Michael Marisi Ornstein is an actor and painter.
He currently plays Chuck Marstein on Sons of Anarchy.
Michael developed and originated over twenty-five years worth of new plays in NYC and on the road, including the World Premiere of “Angels in America", creating the role of Louis. Films and television include, Robert Altman's "Kansas City"; Hal Hartley's "Book of Life"; "Crossing Delancey"; "Seinfeld"; "NCIS, L.A."; "Law and Order"; "Special Victim's Unit"; "Criminal Intent"; "New York Undercover"; "Third Watch"; "Homicide", and “Homicide: Second Shift”, a web series produced and broadcast back in 1997. He also acted with his friends in his film "Time Away", which was one of the first digital video features ever made.
He paints old-style, with hand-mixed oil pigments on canvas, wood, papers, plastics, metals, and fully functional dacron sails. Michael's paintings on plastic and paper, are meant to be backlit. For these paintings, he developed a technique of painting in layers, hiding the image and then revealing the image when the painting is backlit / arriving at a destination similar to stained glass.
"My paintings are personal sanctuaries for myself and for whoever lives with them. They're an active form of communication, like a film or novel or a flowing river. They are hand made with fine materials, durable and rough around the edges. The folks in my paintings are true stories. Authentic lives. The only irony you'll find here is the fact that I was able to put the colors together quick enough to paint them while they were passing through."
view paintings
He currently plays Chuck Marstein on Sons of Anarchy.
Michael developed and originated over twenty-five years worth of new plays in NYC and on the road, including the World Premiere of “Angels in America", creating the role of Louis. Films and television include, Robert Altman's "Kansas City"; Hal Hartley's "Book of Life"; "Crossing Delancey"; "Seinfeld"; "NCIS, L.A."; "Law and Order"; "Special Victim's Unit"; "Criminal Intent"; "New York Undercover"; "Third Watch"; "Homicide", and “Homicide: Second Shift”, a web series produced and broadcast back in 1997. He also acted with his friends in his film "Time Away", which was one of the first digital video features ever made.
He paints old-style, with hand-mixed oil pigments on canvas, wood, papers, plastics, metals, and fully functional dacron sails. Michael's paintings on plastic and paper, are meant to be backlit. For these paintings, he developed a technique of painting in layers, hiding the image and then revealing the image when the painting is backlit / arriving at a destination similar to stained glass.
"My paintings are personal sanctuaries for myself and for whoever lives with them. They're an active form of communication, like a film or novel or a flowing river. They are hand made with fine materials, durable and rough around the edges. The folks in my paintings are true stories. Authentic lives. The only irony you'll find here is the fact that I was able to put the colors together quick enough to paint them while they were passing through."
view paintings