Sean Michael (South African actor)

Sean Michael
Sean Michael in 2009
Born	Sean Cameron Michael (1969-12-24) 24 December 1969 (age 47) Cape Town, South Africa
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1993–present

Sean Cameron Michael (born 24 December 1969) is a South African actor, writer and singer. A native English speaker, he is also fluent in Afrikaans.

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 (including being a waiter and a chef) he decided to become a full-time actor and singer.

Over the past thirty years, Michael has performed in more than 80 local and international television series, shorts and feature films. He began his official 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 Egoli: Place of Gold, 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 24: Redemption. 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 America: The Story of Us, scoring the highest viewership ratings in network history.

The following year, he played the lead in Animal Planet's TV special Mermaids: The Body Found, 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 in January 24, 2015. Michael was considered for Emmy and SAG awards for his work on season one and two as series regular Richard Guthrie.