About
Marina Michelson is a writer, director, and actor originally from Tel Aviv, born to Soviet émigrés from the Republics of Georgia and Moldova. Her work explores identity and power dynamics through the day-to-day lived experiences of women,
as well as her
upbringing as a third culture kid.
With extensive study at the Atlantic Theater Company, Steppenwolf Theater, and Lee Strasberg Studio, and a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, she brings a unique depth to storytelling, blending her training with hands-on experience in writing and script development. She is adept at collaborating with actors and holding space in a way that allows for rich, grounded performances. Her work in indie film and theater has yielded favorite acting credits, such as the lead role in the film Should’ve Kissed, which premiered as the opening selection of the Jeonju International Film Festival, and the lead in Amy Herzog’s After The Revolution at the Chance Theater, praised by the LA Times as full of “grace and grit.” She can also be seen on Muppets Now on Disney+ in a head-to-head meatball cooking competition with the Swedish Chef (she won.)
Her short films have been recognized on the festival circuit including Biophilia, which premiered at the 2018 Brooklyn Film Festival and garnered the Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Screenplay, and Stagiaire, which premiered at the 2021 Maryland Film Festival and was nominated for an Artios Award for Best Ensemble. She is a recipient of the Jewish Writers’ Initiative fellowship for her narrative audio series, Vagabond Stars, about a traveling Yiddish Theater Group in 1930s Eastern Europe, and a 2022 Almanack Screenwriters fellow. With her screenplay Anoushka, a coming-of-age fantasy film set in 1970s Soviet Union, she is a Top 50 Nicholl Fellowship semi-finalist, a Humanitas New Voices Fellowship semi-finalist, and a 2024 fellow with NYU’s Production Lab Development Studio.
As a creative consultant, she collaborates with filmmakers and writers to elevate their work, helping to develop scripts that are character-driven, structurally sound, and thematically resonant.
Her short films have been recognized on the festival circuit including Biophilia, which premiered at the 2018 Brooklyn Film Festival and garnered the Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Screenplay, and Stagiaire, which premiered at the 2021 Maryland Film Festival and was nominated for an Artios Award for Best Ensemble. She is a recipient of the Jewish Writers’ Initiative fellowship for her narrative audio series, Vagabond Stars, about a traveling Yiddish Theater Group in 1930s Eastern Europe, and a 2022 Almanack Screenwriters fellow. With her screenplay Anoushka, a coming-of-age fantasy film set in 1970s Soviet Union, she is a Top 50 Nicholl Fellowship semi-finalist, a Humanitas New Voices Fellowship semi-finalist, and a 2024 fellow with NYU’s Production Lab Development Studio.
As a creative consultant, she collaborates with filmmakers and writers to elevate their work, helping to develop scripts that are character-driven, structurally sound, and thematically resonant.