EXHIBIT 31.1



                                  CERTIFICATION
                       Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350,
      as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002


I, Erwin Cheldin, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Unico American
   Corporation;

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a
   material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
   statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
   were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
   information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects
   the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
   registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4. The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for
   establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
   in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:

     a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
        disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision,
        to ensure that material information relating to the registrant,
        including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others
        within those entities, particularly during the period in which this
        quarterly report is being prepared;

     b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and
        procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
        effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end
        of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

     c) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control
        over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most
        recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the
        case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably
        likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over
        financial reporting; and

5.     The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based
       on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
       reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the
       registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
       functions):

       (a)    All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
              or operation of internal control over financial reporting which
              are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability
              to record, process, summarize and report financial information;
              and

       (b)    Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
              other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
              internal control over financial reporting.



Date: May 13, 2004

/s/  Erwin Cheldin
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Erwin Cheldin
Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer