B: in Montréal, Québec
Michael Zelniker produced, wrote and played the title role in the 1998 movie, Stuart Bliss. He is probably best known for his performance as Red Rodney in Clint Eastwood’s Academy Award-winning film, Bird (1988) and as Doug Alward in The Terry Fox Story (1983), for which he won a Genie Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 5th Genie Awards in 1984. In 2018 he became a climate leader with the Climate Reality Project. Born and raised in Montreal, Zelniker received his professional training as an actor at Dawson College’s Dome Theatre School. After graduating, he began working in theatres all across Canada doing everything from Shakespeare to David Mamet, appearing in numerous Equity productions. His theatre directing credits include the critically acclaimed Child’s Play, at the John Anson Ford Theatre, the sketch comedy show, White House Chicks, at the HBO Workspace, Moonchildren and Waiting for Lefty at the Lillian Theater, and One Love and Love and Death and Other Trivial Matters at the Artworks. He is, since 2018, a member of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project Leadership Corps, serving as the Co-Chair of the Los Angeles Chapter from 2018 – 2021 and as a mentor at numerous climate leader trainings. The Issue with Tissue is his first foray into documentary filmmaking. In a statement about the film he said, “In April 2020, I became aware that large intact, old-growth forest landscapes across the Canadian boreal are being clear-cut for the manufacture of toilet paper. These existentially important forests, which we literally depend on for our very survival, are being cut down so we can wipe our bums with softer, more plush toilet paper. Is there a more obscene illustration of what’s gone wrong?” We list his credits as an Actor first.
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