top of page

A fan letter from Cory Finley, director of "Bad Education" and "Thoroughbreds"

Dear Michael,

It’s been a huge pleasure working with you and watching Joel emerge as such a distinct personality.  You’ve created a bunch of beautiful, funny sad moments that I can’t wait to edit together. The board scenes are among my favorites in the movie.  Thank you so much for signing on!

Cory​​​​​​​

Fall  2024

  • Cast as a lead in "Start, Then, Next", a new absurdist comedy by Libby Heily, directed by Bess Frankel, at the New Circle Theater Co., NYC., playing a very tired family man with some secrets.

Summer  2024

  • Cast as a lead in "The Vitagraph Story", at the Flea Theater (Sam), NYC. A new multi-media ensemble devised theater piece, playing Pop Rock - creator of the first movie theater in America - directed by Nina Wise.

  • Played Herman Melville's father-in-law in the first public reading of "Melville on the Shore", by Pulitzer-nominated playwright Chas Libretto.

Spring  2024

  • Shot a supporting role in a dark comedy "The Big W.H.A.T.S.I.T.", playing a small-time fence with a mysterious suitcase in the trunk of his car.

  • World premiere of the audio play "How Emeline Got Free", playing a Southern slave-owner, and a New York abolitionist lawyer. 

Winter  2024

  • Cast as a lead in a marvelous new play, "Three Scenes From the Life of a Trotskyist", by Andy Boyd,  part of the core season at The Tank theater, NYC, playing a high school teacher and successful author true to his radical roots.  Thrilled that reviews and audience response have been through-the-roof enthusiastic! (100% positive on Show-Score with a 91% rating!)

  • Look for me in Episode 3 of "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans" playing opposite Naomi Watts and Tom Hollander, and directed by Gus Van Sant.

Spring - Fall  2023

  • Staying busy with interactive role-playing, training professionals in the medical and mediation fields in high-stakes difficult conversations. 

  • Putting my singing book back together, and learning some fun new songs!

  • Ran a half-marathon.

Winter  2023

  • Booked a major FX mini-series directed by an Oscar-winning director and playing opposite some big names. Details when I can!

  • Thrilled to put a ring on it by joining SAG-AFTRA.

  • Now working with veteran talent manager Amity Bryson of Brilliant Talent Management.

  • Booked and recorded an audio drama podcast, "How Emeline Got Free", the true story of an 1852 court case that freed an enslaved family, playing a Virginia slave-owner and a Brooklyn abolitionist lawyer.

  • Played a would-be peace-making father in a table read of a new screenplay, "Bad Shabbos".

Spring 2022

  • Shot a supporting role in the Indy film "When it Pays" (Late Bloomer Pictures) playing a supportive but clueless dad at Passover.

Winter 2022

  • Called in five times for roles on one of my favorite shows, "Ramy", plus some other exciting auditions.

Fall 2021

  • Cast as the lead in "Retrograph", a new musical, playing a gloomy guy whose depression and marriage are cured by a trip back in time to the Jazz Age.

  • Shot a supporting role as a helpful New Yorker in "It's a Dog", a film about a guy who is or is not bald.

Summer 2021

  • "Bernie and Carlo Play Canasta" wins honorable mention in the Broadway on Demand Short Film Festival.

Spring 2021

  • Booked and shot a music video/commercial for a major national chain, playing a late-night TV huckster who loves cheese too much.

  • "Bad Education" wins the Artios award for best casting of a Film (non-theatrical release).

Winter 2021
Fall 2020

  • Booked and shot a  lead in a satire, "Intern on Parade", playing a tyrannical and manipulative popcorn-loving head of a news media corporation.

  • "Bad Education" wins the Emmy for Best Movie -- due no doubt in large part to my appearance in the poster and my line in the trailer.

  • Shot "Bernie and Carlo Play Canasta" playing Bernie Madoff in a new two-character Zoom play.

  • Zoom reading of a new play by Ellen Abrams, "Giving", playing a righteous attorney.

  • Zoom reading of Jean-Claude van Itallie's translation of "The Seagull", featuring Jean-Claude himself, and playing Dorn, Medvedyenko, and Sorin.

Spring - Summer 2020

  • Cast in a reading of "Bernie and Carlo Play Canasta", a new two-hander in which Bernard Madoff (me) meets Carlo Ponzi.

  • Recorded a Zoom reading of "Enclave", a two-character play by Scott Klavan.

  • Kept sharp with regular Zoom classes with Bob Krakower, Eric Reiss, Anthony Robert Grasso, Carol Fox Prescott, and Ruth Zaporah.

  • Shot a lead role in a short film playing the boss of a drab office transformed by a playful new employee.

Winter 2020

Fall  2019

  • Booked a role playing a district attorney in an Investigation Discovery show.

  • Booked an educational film playing a rabbi speaking about his beliefs.

Spring- Summer 2019

  • Continuing developmental workshops of a new play, "The Tangibles", playing the lead role of an accountant caught between his fiancee and his mother.

  • Busy with auditions for "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"; "The Blacklist"; "Succession"; "The Plot Against America"; "DIvorce";  "Mr. Robot"; and other projects.

Winter 2019

  • Played a lead role as a nuclear engineer with a secretive wife and precocious daughter in a reading of a new play, "Blood Moon."

  • Continuing developmental workshops of a new play, "The Tangibles", playing the lead role of an accountant caught between his fiancee and his mother.

