John Pielmeier began his career as an actor, working at Actors Theater of Louisville, The Guthrie Theater, Milwaukee Rep, Alaska Rep, Baltimore’s Center Stage and the O’Neill National Playwrights’ Conference.  Agnes of God was first staged at the O’Neill. It was a co-winner of the 1979 Great American Play Contest, and premiered professionally at Actors Theater of Louisville. There followed a number of regional productions and a seventeenth month run on Broadway. He wrote the screenplay for the movie.

Other plays by Pielmeier include Courage, a one-man show about J.M. Barrie; Jass; a musical comedy called Young Rube, about Rube Goldberg; and Willi, based on the speeches of mountaineer Willi Unsoeld. He has also written several movies for television, including Choices of the Heart.

Pielmeier has received a number of other awards and grants and lives in Garrison, New York with his wife Irene O’Garden.