Michael Mando (born July 13, 1981) is a Canadian actor. He played
Nacho Varga on the
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
series ''
Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American legal crime drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould for AMC. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–201 ...
'' (2015–2022),
Vaas Montenegro in the video game franchise ''
Far Cry'' (2012, 2021), Vic Schmidt in the sci-fi series ''
Orphan Black
''Orphan Black'' is a Canadian science-fiction thriller television series created by screenwriter Graeme Manson and director John Fawcett and starring Tatiana Maslany. The series focuses on Sarah Manning, one of several genetically identica ...
'' (2013–2014), and
Mac Gargan
MacDonald "Mac" Gargan is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #19 (December ...
in ''
Spider-Man: Homecoming'' (2017). He is a two-time
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...
and
Screen Actors Guild Award
Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as SAG Awards) are accolades given by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The award was founded in 1995 to recognize outstanding performances in movie an ...
nominee.
Early life
Mando was born in
Quebec City
Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...
. He was raised by his father and is the second of three brothers. The family moved around a lot, living in more than 35 homes in 10 cities across four continents before he was in his mid-20s.
Mando's mother hails from
Guinea
Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...
, and his father was a Doctor of Chemistry from
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Mando spent most of his childhood growing up in
Accra
Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: GÉ›; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...
,
Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...
, and
Beirut
Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
, before returning home to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
as a teen. His native language is French, and he speaks English, Spanish, and Arabic.
He grew up wanting to be a writer or an athlete.
In his mid-20s, he suffered a knee injury and consequently decided to change paths.
He was enrolled in many fields, including
international relations
International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...
at the
University of Montreal before discovering the performing arts at the Dome Theatre Program at
Dawson College in 2004.
Despite no training he went on to play the male lead in all five productions of the program.
He graduated in 2007. His Dome credits include Orlando in Shakespeare's ''
As You Like It
''As You Like It'' is a pastoral Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wil ...
'', Professor Katz in
David Edgar's ''Pentecost'', and Valentine Xavier in Tennessee Williams' ''
Orpheus Descending''.
Steven W. Lecky, the chair of the program, called Mando "one of the finest talents to emerge from the program in the past 25 years".
Career
After playing the leading character in two award-winning professional theatre productions in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
,
Mando founded Red Barlo Productions.
The company's first film, ''Conditional Affection'' (which Mando starred in, directed and wrote) was released in 2010 and officially selected to
Fantasia,
Bare Bones,
ACTRA Short Films,
and the New Hope International Film Festivals.
Mando's television debut simultaneously followed with a wide range of contrasting characters. His credits include guest appearances in the crime series ''
The Bridge'', the medical drama mini-series ''
Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures
''Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures'' is a short story collection by Vincent Lam, published in 2006. The book, inspired by Lam's own experiences in medical school and as a professional physician, is a volume of interconnected short stories about t ...
'', as an
MS-13 gang member in ''
The Border'', and as a close friend of the character Kenzi (played by
Ksenia Solo) in the fantasy series ''
Lost Girl''.
Mando has had repeated collaborations with directors
John Fawcett and
Érik Canuel as well as producer David Barlow. He had a starring role in the 2010 feature film ''Territories''.
In 2011, he had a recurring role in ''
Les Bleus de Ramville''
and a guest appearance on the series ''
King
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
''.
He is the voice and likeness of
Vaas Montenegro, a major character of the 2012 video game ''
Far Cry 3''. He also starred in a webseries called ''Far Cry: The Experience'' as Vaas, who captures and tortures
Christopher Mintz-Plasse as himself. In the 2020s, Mando would reprise his role as Vaas for ''Far Cry VR: Dive Into Insanity'' and ''
Far Cry 6''.
In 2012, Mando was cast in the first season of the
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
television series
A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...
''
Orphan Black
''Orphan Black'' is a Canadian science-fiction thriller television series created by screenwriter Graeme Manson and director John Fawcett and starring Tatiana Maslany. The series focuses on Sarah Manning, one of several genetically identica ...
'', which began airing in 2013.
He played Vic, an abusive drug-dealer and was nominated for a
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...
for his work on the series. He reprised his role of Vic in the second season in a recurring role. In 2014, Mando joined the cast of ''
Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American legal crime drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould for AMC. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–201 ...
'', the ''
Breaking Bad
''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan for AMC (TV channel), AMC. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Breaking Bad), Walter White (Bryan Cran ...
''
spin-off, portraying
Nacho Varga, a career criminal.
In 2023, he was set to star in the series ''
Dope Thief'', but was fired due to a physical altercation with another cast member.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Web
Accolades
References
External links
* (archived link)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mando, Michael
Living people
1981 births
21st-century Canadian male actors
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male television actors
Canadian male video game actors
Canadian male voice actors
Canadian people of Guinean descent
Dawson College alumni
Francophone Quebec people
Male actors from Quebec City
Male motion capture actors
Université de Montréal alumni