Michael is a professional writer and actor in the Los Angeles area.

Most recently, Michael served as Head Writer for the series Um, Actually… on Dropout (formerly CollegeHumor) for seven seasons. In addition to writing dorky pop-culture trivia, Michael appeared onscreen as a live fact checker and sidekick to host/showrunner Mike Trapp. He also served as Writer for Dropout series Where in the Eff is Sarah Cincinnati?!? under showrunner Rekha Shankar.

Michael developed a YA fantasy-adventure animation project with Wilmer Valderrama Entertainment and CBS Studios along with his writing partner Diona Reasonover, based on an original IP. He has also written commercially for an augmented reality company.

As an actor, Michael has recently appeared on Frasier and Ryan Murphy's Hollywood on Netflix. In recent years he’s performed in Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television (YouTube Premium), There’s… Johnny! (Hulu), Jane the Virgin (the CW), and Scream Queens (FOX) among other series and films. He has an extensive background in theatre, music, and improv (which really comes in handy when trying to entertain his kids). You also might have seen him in a few Geico commercials getting his head shaved or doing extremely bad parkour.

Michael sometimes appears on livestream actual plays of tabletop roleplaying games on Twitch, including on the channels RediscoveryRPG and RollforFelicity. He’s hoping to do a lot more of this in the future!

A Washington D.C. native, Michael has been acting and singing professionally since he was a child. He is the son of a rabbi and an actress, and a proud graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. He spent many years performing, writing, and directing in the D.C. theatre scene and is a founding member and artistic associate of two Helen Hayes award-winning theatre companies: Flying V Theatre and The Pointless Theatre Puppet Co. He has performed at venues including the Kennedy Center, Source Theatre, First Stage, and Howard University. Michael also taught theatre skills to kids ages 3-18 throughout the DC area, including improv and how to write and direct their own plays.

Michael has his B.A. in Theatre from the University of Maryland, College Park and has trained as an actor with UCB, Lesly Kahn, iO Chicago, Annoyance Theatre, Killian McHugh, Charlie Adler, Richard Horvitz, Woolly Mammoth, and Studio Theatre (among others). He studied creative writing at Vassar College, directing and writing at the Powerhouse Theater Apprentice Program, and TV writing at Script Anatomy in Los Angeles.

Michael is a proud (probably annoyingly so) father of two incredible girls: Emma and Sophie. He has experience as a professional dog trainer, a customer support rep (so he can handle being yelled at), and a hip-hop producer under the name DJ Awkward Silence (yes, that’s real). He loves movies, TV, Dungeons & Dragons, video games, anime, and all things dorky. But most of all, Michael loves to tell stories for all ages that challenge cultural hegemony while embracing a sense of imagination, adventure, humor, and empathy. Hey that sounds pretty good!