EPISODE 41: MICHAEL CHERNUS
MICHAEL CHERNUS
On becoming ourselves, contending with our fear of fucking up, and learning to groove.
On the small screen you’ve seen Michael in many notable streaming shows, like Ramy on Hulu, Orange is the New Black on Netflix, the Amazon series, Patriot, the Joe Swanberg written and directed show, Easy, as well as many network shows - most recently, Tommy on CBS. On the big screen, he has acted in many studio films such as Spider Man: Homecoming, Men in Black 3, Captain Phillips, The Bourne Legacy, and Jack and Diane, as well as many independent features, like The Family Fang, Love and Other Drugs, and The Most Hated Woman In America.
Also an accomplished stage actor, Michael won a 2011 OBIE Award and received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for his performance in Lisa Kron's "In the Wake" at The Public Theater in New York City. On stage, he has co-starred with David Hyde Pierce and Rosie Perez in the Manhattan Theater Club production of "Close Up Space" at New York City Center and with America Ferrera in the revival of Terence McNally's "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" at Second Stage. Other New York credits include such theaters as Playwrights Horizons, the Roundabout Theatre Company, Primary Stages, New York Theater Workshop, The Atlantic Theater Company, and many productions at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (where he played the lead role of "KJ" in the play "The Aliens," which the New York Times, named the best play of 2010). His credits in regional theater include productions at the Williamstown Theater Festival, The Yale Repertory Theatre, and the Guthrie Theater, among others. Internationally, he appeared in Adam Rapp's "Finer Noble Gases" at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Fringe First Award) and in London at the Bush Theatre. Michael is a graduate of the Juilliard School's Drama Division (Group 28). He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Emily Simoness. Michael is very involved with his wife's non-profit SPACE on Ryder Farm.
Michael Chernus on IMDB
Michael Chernus on Wikipedia
QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE
01:05:58 ~ “It is fundamental to being human, the desire to be seen and heard.” - KF
1:11:59 ~ “You don’t start playing the base when you pick up the base; you've been playing the base for hours. You're coming to the instrument already grooving, and it's similar with acting... If you can be in that meditative, groovy, relaxed state when you get in the van... to go to location and go to hair and makeup, you're already in the scene. You're already groovin, you're already listening, you're already present. You're already playing, you're already improvising. You're at the top of your creativity and ingenuity already. Then, when they call action, you've already been doing it... for hours.”
1:14:29 ~ “I feel like I have a gift that somehow came from somewhere else out in the universe and that my only real job is to sort of protect that and to try to not fuck it up, so that that thing can live - almost like a child or a pet... I am not the talent; I'm just the caretaker and the conduit for this thing... And sometimes I feel like... it's not about me. Like get out of the way, be the channel, be the vessel, be the conduit for the... thing to move through you.”
1:15:33 ~ “Stop trying so hard and stop wanting to be seen in a certain way and stop wanting to be liked and stop wanting to be cool and stop wanting to win and stop wanting to be thin... Just be. Just let it flow. Just play the bass.”