Michael Cerveris - Cast Member of the Month

Michael Cerveris was born on November 6th 1960 making his star sign Scorpio. Scorpios have been described as loyal, passionate and persistent. Michael was born in Bethesda, Maryland and raised in Huntington, West Virginia by his mother, Marsha who was a dancer, and his father, Michael who was a professor of music. With a younger brother, who’s an actor and a younger sister who was a ballerina, Michael always wanted to be a performer.

“I started acting really young, because my dad was a university music professor, so when the university needed a kid for the college class production, I was the kid. The first thing I was ever in was Berthold Brecht's play “Caucasian Chalk Circle” at the age of six or seven. I don't think I had any lines.”

Michael spent 2 summers at the school of the arts in North Carolina before graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1979. Later he majored in theatre studies at Yale University, where he graduated in 1983 and then moved to New York, to start his acting career. “I ate hamburgers in the background of every soap opera in New York and all that, and then gradually started getting more and more visible stage work and regional theatre work out of New York.”

In 1986 Michael auditioned for “Fame” and won the role of Ian Ware, a British music student specializing in playing the guitar and appeared in 20 episodes from the final season of the show. “For the Fame call, they asked for a British dialect and a song. I brought in my undoubtedly sketchy accent left over from a childhood Artful Dodger and accompanied myself on that old Ovation guitar singing Bowie's ‘Young Americans’ remember thinking I should stay in character from the time I arrived, so everyone from the receptionist on up were probably scratching their heads about this strange talking ivy educated hillbilly kid. But either by pity or sheer daring, casting directors Meg Lieberman and Tony Sepulveda, producers Renee and Harry Longstreet, and writers Ira Behr and Michael McGreevey took a chance on this kid and opened the door to an entire new world for me.”

“A lot of the great fun of working on Fame was the variety in each day. One day spending hours on camera, the next in a rehearsal room in day-long rehearsals for a big dance number (especially

challenging for the "movers" among us), and the next day recording backing tracks in some of LA's best studios. Our stages at the former MGM Studios in Culver City were always a hive of diversity, creative activity and youthful energy. Sometimes barely controlled, but always full of life.”

Having moved to L.A. to film “Fame”, Michael decided to stay and appeared on shows like “The

Equalizer”, “21 Jump Street and “Quantum Leap”. He also continued working in regional theatre, particularly classical productions and Shakespeare.

In 1993 Michel made his Broadway debut in The Who's “Tommy” playing the role of Tommy/Narrator, for which he received a Tony nomination. From there his theatre career went from strength to strength. He played the lead role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which he brought to London’s West End.

Other Broadway shows include: “Sweeny Todd”, “Titanic”, “Hedda Gabler” and “Evita”. Michael has won 2 Tony awards as a leading actor for the Broadway shows “Assassins” in 2004 and “Fun Home” in 2015.

Despite concentrating on his theatre career Michael continues to appear in numerous TV Shows like: “Fringe”, “The Good Wife”, “Mindhunter”, “The Tick” and “The Blacklist” to name just a few.

Michael also plays guitar and has released solo albums as well as performing with his band Loose Cattle.

In 2022 Michael will reunite with his Fame co-stars for the U.K. Reunion.