Sean Cameron Michael is a South African actor, writer and singer. A native English speaker, he is also fluent in Afrikaans.
Early life
Michael was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He became interested in acting at the age of twelve, after appearing in several stage musicals. While in school, he studied drama with Rita Maas-Phillips. After completing high school, Michael did his two years compulsory National Service as an infantryman in the South African Defence Force in Potchefstroom. After a number of part-time jobs he decided to become a full-time actor and singer.
Acting career
Over the past thirty years, Michael has performed in more than 100 local and international television series, shorts and feature films. He began his career in 1993, playing the role of Thomas in an adaptation of The Gospel According to Matthew. In 1996, he also had a recurring role on ', a long-running South African soap opera. " Michael's first relevant American role came in 2005 when he landed the support lead in Dean Devlin's mini-series The Triangle. Also, in 2008 he joined the cast of 24 playing French UN worker, Charles Solenz, in '. The New York Post singled out Michael's performance saying that his character "might be the most spineless, loathsome character ever created for this show." In 2011, Michael portrayed the role of Thomas Edison in History Channel's series ', scoring the highest viewership ratings in network history. The following year, he played the lead in Animal Planet's TV special ', which scored the highest viewership ratings for the channel since 2003. He appeared in HBO's film The Girl and the Strike Back series. He also worked opposite Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in Universal's Safe House. In 2013, he starred opposite Oscar winner William Hurt in BBC Films' Royal Television Society's film, The Challenger, about the space shuttle disaster. He then started work on season 1 of Black Sails. The show received several Emmy Awards. The second season premiered on January 24, 2015. Michael was considered for Emmy and SAG awards for his work on season one and two as series regular Richard Guthrie. In 2015, he played the supporting role of Lester in the film The Salvation, for director Kristian Levring, and starring Mads Mikkelsen and Jonathan Pryce. In 2016, Michael guest starred in a number of US television shows, including Of Kings and Prophets, and Scorpion in which he played the lead baddie, Shane Copley and once again was considered for an Emmy. In 2017, he recurred as Russian diplomat Grigory Krukov in USA's hit conspiracy drama Shooter and as Old Man Heart in Syfy's Blood Drive Michael also plays the lead role in the sci-fi short film "Tears in the Rain" which screened at the Boston SciFi Film Festival and won him the Jury and Audience Best Actor Award at the SciFi Underground Film Festival in Munich, Germany. The actor was next seen as the main protagonist, Sam in director Christopher-Lee Dos Santos' indie feature "Last Broken Darkness", currently on the film festival circuit internationally. Michael also won Best Performance by an Actor in a Feature Film for this role at the Boston SciFi Film Festival. In 2018 he guest starred as The Ghost on CBS' MacGyver and was considered for an Emmy nomination for his portrayal. Michael's next project was the political thrillerThe Last Victims for director Maynard Kraak. Its Hollywood premiere was at the Pan African Film Festival in February 2019, and then opened the Rapid Lion on 1 March 2019, where Michael was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Michael then went on to win Best Lead Actor in a Feature Film at the South Film and Arts Academy Festival in Chile. In 2019 the busy actor was seen recurring on Deep State on Fox and Epix as Colonel John Russell, as well as "The Devil Speaks" and "Die Spreeus" for Kyknet. In 2020 he can be seen in feature films "Fried Barry", "Triggered" and The Last Days of American Crime on Netflix, as well as "Vagrant Queen" on SyFy and "MariTeam" for Germany. Michael is attached as a lead in the "A.S.T." film franchise in which he plays Gideon, the powerful leader of a black bag operation for the CIA. Michael is also attached to feature films "Angels", "Forgiven" and "Collision" scheduled to shoot this year. He also serves as a writer and executive producer on the latter.
