Jonno started his acting career in New Zealand, where he was a company member at Christchurch's Free Theatre, a group notorious for extreme physicality and occasional violence visited on actors and audience alike, as well as for elaborate staging in non-traditional spaces including nightclubs, a law court, museums, and a century-old brewery malt-house.
In 1998 he went on to perform in theaters in Europe, Russia and the US, studying at the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University, and eventually earning a Masters degree from the Moscow Arts Theatre, the theatre and school founded by the legendary Russian actor, teacher and director Constantin Stanislavski.
He teaches acting at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Hollywood and at On Set Coaching in Santa Monica, California.