Independent Artist Magazine October/November 2013 | Page 19

We Talked With Michael
Who/What inspired you to become an actor?
Acting was always an “Escape” for me. No matter what was going
on in my life, good or bad, when we went to the movies everything
was just perfect for those two hours. Watching the “Hero” save the
“Damsel in distress” was a rush for me even at the ripe young age of 6. 
I remember watching Chuck Norris, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and I
would just be in awe of the presence that they bring to the screen. After
seeing the reaction from the audience, I was hooked and knew I wanted
to be an actor.
Was there any other career you were interested in before you started
acting?
Just like most kids growing up, we all pretended to be something
heroic, for me I always wanted to catch the bad guys. The idea of
becoming a Police officer was the closest thing to becoming Superman
for me. That was the first career I perused, and it was an honor serving
the community as a member of the biggest family in the world, the
Police Officer Family. I was so determined to be a member of SWAT or
some elite TEAM that made the world a safer place. Acting was always
my first love, but like most of us, “Real Life” didn’t allow me to chase
that dream till later on down the road. As a promise to my parents
and my father that was sick at the time, I made a promise to him,
that I would finally go after a lifelong dream. I made a decision and
a promise that I would do what I truly loved and never look back no
matter the obstacles or the odds. Till this day, my commitment to make
it in this industry at the level I hope to be, comes down to a promise I
made to my family.
How old were you when you started your acting career?
I was very blessed at a very early age, knowing what made me happy
and knowing what my passion was, even when I didn’t understand
why, or what the definition of “Passion “was. All I knew was, I
wanted to entertain and make other people feel as good as I felt when
I watched a movie. My goal, even when I was barely walking, was to
make other people feel good and try to entertain them in some way. I
remember my sisters asking me to “Do the Hulk”...And I would rip my
shirt off like Lou Ferrigno. Mom wasn’t happy with all the destroyed
T-shirts of course, but I wanted to be a superhero so bad, I would rip off
every shirt I had in the house. The reaction was what I loved, and what
I was addicted to. To me, being a “superhero” at 6 years old, ripping
off my shirt, and pretending to be the Hulk felt like an Oscar-winning
performance every time I did it. As I grew up chasing a dream that
everyone told me was a “waste of time”, I never quite understood that
statement. The reason that never bothered me was because my goal was
never fame or money, my goal was to take someone on a journey with
my performance, and help them forget their problems for an hour and a
half. No matter what was going on in their lives, I wanted to help them
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