Michael Berresse (born August 15, 1964) is an American actor, dancer,

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

, and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

Life and career

Born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, but reared primarily in

Joliet, Illinois Joliet ( ) is a city in Will County, Illinois, Will and Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County, Illinois, Will County. It had a population of ...

, Berresse's father was a chemical engineer and his mother is the artist and author Cynthia Berresse Ploski. He has an older brother and two older sisters. A nationally competitive gymnast and diver from age eight, he went straight from high school to a stint performing in Walt Disney theme parks in Orlando and Tokyo before moving to New York and making his

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

debut in the 1990 revival of ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 19 ...

''. In 1992, he appeared on

Star Search ''Star Search'' (later known as ''Ed McMahon's Star Search'') is an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./ Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 29 ...

in a dance group called "The Boys Back East", winning the title of Best New Dance Group and a shared prize of $100,000. He has appeared on Broadway in many shows including: ''

Kiss Me, Kate ''Kiss Me, Kate'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and the conflict on and off- ...

'', ''

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

'' (first as the murder victim, Fred Casely, and later as the lawyer, Billy Flynn), ''

'', ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Run ...

'', ''

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...

'', ''

Damn Yankees ''Damn Yankees'' is a 1955 musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., d ...

'', '' The Light in the Piazza'' and most recently as Zach in the revival of ''

A Chorus Line ''A Chorus Line'' is a 1975 musical conceived by Michael Bennett with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante. Set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater, the musical is cent ...

''. For his performance as Bill Calhoun in ''Kiss Me, Kate'', Berresse was nominated for a 2000

Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actors for quality featured roles in a musi ...

as well as London's

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply The Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognize excellence in professional theatre in London. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Aw ...

. In addition to Broadway, he has worked extensively in regional theatre, most recently in

Jason Robert Brown Jason Robert Brown (born June 20, 1970) is an American musical theatre composer, lyricist, and playwright. Brown's music sensibility fuses pop-rock stylings with theatrical lyrics. He is the recipient of three Tony Awards for his work on ''Parad ...

's musical ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

'' at the

Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighborin ...

in Los Angeles as well as

Larry Kramer Laurence David Kramer (June 25, 1935May 27, 2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to Lo ...

's ''

The Normal Heart ''The Normal Heart'' is a largely autobiographical play by Larry Kramer. It focuses on the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay founder of a promi ...

'' at Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.) He also portrayed Bob Mackie/Robert Altman/Artie in The Cher Show beginning Late 2018 on Broadway. Berresse was the director and choreographer of the Broadway musical, 'title of show''">title_of_show.html" ;"title="'title of show">'title of show''for which he was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award and a recipient of off-Broadway's Obie Award and which starred and was co-created by his Significant other, partner Jeff Bowen. In 2012 he reunited with the '' itle of show' creative team to direct the off-Broadway musical ''

Now. Here. This. ''Now. Here. This.'' is a musical theatre, musical from the team of ''Title of show, itle of show', with music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen and a book by Hunter Bell and Susan Blackwell. It is a collaborative work by Hunter Bell, Michael Berresse ...

'' He recently directed the world premiere of Paul Gordon's ''Analog & Vinyl'' in summer 2014. He made his film debut as the Stage Manager in Spielberg's ''

A.I. Artificial Intelligence ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'' (or simply ''A.I.'') is a 2001 American science fiction drama film directed by Steven Spielberg. The screenplay by Spielberg and screen story by Ian Watson are loosely based on the 1969 short story " Supertoy ...

'', played an assassin in ''State of Play'', directed by Kevin Macdonald and starring Russell Crowe, and recently appeared in ''The Bourne Legacy'', with Jeremy Renner.https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1006558/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 He also appears as himself in the documentary film ''Every Little Step'', which follows the casting process of the production of ''

'' in which he starred. In the program for the London run of ''Kiss Me Kate'', which ran from October 2001 to August 2002. He resides in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Michael Berresse
at Internet Off-Broadway Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Berresse, Michael American male musical theatre actors American male dancers 1964 births Living people Male actors from Massachusetts Male actors from Chicago People from Holyoke, Massachusetts American male film actors 21st-century American male actors