Biography
Michael Rogers' experiences span more than five decades in film, television, and theater.
Starting as a young community theater performer in the early '70s, he quickly found that acting was just a small part of the overall stage experience. Wanting to further his theater knowledge, Michael expanded his duties to stage manager and technical supervisor, initially with Cascade Players, then at Lower Columbia College, University of Washington, and at Pacific University, where his studies included Medical Technology with minors in Business Management and Theatre. His theater experience as an actor, technical supervisor or musician included numerous musicals
After a brief stint as a medic, he furthered his studies in Medical and Paramedical Technology at Central Washington University and University of Alaska, Anchorage. Working as a Paramedic in Alaska, Michael managed to find time to perform in various cabarets, and in 1980 he accepted a position as Co-producer and Master of Ceremonies for a San Francisco Performing Arts and Dance Company. After the first season, the group began touring internationally (Canada, Japan, & US) where Michael logged an impressive 1,500 shows, including the Princess Cruise Lines.
In 1983, Michael felt the call of Hollywood. In the years that he lived in Los Angeles, Michael's appearances included numerous commercials, films, as well as television shows. He expanded his resume to include film production.
In 1989 Michael's "live show" production experience and his lifelong love of music (he's an accomplished pianist) yielded him an offer with a personal management company based in Los Angeles, where he worked with name artists helping to organize tours, personal appearances, music videos and recordings.
After two years in the music world, an opportunity presented itself to Michael that he could not resist. A start-up company wanted to expand in the newly "freed" Czechoslovakia. Michael accepted immediately, arriving in Prague in 1991. He was one of the first to produce a music festival in the "new" Prague, "Let the Sun Shine", celebrating the new "Age of Aquarius" in Eastern Europe. Co-directing and co-editing 6 music videos shot in Czechoslovakia prior to the show, cemented him in the rapidly expanding film market.
During his first three years in Prague, Michael helped to establish this new company as an international distribution and sales rep. He also was involved with local ex pat theater groups. Always looking for opportunities, and slowly becoming familiar with the "language & customs", Michael's production experience allowed him to co-produce & co-edit two segments of "Na Vlastni Oci" for Nova Television, the first private television station in Prague. And again capitalizing on his love of music and music management experience in LA, Michael was involved extensively with the start up of a concert company - now one of the biggest in Europe - and in addition to working with many name artists and groups, in 1994 was the Prague Production Manger for Pink Floyd, supervising over 500 local personnel for the show at Strahov Stadium with over 180,000 fans in attendance.
Michael was introduced to a Canadian/Czech company in 1994. Initially hired for a lead role in one of their films, he became the company's Production Manger the following year and Line Producer in 1996, where he remained until moving to Vienna in 2005.
This love of acting that has been present with Michael since his early days of theater, has transferred nicely into the European film community. He has made numerous appearances in productions. And, more impressively, many of these appearances were also while doing "double duty" as Line Producer and/or Production Manager.
Since moving to Vienna, he has also found a place working constantly as an english language trainer and dialogue coach
