RE-RELEASE: Michael Kostroff!

About this episode

Elbi Cespedes interviews actor Michael Kostroff about his career and insights on acting.

IN HONOR OF OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WE'RE RE-RELEASING EPISODES ALL WEEK! RE-RELEASE FROM NOVEMBER 2025! Currently starring in Dog Day Afternoon on Broadway alongside Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bacharach, Michael Kostroff is an actor with over 100 TV/Film credits! He’s best known for his role as the defense attorney Maurice Levy on The Wire as well as the executive producer Marshall Pike on Disney Channel’s Sonny with a Chance! Upcoming, he’ll be starring in the new live action Marvel/Sony series Spider-Noir premiering May 27th based on the hit Spider Verse films alongside Nicolas Cage on MGM+. His most prominent theater credits include Thenardier on the national tour of Les Miserables as well as Max Bialystock (u/s) on The Producers National Tour! He’s also an author of the book The Stage Actor’s Handbook! We get to chatting about the most helpful audition advice (as he served as an acting/audition coach for many years) plus the biggest nuanced differences between stage and screen acting!

People in this episode

Host: Elbi Cespedes

Guest: Michael Kostroff

Topics covered

• acting
• audition advice
• theater
• television
• film
• stage vs screen

Keywords

• Michael Kostroff
• audition advice
• stage acting
• screen acting
• theater credits

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Wire, Sonny with a Chance, Spider-Noir, Les Miserables, The Producers, The Stage Actor’s Handbook

More episodes of I Wanna Be Like You with Elbi Cespedes

• Jim Borstelmann's I Wanna Be Like You! · June 11, 2026 · 1h 22m
• Kevin Adams' I Wanna Be Like You! · June 6, 2026 · 2h 13m
• Maulik Pancholy's I Wanna Be Like You! · June 2, 2026 · 56 min
• Beowulf Boritt's I Wanna Be Like You! · May 29, 2026 · 2h 36m
• Susan Stroman's I Wanna Be Like You! · May 20, 2026 · 2h 44m
• Lisa Lampanelli's I Wanna Be Like You! · May 13, 2026 · 2h 5m