ABOUT
Michelle Danner is a world renowned acting coach, film and stage director, author, and teacher.
Michelle has taught acting for the last 29 years and has worked with many A-List Actors privately and on set including: Chris Rock, Gerard Butler, Seth MacFarlane, Melanie Brown, Jamie Lynn Sigler, Penelope Cruz, Verne Troyer, Grant Bowler, Kate Del Castillo, Michael Pena, Isla Fisher, Common, Salma Hayek, Chris Martin, Brian McKnight, James Franco, Marcia Cross, Christian Slater, Catherine Bell, Zooey Deschanel, Gabrielle Union, Justin Chatwin, Jennifer Coolidge,Justine Wadell, Rob Estes, Rick Fox, Henry Cavill and Michelle Rodriguez and many others.
Voted favorite acting coach by Backstage readers, teaching remains a passion. She was brought in for her expert coaching on the WB show The Starlet and was featured with Andy Richter on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.
Michelle trained extensively in Paris and New York with Stella Adler and Uta Hagen. She was the Managing Director of the Larry Moss Studio since it's inception in Los Angeles for 20 years.
She is the Founding Director of Edgemar Center for the Arts and raised $1.3 million to construct the two theaters and the art gallery at the Center. At the opening ceremony, Steven Spielberg commented, "Here we have a venue that can turn out some extremely experienced, daring and resourceful artists." She is currently serving as Artistic Director and teaches ongoing classes at the Michelle Danner Studio, housed at Edgemar.
Her seminars are taught internationally in South America, Europe, Toronto, Vancouver, Dubai, New York, Sydney and Australia. She has taught in several cities including: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Istanbul, Paris, and Moscow.
Michelle has directed and acted in over thirty plays and musicals in New York and Los Angeles. Her favorite acting credits include Tennessee William's The Rose Tattoo, which garnered LA Weekly critic's pick and five Dramalogue awards including best actress; House of Yes, Bright Ideas, Ibsen's Ghosts the world premiere of One White Crow.
Her highlights at Edgemar have been pioneering new works that include The Night of the Black Cat, a world premiere and winner of the 2005 Best Musical of the Year at the Los Angeles Music Awards. She directed the world premiere of Mental the Musical, winner of several 17th Annual TicketHolder awards for acting and musical score. She wrote and directed the world premiere of You're on the Air, an improv based comedy which is in development to become a movie. She directed the west coast premiere of Hello Herman by John Buffalo Mailer and co-directed Jane Fonda in the Court of Public Opinion starring Anne Archer.
Michelle also produced and acted in the award-winning short film Dos Corazones, which premiered at the Nashville Film Festival and went on to win Best Cinematography & Audience Favorite at the Malibu Film Festival.
In 2006, she made her feature film directing debut How to go Out on a Date in Queens which was nominated and won four L.A. Film Awards including Best Director. It starred Jason Alexander, Esai Morales, Ron Perlman, Kimberly Williams, Rob Estes and Alison Eastwood. Her production company, All in Films, has several projects in the works: You're on the Air, The Bandit Hound II, and The Will To...
In April 2011, she completed Hello Herman starring Norman Reedus (AMC's The Walking Dead), Martha Higareda, and Garrett Backstrom. The film premiered at the Hollywood Film Festival to a sold out audience and had its international premiere at the Monaco Charity Film Festival where it won the award for social relevance. It opened nationwide in June 2013 and was distributed on VOD in 100 million homes across the U.S. by Warner Brothers.
She is putting the finishing touches on her acting book, The Golden Box, which will be released in the fall of2015. Her latest film, The Bandit Hound, is in post production and slated to be released in the fall of 2015.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Michelle Danner
Trivia (2)
Renowned acting teacher of the Larry Moss Studio.
Artistic Director of the Edgemar Center for the Arts.
