BIO

Bruce recently co-wrote and directed the feature film, "Vamperifica", starring Martin Yurkovic and Dreama Walker. "Vamperifica" has been shown at numerous festivals, including ScreamfestLA, Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, Chicago Horror Festival (Best Actor, Best Picture nominee, Best Special Effects Award winner), Reeling Gay and Lesbian Festival, New Orleans Horror Festival (Best Picture nominee), the Big Apple Festival, and the prestigious Bram Stoker International Horror Festival in the UK (Best Horror Comedy & Audience Favorite Award winner). Prior to "Vamperifica", Bruce wrote and directed the feature film, "Jack and His Friends", starring Sam Rockwell, Judy Reyes, and Allen Garfield, which was released theatrically by Arrow Entertainment. "Jack..." was the inaugural selection of the First Look Festival in Tribeca, and was an official selection of the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.

Among the more than eighty plays that he has directed,  Bruce helmed the off-Broadway Production of, "Different Animals", by Abby Rosebrock, for Wednesday Repertory Company, wherehe serves as Artistic Director.   Also, Off-Broadway, Bruce directed the World Premiere of Joel Gross', "Haven", as well as the LA production, where it received multiple DramaLogue awards.  Prior to that, he helmed the controversial production of John Reoli's, "One Seat in the Shade", at the Soho Playhouse in the NYC International Fringe Festival.   

Among Bruce’s writing, his play, "How Do You Feel?" was a finalist in the Actors Theatre of Louisville Great American Play Contest. Additionally, Bruce worked in Los Angeles as a screenwriter for RaStar, Columbia Pictures, and Gareth Wigan.

As an actor, Bruce co-starred with John Travolta, as "Gus" in the classic "Saturday Night Fever", Lloyd Bridges in "The Great Wallendas", Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette and Dianne Wiest in "The Wall", and with John Heard and Susan Blakely in "Will There Really Be A Morning?". He has guest starred in numerous episodic television series, most recently "Law & Order", and as a recurring character on"LA LAW". He has also performed Off-Broadway at the Public Theatre and WPA.

In early 1998, Bruce began the Bruce Ornstein Acting Workshop with six students, one night a week. Now in its 21st  year, the Workshop has grown to four classes a week — lit by the brilliance of his students.

In addition to the Workshop, Bruce served for seven years on the faculty at Columbia University in the MFA program for Film.  He has also taught acting at NYU, and been a guest lecturer at Hunter College.