Michael, a native of Nebraska, received his bachelor's degrees in both theatre and music from Hastings College, Hastings, Nebraska. He studied acting, directing, music composing, and he classically trained in saxophone and vocal performance. During his sophomore year in college, he landed his first role in a major film, "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar." After juggling the role with a full load of classes, he later portrayed several lead & principal roles onstage in school such as Jamie Lockhart in "The Robber Bridegroom," Hal Carter in "Picnic," Nick in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and Richard Henry Lee in "1776," while also earning multiple collegiate awards for his music compositions, notably his "Visit With An Angel," which was performed several times including in a tour to Japan. After graduating, he moved to Lincoln, NE, where he went to work in local theatres as a jack-of-all trades. One amusing experience early on involved him playing 4 different roles in a production of "Annie" while also serving as a carpenter, the box office clerk, the house manager, and even the saxophonist in the band. While in Lincoln, he would also play Finch in "How to Succeed Without Really Trying," Ellard in "The Foreigner," and Charlie Brown both in "Snoopy," and in "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown." He also earned his first directing credits there including "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Greater Tuna," and "Closer Than Ever." In 2001, Michael moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a waiter and a home theatre salesman until he landed a full-time job as a Master Carpenter for the Civic Light Opera of the South Bay Cities and worked as a freelance technician for dozens of other regional theatre companies. In the meantime, he would pursue his acting career playing background for Fox's "Boston Legal," and onstage roles such as Peter in "Jesus Christ Superstar." In 2004, he took a 'sabbatical' from Los Angeles and moved back to Lincoln where he accepted a job as a technical director for a reputable high school theatre program. With a multi-million dollar new facility to utilize, he would go on to ambitiously design and help build all of the scenic, lighting, and sound elements for all of the productions for two seasons. While there, he and the program would go on to receive numerous awards, notably he and the director received the 2005 Time Warner Crystal Apple National Teacher Awards for their efforts with their students and their award-winning production of "A Piece of My Heart." In 2005, he returned to Los Angeles in 2006 to continue his pursuit for success in the Entertainment Industry. Michael returned to the CLOSBC as Assistant Technical Director and Master Electrician, and designed lighting and sets. He received critical acclaim in the Los Angeles area for his work including accolades in the L.A. Times and Variety. Michael continued his work as an actor and portrayed the 'Young Soldier' in the L.A. Premiere of Jason Robert Brown's "Parade," for which he also designed the sets. He also played a Venticello in "Amadeus," Willum in "The Nerd," and Joe in "The Most Happy Fella." From 1994 to present day, Michael has also composed volumes of music of many different styles aimed for use in film, t.v., video games, and live productions. His music can be licensed through several royalty-free digital distributors such as Pond5, Productiontrax, and many more. In 2008, he moved to Las Vegas to work for Cirque Du Soleil's "KA." While in Las Vegas, Michael fostered his roots as a film director, which he began early, making hundreds of videos in junior high and high school, and made his first feature-length film in high school entitled "Tribune." While starting off in Vegas, he directed and acted in a spoof short based on the "Flight of the Conchords," which garnered him and his colleagues a Grand Prize winner in HBO's Flight Lip Dub contest. Other projects included a short horror film entitled, "Guardian Angel," and a 6-part mini-spoof-series based on VH1's Behind the Music and the famous video game "Rockband." In 2009, he wrote and directed the short film, "Whatever It Takes." It played in several film festivals including in California, Nevada, Nebraska and Ecuador; and was awarded the 2010 Silver Ace Award for Excellence in Filmmaking from the Las Vegas International Film Festival. That was the beginning of many more projects to come. He went on to produce, direct, and act in several more film, TV, webseries, web channels and other productions. He played the title role of Rhett in "The Adventures of Loop & Rhett," alongside 'America's Got Talent' & international western performer, Loop Rawlins. They formed Red Rock Westerns, LLC, and the 35-minute short film went on to win several festival awards and nominations, and garnered Michael 3 actor awards and 1 nomination for his portrayal of Rhett Carson. He went straight on to play the lead role Dr. Eli Dolton in the feature sci-fi/drama "Territory 8," for which he also scored the original soundtrack. In 2013, Michael formed Digisphere Productions, which he owns, manages and provides many forms of production resources including Production gear rentals, Cinematography, Directing, Producing, Editing, Writing, Composing, Sound Design/Mixing, and much more. Digisphere's inaugural production, three commercials for his parents' bookstore, Prairie Books & Gifts, received two regional Emmy® nominations for Commercial Campaign and Musical Composition/Arrangement and Michael received his first Emmy® Award for the latter. - IMDb Mini Biography By:
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