Michael Mercurio (born January 8, 1982) is an American actor who has appeared in film, theatre, and television, often portraying idiosyncratic characters.
Mercurio was born in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
. His family moved to
Brooklyn, New York when he was 5 years old. When he was a teenager, they relocated to
Ridgewood, New Jersey, where Mercurio attended
Ridgewood High School. During that period, his primary interest was art, but that changed in his early 20s, when he moved to
Chicago to study acting. He completed an acting conservatory and was offered a scholarship with the Chicago Actor's Studio.
While living in Chicago, Mercurio made his off-Broadway theatre debut with StageLeft Theatre in Jorge Aviles' ''Nicas'', playing the lead role as a gay man who returns to Nicaragua to confront his past. Mercurio received excellent reviews, and shortly thereafter was offered his first film role in the low-budget ''Angel in Chains'' (2004), in which he portrayed an outlaw biker.
In 2004, he moved to
Los Angeles, where he accepted roles in a string of independent and short films, to broaden his acting range in an effort to avoid being typecast. He played a compulsive gambler, in the independent movie ''Fixing Rhonda'' (2008). Other movie projects followed, including ''God Complex'' (2009), in which he played a computer programmer who questions his ethical obligations, and other films such as ''Psycho Killer Reflections on God'', ''Adoration'', ''Jarhead'' and ''Brainstorm''.
In 2010, Mercurio played a disenchanted former soldier who has been recruited to build a bomb for a domestic terrorist, in the independent suspense-thriller ''
Elevator'', written and produced by
Marc Rosenberg (''Dingo,'' ''
December Boys'') and directed by Stig Svendsen (''
The Radio Pirates
''The Radio Pirates'' ( no, Radiopiratene) is a Cinema of Norway, Norwegian family film released in 2007, directed by first-time Film director, director Stig Svendsen and is based on a radio play by Gunnar Germundson. It stars Gard B. Eidsvold, P ...
''). ''Elevator'' was released in January 2012.
In addition to his screen work, Mercurio is a former member of
The Actors' Gang theatre in Los Angeles, which was founded by acclaimed actor
Tim Robbins. He is also an artist known for his unusual blend of sculpture and canvas, utilizing surrealistic dark themes.
Mercurio’s biological father Rick Frank (1942 - 1998) was best known as co-founder and drummer of the band
Elephant's Memory, which performed with various artists, including
John Lennon and
Yoko Ono under the name Plastic Ono Elephant's Memory Band. Mercurio’s mother, Kathy Wollard, is the author of the popular ''How Come?'' syndicated newspaper column and Web site. His stepfather, Evan Morris, was an author and syndicated newspaper columnist, best known for the column ''The Word Detective''.
Evan Morris Obituary , The Word Detective
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Filmography
References
External links
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101015212558/http://movies.broadwayworld.com/article/Shirley_Knight_Begins_Production_for_ELEVATOR_20100930 Shirley Knight Begins Production for Elevator - TalkMoviesWorld.com]
Michael Mercurio mini-bio on FlickPeek
Michael Mercurio's official Web site
*
Elevator
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercurio, Michael
1982 births
Living people
Male actors from New Jersey
American male actors
Actors from Ridgewood, New Jersey
Ridgewood High School (New Jersey) alumni