- Born
- Birth nameMichael James Burg
- Nickname
- Mike
- Height1.80 m
- Michael J. Burg is a film, television and stage actor and a longtime member of the Actors Studio. A native of Rock Port, Missouri, he has resided in New York City since age 19. After graduating from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he studied acting privately for a number of years with Estelle Parsons.
Michael's career dates back to high school, when he worked as a commercial radio announcer, initially with local FM station KTRX. He quickly moved into the regional market by working with AM and FM stations KKJO and KSFT, which broadcast to the Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas areas.
Over the past 20-plus years Micheal has worked with some of the finest directors in the industry, including Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee, Spike Lee, Neil Jordan, Lasse Hallstrom, Bennett Miller, Niels Arden Oplev, Morgan Spurlock, Mary Harron and Amy Poehler.
Michael has depicted Truman Capote three times, most notably opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt in The Audrey Hepburn Story. Ironically he also appeared in Capote opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman, playing Tennessee Williams, a distant cousin of Truman Capote's. His scenes as Capote were not in the final cut of The Hoax. Lastly he played Capote in the ABC series Life on Mars.
Michael is also active in the world of independent film producing. Having served as executive producers for the 2011 feature film, "Turbine" and the 2017 feature film "The Eyes".
Some of Burg's recent credits include the feature film "Love is Strange" appearing opposite Alfred Molina and John Lithgow, "Broad City" on Comedy Central, the role of Detective Charley Griggs in "Gotham,"HBO's "The Night Of" directed and written by Steve Zaillian and HBO's new series "Vinyl," created by Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terrance Winter, Season 6 of "Orange is the New Black".
On the festival circuit, Michael received rave reviews for his starring role in the film "Awsome_FCK." Reviewers at the Toronto Film Festival called it a "haunting, near perfect performance".
Michael owns and manages his paternal family's 6th generation farmland in Atchison County, Missouri. He resides in New York City.- IMDb mini biography by: Amanda Torres Price
- Played Truman Capote four times; Ma vie de star (2000) and Life On Mars (2008) (TV), both for ABC-TV and in deleted scenes from the feature film Faussaire (2006), directed by Lasse Hallström. He also appeared in Capote (2005), starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, playing writer Tennessee Williams, who was Capote's distant cousin.
- A graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York; he has occasionally taught workshops for film/television there.
- In Lasse Hallström's The Hoax, he played Truman Capote in scenes with Richard Gere, during what was to have been Capote's Black & White Ball of 1966. The scenes filmed at The Waldorf-Astoria were deleted due to an inconsistency in the time line of events.
- Longtime member of the Actors Studio.
- Directed by Morgan Spurlock, in a national commercial for Ally Bank.
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