Bio
Michael shot his first short, "Bitch." for $66. It premiered at Outfest and was in 13 international festivals before being named best short film of 2009 by Frontiers LA magazine. He then co-created and directed the web series pilot, "Paige a Day," starring Michaela Watkins and Holland Taylor, and conceived/directed the Father Tiger music video, "First Love," that received acclaim from both The Advocate and It Gets Better Campaign. While working on his own projects Michael shadowed 13 different directors on TV shows: most notably Mark Mylod and Debbie Allen.
Michael got his first directing job on television on "The Fosters" directing three episodes in the last two seasons including the first episode of the three-part Series Finale. In the meantime, his mockumentary short "Walk It Out" premiered at the Palm Springs Int'l ShortFest and his short "Divorce: The Greatest Hits" premiered at the LA Int'l Shorts Festival.
He's a recurring director on "The Fosters" spin-off "Good Trouble" while also supervising new directors on the show. He's directed multiple episodes of Netflix's "Atypical" including the Series Finale. And he's directed multiple episodes of Shonda Rhimes's "Grey's Anatomy" and "Station 19" and Ryan Murphy's "9-1-1" and "9-1-1:Lone Star." Michael is attached to direct the Walden Media film adaptation of Robbie Couch's novel The Sky Blues and is developing a film with Dakota Johnson and Ro Donnelly's TeaTime Pictures.
Michael received a BFA in Theatre from Boston University and brings to directing his years of experience working as an actor in film, TV and theater in NYC and LA. He also created and executive produced celebrity driven AIDS benefit HOT IN HOLLYWOOD. He lives in Los Feliz with his husband, Brian, their daughter and son, Everly Rose and Bowie, and two silly mutts, Lady and Charlie.