Actor Michael Dean's film and television career began on stage. It was during a run as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera that he was approached for a TV series, The Heartbreak Cafe. Since making the transition, this award-winning actor has never yet looked back. Raised in Florida, he was a voice scholar in college and very active in student productions and participated in performances all over the South. His involvement in song and dance groups eventually led to opportunities to perform in the Caribbean, Europe and the UK. After moving to the Los Angeles area, he became active in local civic theater and in commercials. This led to opportunities as a singer and dancer in music videos and films. He had a string of roles in big productions including the TV series Las Vegas, the TV movie See Arnold Run and the feature film First Daughter directed by Forest Whitaker. One of his most enjoyable opportunities was as a dancer for Cheryl Burke in season 14 of Dancing With the Stars. His work in television led to opportunities in short films, including a Vanguard Film Festival Best Actor Award for his role as the heavy in Third Thursday. Ever the student, he has studied under Ivana Chubbuck, Mark Atteberry, Dale White, Dan Speaker and Tim Ross among others. He believes that understanding a variety of different elements in the film process makes him an extraordinary actor. His first attempt at producing, led to eight award nominations in the 168 Film Festival 2012 and a showing in the Cannes Short Film Festival for his film, There. He loves stories of redemption and characters that inspire and has used his experiences in film and television to work with children, both locally and internationally, while promoting the arts.