In December 2012, I attended a memorial service for a close friend of mine, Herb Rubens. After I spoke at the service, I was approached by Mark Levine, a playwright and member of The American Renaissance Theater Company, or ARTC. He asked me if I would do a reading of his play, Lunch With Kazan, which he had been workshopping with Herb. The reading took place at ARTC, and afterwards, I was asked to join the company.
I am very proud to belong to the group, which develops new plays through readings in its workshop with actors from the company. Since 2013, and have appeared in many of its bi-annual productions. Most recently, I had the opportunity to work with Mark Levine again on his Fast Food Voices, a collection of monologues. Mark wrote a very moving monologue for me about a holocaust survivor that we presented in development along with many other monologues of his at the Dead Poet restaraunt and a wine shop on Columbus avenue. These readings have been very well received, and we are hoping to mount a full production of the work.

Me with Mikel Lambert in ARTC’s reading of For Now by Julius Landau, which would be produced in 2015.
Bernard Rachelle began his professional career at George Hamids's Steel Pier in Atlantic City with his idol Johnny Ray, whom he impersonated. That summer he appeared on Ted Mack's amateur hour and made a subsequent appearance two years later.
In 1959 Bernard introduced rock and roll to Israel and appeared opposite Topol in the comedy feature film "I Like Mike".
Soap fans will recall his role as photographer/pornographer Stu Samuels opposite Sylvia Miles and Kim Delaney on "All My Children".
He is most proud of his work on Arthur Miller's "Incident at Vichy". The first New York City revival that Mr. Miller attended was in 1981. Years later Mr. Miller graced 4 staged readings with "Bernie", along with varying casts featuring Richard Dreyfuss, Fritz Weaver, Peter Weller, Austin Pendelton, F. Murray Abraham and Barry Primus.
While his film career spans 3 decades including "Fort Apache, The Bronx", "Rollover", "Blowout", "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and "The Yards", in 2006 Bernard co-starred as Chaim opposite Denzel Washington and Clive Owen in Spike Lee's "Inside Man".
Recently, Bernard played the lead, Edgar, in the short film "The Cemetery Club", winner of the Palm Beach International Film Festival, and Schleimann in the Vlad Nikolic cult film "Zenith". In 2013 he appeared as Judge Glaser in the feature film "Rob the Mob." "Courier X," released in 2016, saw him play a diamond examiner.
On the small screen, Bernard currently appears in an Emblem Health Insurance commercial.
Bernard has written and will soon perform his one man show "Abe & Lillian's Bungalow Colony", a take-off on the Catskills Mountains, set in 1977.
Bernard is a proud member of ARTC - American Renaissance Theatre.