Michael Charrois, a multifaceted individual, was born on May 24th, 1962, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He pursued his passion for Acting and Playwrighting at the University of Alberta and the Banff School of Fine Arts. In 1986, he joined the Resident Acting Company of Edmonton's Family Theatre, Stage Polaris, and began teaching Performing Arts classes at the Stage Polaris Academy of Drama.
The same year, Michael became a member of the Canadian Actors' Equity Association, and his creative endeavors expanded to include street performing with fire juggling and clowning, as well as playing with his friends in a rock band called Big Inc. In the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, he wrote lyrics for songs and musical plays for the stage, both for Big Inc. and his second band, Baffin Island Party, culminating in Y2K's The Illumination of Marshall McLuhan.
Michael's breakthrough in film came in 1992 when he played Wiggens in Clint Eastwood's Academy Award-winning film Unforgiven. He also became a member of ACTRA, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, that same year. Throughout the 1990s, festival performances took him throughout Western Canada, to Ottawa, and into the U.S. at the Orlando and New York Fringe Festivals.
In 1996, Michael was asked to serve his Union, first as a Councillor, then President and Alternate National Councillor for the Edmonton ACTRA Branch. He continued to be involved in the theatre scene, performing in numerous plays and musicals, including over a dozen productions at New Westminster's Burr Theatre.
In 2000, Michael was asked to represent the Alberta New Democratic Party in the Castledowns riding for the Alberta provincial election, finishing in third place behind the Liberal and Conservative. Two years later, he made the bold move to escape winter by relocating to Vancouver in September 2001.
In 2002, Michael was cast in his first of many plays at New Westminster's Burr Theatre, and throughout the early 2000s, he performed in plays and on screen, busked on Granville Island with his street show Economics 101, and ran around to various schools performing Mad Science experiments.
Michael continued to be involved in politics, representing the New Democrats in his home riding of North Vancouver for the 2008 and 2012 federal elections. As of 2016, he is the Performing Arts Education Coordinator at the Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam, BC, where he teaches public speaking and theatre arts. He also teaches for Burnaby's Shadbolt Arts Centre.
