped out of school and began working for Nikkatsu, appearing in small film roles.\n', '

In 1954, Joe Shishido signed on as a contract player at Nikkatsu. Studio bosses encouraged Shishido to change his name, as popular tales of the samurai Miyamoto Musashi contained a villain named Shishido, and they were trying to model him into a romantic lead. Shishido refused. His first major role was in Policeman\'s Diary (1955, Keisatsu Nikki), in which he played a young patrolman who challenges a police chief in a kendo (bamboo sword fighting) match.\n', '

Displeased with his middling success in melodramas and "blandly handsome features", Shishido underwent cheek augmentation surgery in 1957, increasing the size of his cheekbones. His altered look has been described both as "ruggedly handsome", and also as chipmunk-like. Afterwards, he began getting bigger parts, predominantly as villains in action movies. Two of his biggest roles in the late 1950s and early 1960s were opposite Akira Kobayashi in the Wataridori ("Birds of Passage") series, and Keiichiro Akagi in the Kenjū Buraichō ("Records of Pistol Criminality") series. When Akagi died in a go-karting accident, Shishido replaced him as Nikkatsu\'s action star . His first starring role was in the comic buddy film Dirty Work (ろくでなし稼業, Rokudenashi Kagyō, 1961) with Hideaki Nitani. The film was a success and spawned two immediate sequels, Bodyguard Work (用心棒稼業, Yōjimbō Kagyō, 1961) and Helper Work (助っ人稼業, Suketto Kagyō, 1961). He gained national popularity and the lifelong nickname "Joe the Ace" ("Eisu no Jō") for his eponymous role in the Eastern Western Fast-Draw Guy (1961), in which he played the "third-fastest draw in the world—0.65 seconds."\n', '

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