Wernick started acting in Community Theater as a child growing up in Dallas, Texas. He continued his pursuit of acting while attending the prestigious all boys St. Mark's School of Texas. Although renowned for its rigorous academics as a college preparatory school, St. Mark's has also been the breeding ground for alumni who have pursued careers in entertainment such as musicians: Steve Miller , Boz Scaggs , and Rhett Miller , producers Mike Macari and Keven McAlester, director/producer brothers Craig Zisk and Randall Zisk , as well as actors Tommy Lee Jones , and brothers, Andrew Wilson , Owen Wilson , and Luke Wilson . Upon passing the Texas Bar, Wernick moved to New York City to pursue a career in entertainment. He honed his skills in musical theater and voice training as well as trained under the tutelage of Uta Hagen at HB Studio in New York. Although he had several successes acting in television commercials while living in New York, he had little success breaking into movies. Many of his roles in major studio films would go as uncredited as they were later edited out. His improvisational skills did land him a role as Doctor Scrubs in Julien Donkey-Boy (1999), Harmony Korine 's unscripted dogme 95 film. In addition, he played one of the suitors in Children's Television Workshop's television movie, Cinderelmo (1999) (TV), and made a guest appearance in the Sci-Fi channel's _"In Search of" (2000)_ episode "Alien Menace." Not able to get enough work in front of the camera outside of commercials and modeling, Wernick started doing Stand-In work as a way to learn more about filmmaking from behind the camera. While working on movie sets as a stand-in, he used his spare time to focus on screenwriting. He wrote several screenplays which included such diverse genres as comedy, drama, horror, and action. In the summer of 2003, Wernick and his writing partner, Lance Greene , produced, co-directed, and co-starred in their first feature length comedy, 'Shoots & Ladders' , with Christine Elise , set to release in 2006.

Cousin of Executive Producer David Russo , actress and television host Hilary Russo and Ilana Wernick .Earned a USIA grant to study at the Moscow Power College where he studied Soviet Cinema, theater, and played basketball.Turned down scholarships to play basketball in college in order to pursue studies at the University of Texas, where Renée Zellweger was one of his little sisters for his fraternity, ZBT.When first moved to New York was the Stand-In for Chris Noth on Sex and the City (1998).