Michael Sunshine : Bio

Born in central Michigan, Michael Sunshine grew up on the Sunshine family farm, where he milked cows for the first seventeen years of his life. When duty called in the form of Selective Service, Michael was among the last American troops sent to Vietnam, where his brief tour overwhelmed him with a lifetime’s worth of nightmarish memories. Witnessing more than he ever needed of death, fear, desperation, and the fall of Siagon, a changed Michael later landed in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco in the seventies. Among other things, he discovered acting, and joined a theatre group where he was well received in important productions of new plays like EQUUS and THE BOYS IN THE BAND. After seeing the cover of PEOPLE magazine celebrating the heralded American acting teacher, Lee Strasberg, Michael headed to Los Angeles to study with the great man for two years. At the same time, Michael appeared in an L.A. production of ROMEO AND JULIET, which caught the eye of local casting talent, landing him a contract role on a soap opera as “Cliff, teenage hoodlum from Wisconsin.”

At the conclusion of this contract Micheal, disillusioned with the speed and sloppiness of the soap life, sold his new L.A. condo and went to London to study at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for two years. Although mocked at first for being “an L.A. Method actor”, Micheal earned the respect of his peers and eventually became the first American to star in the title role of HAMLET at the school. He returned to the US full of “pear-shaped vowels and affected attitude”, and spent ten years bouncing around the country’s best Regional Theatres, New York, and Los Angeles TV scenes. He spent six months with Jerzy Grotowski and The Polish Lab Theatre, before settling again in L.A., working in film and TV, founding two local theatres, and recharging his batteries occasionally at The Sanford Meisner Studio.

Michael’s varied background has left him with a unique perspective toward the teaching of acting. His class is not so much about technique as it is about confidence and bravery… the two qualities he feels are most important to actors in film and television. He talks extensively about one’s “essence” and “castability”, and the importance of knowing what you’re selling in this competitive market. “Techniques are tools for our trade. Technique is to help you when things aren’t working. But technique must be buried. We can never see you ACTING. “

Michael continues to work regularly in films and TV, and enjoys being “a working actor” whom people constantly ask “Aren’t you that guy?” or “Where do I know you from?”, to which he will always reply mischievously: “Do you watch a lot of pornography?”

Three years ago, he founded The Hollywood Acting Class as a place to give back, as a place to support, and as a place to grow. “I’ll tell you what I think, but really… negativity is over-rated. If you want negativity, get married.” Just kidding…

  Michael Sunshine