The Cast: Jonas Chernick - "Joel", Writer, Co-Producer
Jonas Chernick co-wrote the screenplay for Lucid along with Sean Garrity, as a follow-up to Inertia. In September 2001, they appeared at the Toronto International Film Festival in support of Inertia - in which Jonas plays the lead role of Joseph Schrieber. Along with writer-director Garrity, Jonas spearheaded the collaborative process, which involved elaborate improvisation and work-shopping. For his role in Inertia, Jonas was awarded Best Performance by a Leading Actor at the 2002 Blizzard Awards.
As an actor, Jonas' film credits include a co-starring role opposite Kevin Pollak and Liane Balaban in Seven Times Lucky, a feature that premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. In FX's The Pentagon Papers, Jonas plays real-life journalist Neil Sheehan who won the Pulitzer Prize after exposing a government scandal in the New York Times in 1971. Other film credits include Mayday (CBS), Eloise at the Plaza (Disney), The Crooked E: the Unshredded Truth about Enron (CBS), supernatural thriller The Glow (Fox), Cowboys and Indians: The Killing of J.J. Harper (CBC), Defending Our Kids: The Julie Posey Story, A Woman Is A Helluva Thing, Nostradamus, and many others.
Television credits include a regular role during the first season of the Alliance Atlantis/CTV series The Eleventh Hour, which won the Gemini Award for Best Dramatic Series in 2003. Television guest appearances include Queer as Folk (Showtime), The Adventures of Shirley Holmes (YTV and Fox), Gene Rodenberry's Earth: Final Conflict (Sci-Fi Network/Space Channel), Mutant X (Fireworks) and Doc (PAX).
For more information on Jonas visit his website at jonaschernick.com (this link will open in a new browser window).
Filmography
View Jonas Chernick's filmography at IMDb (this link will open in a new browser window).
Character Profile: Joel Rothman
Joel Rothman (Jonas Chernick) is a young psychotherapist with a terrible case of insomnia. Forgetful, disorganized and utterly weary, he continually makes the wrong choices, despite his soulful attempt to be a good father and a competent doctor. Haunted by the guilt of his own actions, Joel tortures himself by replaying the final angry answering machine message from his wife, who has left him to raise his daughter alone. Joel Rothman is a man seeking redemption; in the eyes of his daughter, his patients, and finally himself. Painfully aware of how much his mistakes have cost those around him, Joel is making one final attempt to right his wrongs. If he can only stay awake at the wheel of his car...
