Acting
Oct 30, 1953
Denver, Colorado, USA
Michael J. Anderson
Acting
Biography
Michael John Anderson was born in Denver, Colorado, at 10:30 P.M., on Halloween night. Subject to a genetic anomaly known as Osteogenesis Imperfecta, he grew up in a wheelchair. After graduating high school, he traveled America, singing for tips and living in his car. For six years, he attended the University of Colorado where he majored in numerous subjects ranging from philosophy to microbiology. After college, he began working for Martin Marietta, trouble-shooting the N.A.S.A. computers in the ground-support system of the space shuttle. During this time, he made the documentary "Little Mike," which won a silver medal in the International Film and Television Awards. Soon thereafter, he moved to New York City, where his film and television career began. For many years, Anderson was most well-known among fans of director David Lynch for his work as a backwards-talking dream figure on the cult favorite T.V. series Twin Peaks (1990). Anderson also worked with Lynch for the experimental performance piece Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted (1990) and the T.V.-pilot-turned-feature film Mulholland Drive (2001). Anderson gained further recognition and success in recent years for his work on the H.B.O. series Carnivàle (2003). He retired from acting in 2014. His last role was in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010–13).
Feature Films (30)
Blonde Betty Elms has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia. Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman's identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project.
Mulholland Drive
A half-hour film about three-feet, six-inch Michael Anderson, born with osteogenesis imperfecta, or “glass bones” disease, and the positive attitudes that Little Mike maintains about his affliction and life in general.
Little Mike: A Videoportrait of Michael Anderson
After her boyfriend ends their relationship, the dreamself of a heartbroken woman floats through the air over an industrial wasteland singing ballads of love.
Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted
An idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks. (This standalone version of the series pilot was produced for the European VHS market and has an alternate, closed ending.)
Twin Peaks
Indie romantic comedy was the winner of Best Actress and Best Cinematography at the No Dance Film Festival (2000).
Minimum Wage
"An Introduction to David Lynch" is a featurette originally released in the 2001 DVD release, Twin Peaks: The First Season. It features interviews with Catherine E. Coulson, Charles Ramirez-Borg, Lesli Linka Glatter, Miguel Ferrer, Michael J. Anderson, Kyle MacLachlan, Duwayne Dunham, Sheryl Lee, Peggy Lipton, and Richard Beymer, each discussing the filmmaking processes and methods of Twin Peaks co-creator David Lynch.
An Introduction to David Lynch
"Reflections on the Phenomenon of Twin Peaks" is a featurette originally released on the 2001 DVD release of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. It features various cast and crew reflecting on Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
Reflections on the Phenomenon of Twin Peaks
"Learning to Speak in the Red Room" is a featurette originally released in the 2001 DVD release, Twin Peaks: The First Season. It features Michael J. Anderson presenting his method of learning to speak backward, as he and other actors did in the Red Room scenes.
Learning to Speak in the Red Room
Set in the future, this tells of an Earth run by a conglomerate called the LaFont Corporation, which uses machines to rule its subjects. "Troublemakers" and malcontents are exiled to an artificial planet called Terra Nova. Problems arise when Terra Nova suddenly shifts its orbit and threatens to crash into Earth.
No Such Thing as Gravity
Enter the club where your wildest desire and most frightening dreams come true. The price of admission is your soul.
Club Vampire
Television & Series (15)
Port Charles is an American television. It is a spin-off of the serial General Hospital In the first few years, Port Charles got a reputation for focusing most of its energies on the medical school program, setting more of its main action at Port Charles' General Hospital than was seen on the parent show, General Hospital. As it evolved, it turned its focus to stories with gothic intrigue that included themes such as forbidden love, vampires, and life after death. It also abandoned the basic open-ended writing style used on all other daytime dramas in December 2000, instead creating thirteen-week story arcs. This type of storytelling is a staple of Latin telenovelas. It also allowed the cast, crew, and writing staff to only work six months out of the year.
Port Charles
Carnivàle is an American television series set in the United States during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. In tracing the lives of two disparate groups of people, its overarching story depicts the battle between good and evil and the struggle between free will and destiny; the storyline mixes Christian theology with gnosticism and Masonic lore, particularly that of the Knights Templar.
Carnivàle
The body of Laura Palmer is washed up on a beach near the small Washington state town of Twin Peaks. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate her strange demise only to uncover a web of mystery that ultimately leads him deep into the heart of the surrounding woodland and his very own soul.
Twin Peaks
Three sisters (Prue, Piper and Phoebe) reunite and unlock their powers to become the Charmed Ones, the most powerful good witches of all time, whose prophesied destiny is to protect innocent lives from evil beings such as demons and warlocks. Each sister possesses unique magical powers that grow and evolve, while they attempt to maintain normal lives in modern day San Francisco.
