Michael Zelniker is a Canadian born actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for his performance as Red Rodney in

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning film ''

Bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

'' (1988) and as Doug Alward in '' The Terry Fox Story'' (1983), for which he won a

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculptor ...

for Best Supporting Actor at the

5th Genie Awards The 5th Genie Awards were presented on March 21, 1984, to honour films released in 1983. This year's entries numbered 15 features, 14 theatrical shorts and 5 theatrical documentaries."11 nominations for Chapdelaine in Genie race". ''The Globe and ...

in 1984.

Early life and education

Originally from

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Zelniker studied acting and theatre at

Dawson College Dawson College is an English-language public college in Westmount and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The college is situated near the heart of Downtown Montreal in a former nunnery on approximately of green space. It is the largest CEGEP in the p ...

, Dome Theatre."Blissful success: Former Montrealer Michael Zelniker is wowing critics and audiences with his new movie Stuart Bliss". ''

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

'', August 31, 1998.

Career

Zelniker appeared in the films '' Pick-up Summer'' (1980), ''

Ticket to Heaven ''Ticket to Heaven'' is a 1981 Canadian drama (film and television), drama film directed by Ralph L. Thomas and starring Nick Mancuso, Saul Rubinek, Meg Foster, Kim Cattrall, and R.H. Thomson. The plot concerns the recruiting of a man into a group ...

'' (1981), '' Heartaches'' (1981), ''

'' (1988), '' Glory Enough for All'' (1991),"Banting, Best earned their glory". ''

Windsor Star The ''Windsor Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Postmedia Network, it is published Tuesdays through Saturdays. History The paper began as the weekly ''Windsor Record'' in 1888, changing its name to the ''Bor ...

'', October 15, 1988. ''

Naked Lunch ''Naked Lunch'' (first published as ''The Naked Lunch'') is a 1959 novel by American author William S. Burroughs. The novel does not follow a clear linear plot, but is instead structured as a series of non-chronological "routines". Many of thes ...

'' (1991),"Actor can only dream of Tangiers". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', February 6, 1991. ''

Queens Logic ''Queens Logic'' is a 1991 American ensemble coming-of-age comedy-drama film from Seven Arts Pictures starring Kevin Bacon, Linda Fiorentino, Joe Mantegna, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Malkovich, Ken Olin, Chloe Webb and Tom Waits. It was directed ...

'' (1991),''Mercenary'' (1996) and '' Snide and Prejudice'' (1997), and made guest appearances in the television series ''

The Littlest Hobo ''The Littlest Hobo'' () is the Canadian television series based upon a 1958 American film of the same name directed by Charles R. Rondeau. The series first aired from 1963 to 1965 in syndication, and was revived for a popular second run on C ...

'', '' In the Heat of the Night'', ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

'', '' Profiler'', ''

Strong Medicine ''Strong Medicine'' is an American medical drama with a focus on feminist politics, health issues and class conflict that aired on the Lifetime network from 2000 to 2006. It was created and produced in part by Whoopi Goldberg, who made cam ...

'', '' The Dead Zone'' and ''

Millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

''. He wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film ''Stuart Bliss'', in which he also played the title character. ''Stuart Bliss'' was also produced by Zelniker, and won the Northampton Film Festival's Best of Fest Award in 1998. Zelniker wrote, produced, and directed ''

Falling Falling or fallin' may refer to: *Falling (physics), movement due to gravity *Falling (accident) * Falling (execution) *Falling (sensation) People * Christine Falling (born 1963), American serial killer who murdered six children Books * ''Fal ...

'', which won Indie Fest USA International Film Festival's Best of Festival Award in 2012. In 2013 he began teaching Acting for Film, Chekhov Technique and Performing Shakespeare at the Los Angeles Campus of the

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a Private college, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit film school and Drama school, acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles metropolitan ar ...

after teaching Acting for the Camera, Acting Technique and Shakespeare at the

American Musical and Dramatic Academy The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) is a private conservatory for the performing arts in New York City and Los Angeles, California. The conservatory offers master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and certificates ...

from 2004 to 2013. In 2018, Zelniker became a climate leader with the Climate Reality Project, trained by former Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

. He served as the Co-Chair of Climate Reality's Los Angeles Chapter from 2018 - 2021. He wrote, produced, edited and directed, ''The Issue with Tissue - a boreal love story''. a documentary about the little known, largely untold story of the boreal forest and the Indigenous Peoples who call it home. ''The Issue with Tissue'' held its world premiere at Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival on September 18, 2022, where it was recognized with their Audience Choice Runner-up Award. Playing in theaters in Los Angeles, Toronto, Montreal, Marin County and Quebec City and at film festivals across North America, ''The Issue with Tissue'' qualified for major awards' consideration, including being nominated for the 2023 Next Generation Indie Film Awards Best Documentary Feature.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zelniker, Michael Best Supporting Actor Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male screenwriters Canadian male stage actors Dawson College alumni Male actors from Montreal Living people Writers from Montreal Year of birth missing (living people) Screenwriters from Quebec