Biography
Michael, a native of Nebraska, received his bachelor's degrees in both theatre and music from Hastings College. He studied acting, directing, music composing, and was 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 on a tour to Japan.
After graduating college, he moved to Lincoln, NE, where he went to work in local theatres as a jack-of-all trades, namely as a Technical Director and set and lighting designer. One amusing experience early-on involved him playing 4 different roles in a production of "Annie" while also serving as carpenter, box office clerk, house manager, and even the saxophonist in the band. While in Lincoln, he would also play Finch in "How to Succeed in Business 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 Maltby & Shire's "Closer Than Ever."
In 2001, Michael moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a waiter and a high-end home theatre salesman until he landed a full-time job as a Master Carpenter for the Civic Light Opera of the South Bay Cities in Redondo Beach. He also worked as a freelance technician for dozens of other regional theatre companies in Southern California. 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 at Lincoln Southwest High School. With a new multi-million dollar facility to utilize, he designed and/or built all of the scenic, lighting, and sound elements for all of the productions for two years. While there, he and the program would go on to receive numerous awards, notably he received a 2005 Time Warner Crystal Apple National Teacher Award for his collaborative efforts on their award-winning production of "A Piece of My Heart."
He returned to Los Angeles in 2006. Michael returned to the CLOSBC as Assistant Technical Director and Master Electrician, and also designed lighting and sets for multiple productions. He received critical acclaim in the Los Angeles area for his work including accolades in the South Bay area newspapers, as well as 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 technical-directed and 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, television, 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 backstage for Cirque Du Soleil's "KA."
While in Las Vegas, Michael also 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.
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.
He then produced, directed, and acted in several more film, television, 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 14 festival awards and several more nominations, and garnered Michael 3 best actor awards and 1 nomination for his portrayal of Rhett Carson.
Michael then played the lead role, Dr. Eli Dolton, in the indie feature sci-fi/drama "Territory 8," for which he also scored the original soundtrack.
In 2013, Michael formed his own production company, Digisphere Productions, which he still owns, manages and has provided many forms of production resources including, Cinematography, Directing, Producing, Editing, Music Score Composing, and 5.1 Surround Sound Design/Mixing. Digisphere Productions' inaugural production, three commercials for Michael's parents' bookstore, Prairie Books & Gifts, received two regional Emmy® nominations for Commercial Campaign and Musical Composition/Arrangement and Michael received his first Emmy® Award win for the latter. He received his 2nd Emmy® for his Commercial Campaign for the same bookstore in 2017.
Michael & his Digisphere Productions have gone on to garner dozens of Regional Emmy® nominations 10 Regional Emmys for directing, editing, producing and composing for multiple commercial and marketing spots and campaigns.
In 2015, Michael was cast in the "hero" male role of the Travel Nevada national television, online and print ad campaign, which aired over the course of two years from 2016-2017.
He also collaborated for a second time with director, Kelly Schwarze, and played the supporting role of Pierce in "Alien Domicile," as well as co-composing the music score with Las Vegas musician, Eric Rickey. "Alien Domicile" is available on Amazon Prime and the soundtrack for the score can be found on most online distributors including iTunes, Amazon and more.
In the summer of 2018, Michael D.P.'d a feature documentary film based on the Black Donnelly's Irish music duo, where he and the band and the crew traveled to all 50 states and performed 65 gigs in 35 days. This should have set a new Guinness World Record, though it was not awarded due to a technicality with the rules of what defined a "gig." The documentary, "An Irish Story: This is My Home," about the journey and the underlying theme of immigration released in the Spring of 2020.
Michael co-produced and was Director of Photography for two more psychological thrillers, "Abigail Haunting" and "Darkest of Lies." "Abigail Haunting" was a hit on Amazon Prime earning a spot in the top ten most streamed new releases during March-May of 2020. "Darkest of Lies" released in 2023 and has since received multiple film festival awards including Best Feature and Best Cinematography.
Michael still resides in Las Vegas with his accomplished wife, Getti, and stepsons Maximus and Zander, working as a Content Creator and Social Media Manager since 2020. They create family-friendly content for all major social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and more with a combined total of over 14 million followers and tens of billions of views worldwide. They are represented by Network Media LLC in partnership with Jellysmack.
17 wins and 12 nominations
