Michael Elias has been more successful in five careers than most of us will be in one. His story cuts across comedy, television, film, theater, and fiction writing. (Some of) his writing credits: The Frisco Kid, The Jerk, Young Doctors in Love, and Head of the Class.
He calls himself a middle-manager, but he’s far more than that. He’s weaved in and out of the careers of some of the funniest people in America.
And, Brad fanboy’d just a bit when Michael stopped by the Jam Bunker to talk about his fantastic new novel You Can Go Home Now.
About Michael Elias
Michael Elias is an award-winning writer, actor and director who has written film, television, theatre and fiction.
His novel You Can Go Home Now is a timely and addictive psychological thriller featuring a female cop on the hunt for a killer while battling violent secrets of her own. The book is published by HarperCollins in the U.S. and by Editions du Masque in France in June 2020. He is also the author of The Last Conquistador, published by Open Road Media.
Michael Elias was born and raised in upstate New York, moving to New York City after graduating from St. John’s College in Annapolis to pursue a career in acting. He was a member of the Living Theatre (The Brig) and acted at The Judson Poets Theatre, La MaMa, and Caffé Cino. Elias transitioned to Hollywood and with Frank Shaw wrote the screenplay for The Frisco Kid starring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford, then Envoyez les Violons with Eve Babitz and began a long partnership with Rich Eustis. Together, they wrote the screenplays for Serial, Young Doctors in Love and created Head of the Class a television series for ABC, partially based on Elias’ experience as a high school teacher in New York City. Elias also worked with Steve Martin, a collaboration that included material for Martin’s comedy albums, network TV specials, and the screenplay for The Jerk.
Mr. Elias wrote and directed Showtime’s Lush Life with Forrest Whitaker and Jeff Goldblum. He was nominated for best Director at The Cable Ace Awards that year, and the TV movie has become a jazz film classic. His semi-autobiographical play about a small hotel in upstate New York was directed by Paul Mazursky, ran for four months in Los Angeles, with the LA Weekly naming The Catskill Sonata one of the best ten plays of the year.
Michael Elias lives in Los Angeles and Paris.
