Michael Cornelison began his professional career as an actor in 1967 at the age of fifteen, appearing in a series of educational shorts for Coronet Films. In 1969, he was hired by producer Norman Lear as stand-in for Dick Van Dyke in the Iowa-made feature film Cold Turkey (1971). Mr. Lear was instrumental in Michael's acceptance at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, from which he graduated with honors in 1972.During his New York years, Cornelison appeared in The New York Shakespeare Festival production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with Richard Gere, on Broadway in Finishing Touches with Barbara Bel Geddes and James Woods and such Off-Broadway plays as The Knack (And How To Get It), and Ivanov.In 1974, Michael co-starred with Cliff Robertson and Robert Preston in the ABC-TV movie My Father's House (1975) (TV). After that, he took a sabbatical from the coasts (both left and right) to concentrate on regional theatre work. He appeared in everything from Barefoot In The Park to The Drunkard to A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. In 1978, Cornelison returned to Los Angeles for an extended run. He completed pilots for three television series: Nightside, Inspector Perez and Family In Blue. He also guest-starred on many series in the mid-eighties, including Hill Street Blues, Remington Steele, Dallas, Knot's Landing and (his favorite) The Greatest American Hero, among others.Feature film work in this period included Where the Buffalo Roam (1980), with Bill Murray and Lost in America (1985), with Albert Brooks. Michael also starred in and co-produced Stephen King's The Woman in the Room (1983), the first collaboration between Stephen King and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile).In 1984, he was lured back to the Midwest by the prospect of being artistic director of his own theatre, The Two Rivers Acting Company. In the ensuing two decades, Michael has appeared in a wide variety of plays, including classics such as A Man For All Seasons, Inherit The Wind, Of Mice And Men and To Kill A Mockingbird and contemporary works like Camping With Henry And Tom, Sideman, The Guys and The Complete Works Of Wllm. Shkspr (Abridged).He also served as artistic director of Rejection Slip Theatre, a radio comedy/drama anthology which ran on WHO radio for over ten years. In addition, Cornelison has done a great deal of work in partnership with writer/director Max Allan Collins (The Road To Perdition), having appeared in no less than five films for Collins, Mommy, _Mommy II: Mommys Day (1997)_, _Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street_, Elliot Ness - An Untouchable Life and Three Women. Cornelison also narrated Collin's award-winning documentary Mike Hammer's Mickey Spillane. Other film work included an appearance in Rain, produced by Martin Scorsese.In recent years, Michael has been recognized for his contributions, holding a record number of best actor nominations (eight, in all) from the Iowa Motion Picture Association, winning the award in 2002 for his portrayal of Elliot Ness in Elliot Ness - An Untouchable Life. He was also nominated in 2004 as best actor in the first annual Wild Rose Film Festival for his work in the short film Frieze.Throughout all this, Cornelison has kept a high profile as a spokesman in any number of commercials and industrial films for such firms as 3M, Firestone, Farm Bureau, The Principle Financial Group, GuideOne Insurance and The United States Navy. He makes his home in Iowa with his wife, Cindi and his son, Nick.
