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Michael McCleery was born on August 18th, 1959, in Chicago, Illinois, to Robert S. McCleery and Virginia Kavanaugh McCleery. The family soon relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, where his father, a medical doctor and vascular surgeon, taught surgery at Vanderbilt Medical School, which now has a scholarship in his honor.
Michael's father, a decorated World War II officer, was instrumental in ensuring that WW-II veterans received proper medical care after the war. The family's ancestry is a mix of Scotch-Irish, Irish, German, French, and English, and Michael was raised in the Irish-Catholic faith.
Michael attended pre-school in Nashville before moving to Great Falls, Montana, where his brother Gary was born. His father was the chief surgeon at Great Falls General Hospital before the family moved to the East Coast in the late 1960s to work in medical advertising.
The family settled in the bucolic town of Princeton, New Jersey, where Michael developed an interest in the dramatic arts after seeing his first Shakespearean productions at the McCarter Theatre.
As a teenager at Princeton High School, Michael was introduced to casting director Marian Dougherty, who brought him in to read for the film "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" starring Robert Mitchum and Peter Boyle. Michael played the role of a juvenile car thief from Boston, and the next year, he played the role of a mugger who accosts Art Carney in "Harry & Tonto," for which Carney received the Academy Award for Best Actor.
After graduating high school, Michael chose to attend Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he studied English literature and American history and performed in various productions. He left college without a degree and returned to New York City, where he began studying at the Stella Adler Conservatory with Ms. Adler, specializing in scene study and script analysis.
Michael's early career included roles in off-off Broadway and off-Broadway productions, including "Prairie Ave." and "The Hospital Play" at Joe Papp's Public Theatre, while continuing to study with acting coach Larry Moss in Manhattan.
In 1990, Michael moved to Los Angeles and appeared in a supporting role in "Impulse," directed by Sondra Locke. The next year, he appeared in another supporting role in "The Fires Within," directed by Gillian Armstrong. He then returned to his beloved Montana, where he worked on a family friend's cattle ranch outside of Great Falls, learning about the American cowboy way.
Michael returned to Los Angeles in 1994 and landed a leading role in the Met Theatre's production of James Moody's "The Fool," directed by Jim Gammon. He was spotted by casting director Mali Finn, who brought him in to read for James Ellroy's "L.A. Confidential" and was cast in the role of Det. Carlisle, directed by Curtis Hanson.
Following that, Michael played the lead opposite Muse Watson in the independent release "If I Die..." and then played a strong supporting role in the Fox-2000 film "Best Laid Plans" with Reese Witherspoon and Josh Brolin. He then played the role of Sheriff Akins in John Dahl's cult-horror film "Joy Ride" with Paul Walker and Steve Zahn, released in 2001.
The next year, he had a supporting role in "The United States of Leland," produced by and starring Kevin Spacey. Michael then took a "leave of absence" from show business and became a respected and successful personal trainer. In 2012, he returned to acting in the HBO series "Luck," produced by Michael Mann and starring opposite Nick Nolte.
