Michael grew up in the cold state of Wisconsin. He first took an interest in art in the form of comicbooks, in particular Michael Golden's The Micronauts. Many years of youth went by distracted with cool 80's toys. In his teens he discovered heavy metal music and, inspired by album cover art, began drawing. Comicbooks again attracted his attention especially the work of Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio.

But it wasn't until stumbling across D.C. Comics' Justice League titles, drawn by Bart Sears and Adam Hughes, that the possibility of pursuing an art career occurred to him. Michael was impressed with Bart Sear's detailed understanding of the human form. The subtle details and nuances of Adam Hughes' drawings created characters that came to life, with personas that could be related to as real people. With these ideals in mind Michael began studying at the Joe Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphic Art, hoping to break into the comicbook industry. Unfortunately, while attending the Joe Kubert School the industry crashed, and after graduation opportunities for work were few and far between.

As comicbooks filled bargain bins (alongside cool 80s toys), videogames stepped into the foreground. Technology and graphics were rapidly improving and games were on their way to becoming an art form. By March of 2000 Michael had accepted a job at BioWare Corp. and relocated to Edmonton, Alberta in chilly Canada. Michael was hired on the strength of his portfolio comprised of comicbook pages and paintings He began work on Neverwinter Nights. His responsibilities at Bioware included creating numerous character portraits, texturing 3D models, and developing character concepts and icons. Michael's work is also prominent in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the Neverwinter Nights expansion packs. Beginning in 2004 he began work on Jade Empire, a martial arts RPG, contributing texture work, some concepting and 3D character modeling.

Michael has since moved to sunny California and the Silicon Valley, where he continues to hone his concepting, digital painting and 3D modeling abilities. He is passionate about pushing the quality of graphics within video games. When not practicing his art skills, he enjoys playing videogames. His past favorites include such as Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Return to Castle Wolfenstein. He considers Ico and Halflife 2 as exceptional examples of game as art. This side of gaming is where he chooses to invest his talents.