Biography
Michael Sean Erickson was born in San Jose, California, to Gerald and Carol Ann Erickson (née Werner). Before he entered Kindergarten, he and his parents moved to a country home on five acres of forested land in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Michael lived a carefree life of tree climbing and mountain hiking until August 1981, when the Erickson Family was involved in a horrible car accident on Highway 101 near Andersen's Pea Soup in Buellton. Michael's parents were killed, and he suffered life threatening injuries that left him incapacitated for many months. While slowly recuperating under the care of his paternal grandmother, Lydia Del Monte, Michael developed a love for reading fantasy and science fiction stories.
At ten years of age, he started to type stories on an old fashioned typewriter. In junior high school, one of his English teachers, a quintessential schoolmarm wearing a floral granny dress and pince nez, told her students that they could read anything they wanted for their book report assignment - "but no Stephen King!" Needless to say, Michael went straight to the public library later that afternoon to find out more about this author boogeyman. He checked out "Cujo," read the entire book in one sitting, and determined then that he wanted to be a writer.
Michael went to Bellarmine College Preparatory, an all boys Jesuit high school in San Jose, California. Realizing that theater is like literature literally brought to life, he dived into school plays. He went on to study history and economics at Santa Clara University just down the street from Bellarmine (known affectionately as "the eight year Bellarmine plan" because of the close historical connection between the two Jesuit schools), but in his spare time he also performed in plays that ranged from Shakespeare to the avant garde. By the time he was in law school, he was also taking classes at ACT San Francisco and performing professionally.
Acting took a detour, when Michael focused on politics and military service for a number of years. He continued to write during this time, though, and in 2012 he published his first book. Since then, he has written on average two novels per year. Most of his novels and short stories fall under the horror genre, but he has also written science fiction and crime dramas. His screenplays range from romances ("Real Love") to religious dramas ("The Forgiven," which was co-written with Stonz Walters) to young adult fantasies ("The Commission," which is based upon a story he had developed with Giovanni Jackson).
While living in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico, Michael acted in and produced plays at an English language theater company. His performances with the Players Workshop reinvigorated his love for theater, and that in turn drove him to take a stab at film and television acting in Los Angeles.
Since relocating to Los Angeles in 2014, Michael has been in dozens of films. He is often cast as authority figures or villains, but he always jumps at the chance to do a comedic role. He has directed a number of short films, which mostly fall under the family or comedy genres.