Fall 2018

  • Shot a supporting role in "Bad Education", a feature film directed by Cory Finley,  playing in multiple scenes with with Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, and Ray Romano

Summer 2018

  • Played the lead role of an accountant caught between his fiancee and his mother, in a workshop production of a new play, "The Tangibles," with Convergences Theatre Collective.

  • Played a rabbi with digestive issues in a comedic Music Video.

  • Cast as a depressed and bitter Vietnam Vet with narcolepsy in a table read of "Roughly Speaking," a new play by Shara Zeiger, produced by Rhymes Over Beats.

Spring 2018

  • Cast as a lead in a short film "Intelligent Design", playing an overly enthusiastic genetic counselor and baby designer.

  • Shot a supporting role in a satiric short film, "Don't You Dairy", playing an unhinged conspiracy-theorist talk-show host.

  • Sang in a reunion performance of "The Spickner Spin", a NYC Fringe Festival musical, reprising the role I created of Natty Walker, bum-turned-mayor.

  • Shot a supporting role in the comedic short film "Top Dog", playing a tone-deaf would-be pick-up artist

  • Shot a supporting role in a short film, "Debbie Does Dilators", playing one of the crew on a film set.

Winter   2018

  • Cast in a table read of a new feature film screenplay "Maam's Crossing", playing an Irish poet and home-distiller.

  • Invited back  to perform at Triskelion Arts' "Never Before, Never Again" festival with Improv trio "There's No Law'

  • Sang with the Park Slope Singers in their 25th Anniversary concerts

Fall   2017

  • Booked a lead role as a detective in an episode of "Pandora's Box", on Investigation Discovery. 

Summer  2017

  • Shot a supporting role in a feature film, "Till Jest Do Us Part", a comedy directed by Jonathan Smith.

  • Booked and shot a role in the Emmy-award winning educational television series "We Are New York", playing a hardware store owner laying off his employee

  • Nominated for "Best Actor" in the Brightside Tavern Short Film Festival

Spring 2017

  • Shot a lead role in an episode of "Small Variety", a new sketch comedy webseries.

  • Recorded a two-character radio play, "Enclave", playing a short-fused Everyman, unnerved by a strange run of mishaps.

  • Booked a  supporting role in a new webseries, "Ugly Good Life", playing a creepy guy at the health club.

  • Invited to perform at Triskelion Arts' "Comedy in Dance" festival with Improv trio "There's No Law'

Winter 2017

  • Booked and shot a guest star role on an Investigation Discovery series, playing a man infatuated with his neighbor. 

  • Shot an episode of "The Real Story", an Investigation Discovery series, playing a man wrongfully convicted of his parent's murder.

  • Invited to perform at Triskelion Arts' "Never Before, Never Again" festival with Improv trio "There's No Law'

Fall 2016

  • Shot a two-day co-star role for the  Investigation Discovery series, "Shadow of Doubt", playing the personal assistant to a wealthy woman, and suspected of her husband's murder.

  • Performed a staged reading of a new two-character comedy, "Enclave", by Scott Klavan, playing a short-fused Everyman, unnerved by a strange run of everyday mishaps.

  • Performed in a reading of a new musical, "The Further Shores of Knowing", with Convergence Theater, playing a cynical castaway.

  • Shot an independent short film,  "The Will", playing the heir to a murdered millionaire

  • Shot "Jack's Magic",  an NYU thesis film, playing a 15-year-old girl who gets switched into the body of her dad.  

  • Performed in a staged reading of a series of new short plays  by Penn Angelo.

  • Performed in a reading of a new play by Tevia Abrams, "Letters to a Young Playwright."

Summer 2016

  • Performed the role of  “Host / M.C.” in Delirious Dance’s production of “To Begin the World Over Again” at Gibney Dance Theater, NYC.

  • Shot, "Sundays", an NYU thesis film, playing a man who can't win over his girlfriend’s teenage sons.

Spring 2016

  • Shot a co-star role as a detective on the Investigation Discovery series "Six Degrees of Murder"

  • Shot an independent short film “Doctored”, playing an unwilling participant in couple’s therapy.

  • Performing long-form improv at the P.I.T. Loft  Sunday evenings.

  • Performed in a staged reading of a new play, “Nahoonkara”, by the award-winning Peter Grandbois, with Convergence Theater, in NYC, playing the roles of a tall-tale-telling uncle, a showy hypnotist, and a hard-scrabble gold miner.

  • Shot a supporting role in a new webseries, “Pros and Cons”, playing a the would-be victim of a seductress.

  • Shot an NYU student film, “Full Tilt”, playing The New Al Capone, a low-level mobster with plumbing problems.

  • Recorded an off-camera scene for an NYU short film, playing a bickering suburban dad.

  • Shot an NYU comedy sketch, “What’s My Birthdate, Deadbeat Dad?” playing a dad with very lame jokes.

  • Cast in an NYU student film as an not-so-inspirational high school guidance counselor.

Fall-Winter 2016

  • Shot an independent comedy sketch, “#ActorsLife”, playing a talent manager with questionable ethics.

  • Cast in a student film, as a professor made uncomfortable by an over-sharing student.

  • Shot a supporting role in a new webseries, “Lola Does Manhattan”, as an over-enthusiastic first date.

Fall 2022

  • Shot a supporting role in an independent short, “The Philadelphia Bicycle Vignettes”,  playing an office manager with an agenda.

Summer 2015
bottom of page