Michael Zand
- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Actor, writer, producer and director Michael Zand is best remembered for his role as a suicide terrorist that appears in the early minutes of To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) (not to be confused with Grant Heslov, of whom he bears a striking resemblance); and for similar roles in films such as Protocol (1984) and Into the Night (1985) - a typical thing in Hollywood in that period where Middle Eastern descendants usually played villainous roles (Zand is from Iranian heritage). A break from the form was the detective role he got in Sidney Lumet's The Morning After (1986).
On the 1980's, along with the mentioned feature films he was also in many different TV projects: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Cagney & Lacey, Hill Street Blues and Falcon Crest.
During the 1990's, he made a shift in his career, developing new talents. In 1988, he wrote his first screenplay the comedy Dangerous Curves (1988), and four years later, Zand wrote and acted in Play Nice (1992), which was directed by his wife Terri Treas, also a writer and actress herself, who had roles in films directed by Bob Fosse, Roger Corman and Steve Kloves. From there, his on-screen career was left behind and he focused on writing from TV shows - Silk Stalkings, The Pretender, Pacific Blue and Felicity (becoming a co-producer of this show for a period) are some of his credits.
Missed in action lately, his last venture was as a writer and director of the short film The Wanger Files - Dr. Willy Hooks Up (2014), another partnership with his wife.
On the 1980's, along with the mentioned feature films he was also in many different TV projects: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Cagney & Lacey, Hill Street Blues and Falcon Crest.
During the 1990's, he made a shift in his career, developing new talents. In 1988, he wrote his first screenplay the comedy Dangerous Curves (1988), and four years later, Zand wrote and acted in Play Nice (1992), which was directed by his wife Terri Treas, also a writer and actress herself, who had roles in films directed by Bob Fosse, Roger Corman and Steve Kloves. From there, his on-screen career was left behind and he focused on writing from TV shows - Silk Stalkings, The Pretender, Pacific Blue and Felicity (becoming a co-producer of this show for a period) are some of his credits.
Missed in action lately, his last venture was as a writer and director of the short film The Wanger Files - Dr. Willy Hooks Up (2014), another partnership with his wife.