Biography

New York City born and raised. Also playwright, screenwriter, producer.

Raised in single parent home with his mother and sister in a 325 square ft. apartment in New York's Greenwich Village. His mother remarried for a short time to the owner of a local nightclub, the Village Purple Onion, which featured musical acts including early Jimi Hendrix, Richie Havens and The Lovin' Spoonful during the Folk Rock days of the 1960s.

Born Michael Esposito, adopted his stage name "Arturo" from his grandfather, with whom he lived as a teenager. Michael's maternal great grandfather was a foreman on the crew of construction workers who built the steeple on New York's Chrysler Building in the 1930s. His paternal great grandfather arrived aboard the SS Cincinnati at Ellis Island on April 15th, 1912. The same day the survivors of the Titanic arrived. Michael's paternal grandfather, also named Michael, owned a barber shop in East Harlem, NYC. His maternal grandfather was a truck driver and bartender. Michael is also a distant relation to former New York Governors Mario and Andrew Cuomo.

Michael studied acting with Herbert Berghof at HB Studios, NYC. Playwriting with Lonnie Carter and Edward Mabley at the New School in NYC. Producing with Isaiah Sheffer of the Symphony Space in NYC.

Michael's earliest writing influences were Neil Simon and the sit-coms of Norman Lear. Later, Pinter, Beckett, Ionesco and the Theatre of the Absurd.

His first play, "One Another" (a love triangle for two players) was staged in a loft theater on 13th Street in Greenwich Village.

While producing his plays Off-Off Broadway in New York, Michael and his mother owned and operated one of Greenwich Village's most bohemian cafes - restaurants, Caffe Cefalu, which they opened with less than 15K and ran for 17 years. It drew celebrities and artists from the local community. Michael befriended writers Richard Price, David Mamet, Stanley Crouch and Steven Berkoff, who were regulars at the eatery.

In 1988-90, Michael became the first known writer-producer to have written and produced a American play in London with a US imported cast and a British play in New York with a UK imported cast. "A Friend in Need" opened at the Man in the Moon Theatre in London and ran twenty-eight performances. Michael followed that up with a British inspired play, "Internal Affairs," which ran 10 performances at the Sanford Meisner Theatre in New York City.

Among his screenplays "Bleecker Street","Natural Numbers," "A Roy Named Ray," "It Ain't New Yawk," and "An American Journalist" (co-author). In 2002, Charles Durning was attached to star in "It Ain't New Yawk."

Television debut in 1999 in "The West Wing" as Doctor Steven Colson.

Lead actor in more than a dozen independent short films including the award winning Outside the Window (2003), the American Film Institute's "Eliot and the Universal Constant" (2005), Russ Belli-Estreito's "Convicted for Life" (2006) and "An American Journalist" (2008).

Prison scenes for "An American Journalist" were shot at Lincoln Heights Prison in LA. Michael worked as a photo double for actor Jeff Goldblum in the TV film "A Journalist in Baghdad" (retitled "War Stories") (2003) shot five years earlier at Lincoln Heights Prison. Michael has photo doubled dozens of actors including Ray Romano in "Men of a Certain Age," John Travolta in "Numbers" and Tom Hanks in the 2008 film "Angels and Demons".

Michael appeared as Matt Ford in 4 episodes in the 2nd Season of Mexico's #1 horror series "El Porvenir" in 2014. Michael then co-wrote the 3rd Season of the series, which is set for future production.

Creator of the "Double Espresso Web Series" (2010- 2014), a parody of American culture and politics.

Creator of the "Thugsmack" series in 2022, a parody of the convoluted identity politics involving current day race issues.

Currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Norma, who is a professor of Heritage Languages at East Los Angeles College.

- IMDb mini biography by: anonymous