Michael Bakkensen

Born in Portland, Oregon, Michael earned a BA in English at Yale, studying Shakespeare with the late Harold Bloom. He received an MFA from UCSD, working with directors Les Waters, Steve Cosson, Anne Kaufman, and Andrei Belgrader and actors Marsha Stephanie Blake, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Ricardo Chavira, Dohn Norwood and Jefferson Mayes. It's also where he met his wife Tamala. Michael moved to NY for the Broadway revival of "The Man Who Came to Dinner" with Nathan Lane & Jean Smart. He continued to work on Broadway (Noises Off, Festen), Off Broadway (RX, Paris Letter) and regionally in theater (incl. Guthrie, Mark Taper, Alley, Huntington, and La Jolla) while booking TV and film work and recording audio books (Jodi Picoult and Katherine Erskine among others). Michael has released three albums of original songs "Cirlce Kiss," "Lionize" and "Sekara Grace"- all available on CD (via website) or digital download and streaming on all music sites. He lives with his wife, daughter and two adopted cats in Upper Manhattan.