Michelle Thorson

Raised on a working cattle ranch on the edge of The Badlands, Michelle Thorson went on to live in Bogota, Barcelona, and Basque Country, later to motorcycle through over half a dozen contiguous nations along the Pan-American Highway. Her first formal introduction to the theatre was at Yale, where she created and chronicled an AIM-involved Lakota character, which, to her surprise, received rave reviews and murmurings amongst the Yale faculty. It was they who told her, that wherever she decided to move, she "must go somewhere where she can act". As a result, she immediately drove to the Rocky Mountains with a gal from Maine whom she'd never met before, and "got pregnant" with her "seventh child" to be Edna Louise on stage in the Ed Graczyk modern classic, "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean". She has since focused her writing on rural-urban and cross-cultural themes, producing, writing, and directing such pieces for the stage on both coasts. While producing pieces she had written parodying AIM poseurs, she had great fun holding interviews and auditions for Urban Indians at Starbucks throughout metropolitan Seattle. After successful productions, she was approached by several local Indians to help write "their stories". In Los Angeles she worked commercially, on stage, and in voice-over. She recently wrapped production in a strong supporting role (created for her, based upon her audition) in the IFP Spotlight Award-winning script, "My Time With Betty", and can also be heard as Sarah Palin in the hilarious audiobook by Joey Green, "Sarah Palin's Secret Diary". Michelle is a full-time voice-over artist, having studied Voice & Shakespeare with Patsy Rodenburg (Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellan's vocal coach) and at the National Voice Intensive. She has also studied with Sergei Shentalinsky (whose teacher's teacher was Stanislavski) at The School for Russian Art Theatre, in addition to dotcomming it in Chicago, whilst studying Meisner, and hitting the boards for the first time professionally, as an improv artist, and snotty, quasi-Brit, in David-Matthew Barnes' world premiere of "And the Winner Is...". Vocally, she has worked with such powerhouses as, EA Games, Microsoft, Big Fish Games, Humongous Entertainment, Atari Kids, Infogrames, McGraw Hill, AOL, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Colorado Lottery, Daylight Design, and many, many more! Much of her voice-over work is bilingual, in Spanish and English. And, she's been known to be quite the character, from 10-year old boys, to women who sound like Margaret Cho's mom. A scholarship recipient and member of inaugural class of TheFilmSchool - Seattle, Michelle promptly proceeded to pinch instructors' asses whilst receiving her diploma. She can't remember if this was before or after Tom Skerritt gave her a peck on the lips and called her, "Darlin'", as she leaned against the Alibi Room's bar. Michelle holds a Bachelor's degree in Spanish and Anthropology, with an Emphasis in Linguistics, and Certification in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of Montana, Missoula.