Orend started his acting career in 1979 when he portrayed a weary worker in the television drama Dummy along Paul Sorvino, LeVar Burton, and Gregg Henry, followed by supporting roles in John landis' musical comedy The Blues Brothers (1980), the television dramas Chicago Story (1981, with Michael Horton) and Skokie (1981, with John Rubinstein), the comedy Big Shots (1987, with Robert Joy and Paul Winfield), the television thriller The Heist (1989, with Wendy Hughes and Noble Willingham), and the crime drama An Innocent Man (1989, with F. Murray Abraham).