Blake Michael
{{short description|American actor, businessman and journalist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Blake Michael
| image = Blake Michael in June 2015.jpg
| caption = Michael in 2015
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1996|7|31}}
| birth_place = Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.{{Cite tweet|number=1421349290631254020|user=BlakeMichael14|title=Now I'm 25|author=Blake Michael|date=July 31, 2021|access-date=May 16, 2022}}
| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|businessman|journalist}}
| years_active = 2004–present
}}
Blake Michael (born July 31, 1996) is an American actor, businessman, and journalist. He played Charlie Delgado in the Disney Channel original movie Lemonade Mouth (2011) and Tyler James in the Disney Channel series Dog with a Blog (2012–2015), which won him the Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Television Series. For directing the short film Notes of Hers (2013), he won the Audience Choice Award from the Red Rock Film Festival.
{{As of|2025|}}, his last role was in a 2019 episode of What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage, choosing to focus on other endeavours. In 2021, Michael became the Chief Evangelist of Lumanu, a social media management company aimed at helping online creators manage their brand and business, and began writing for Forbes as a marketing expert and business analyst.
Life and career
Michael was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and is of Puerto Rican and Russian Jewish descent.{{Cite tweet|number=429274546085310465|user=BlakeMichael14|title=I'm part Russian (|author=Blake Michael}} Michael's career as a child actor began at the age of three, when he started booking print ad jobs. Michael enrolled at the Company Acting Studio in Atlanta at the age of five, and was discovered by a talent agent when he was six.{{Cite journal |date=October 30, 2013 |title=7th Annual RED ROCK FILM FESTIVAL GUIDE |url=https://issuu.com/redrockfilmfestival/docs/rrff_guide-2013-w |journal=Red Rock Film Festival Guide |pages=20–21 |via=Issuu}} His first commercial role was for Bojangles' Famous Chicken, alongside NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme. At age ten, he was chosen to host of a series of four commercials for Hasbro Toys that would air on Cartoon Network. After the ad campaign, Cartoon Network invited Michael to present and host his own show on the network, which culminated in two shows named Fried Dynamite, which aired on Fridays, and Dynamite Action Squad! on Saturdays.{{Cite web |title=Bio – Blake Michael |url=https://www.blakemichael.com/bio1 |access-date=May 16, 2022 |website=Blake Michael Official Website}}
In May 2010, Blake appeared in No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School and later joined with the film's star, country singer Celeste Kellogg, to create and sing a duet titled "Looking In Your Eyes".{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KulVxS5v-bM |title=CELESTE KELLOGG "Looking in Your Eyes" Official Vid with BLAKE MICHAEL! |date=January 31, 2011 |type=Music video}} He made a small cameo in Kellogg's music video "My Jeans".{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l9UqMnBPYQ |title=Celeste Kellogg - My Jeans (Official Music Video) |date=September 18, 2009 |type=Music video}} In June 2010, he was discovered in an open casting call and was cast in a co-lead role as Charlie Delgado in the Disney Channel made-for-TV movie musical Lemonade Mouth.{{cite web |last=Andreeva |first=Nellie |date=August 4, 2010 |title=Disney Channel Casts Its Next Big Musical |url=https://deadline.com/2010/08/disney-channel-casts-its-next-big-musical-59499/ |access-date=May 5, 2016 |website=Deadline Hollywood }} Michael later called this role the one that "catapulted his career" and "helped him gain an audience".{{Cite web |last=Michael |first=Blake |date=March 28, 2022 |title=Creators: How To Turn Your Online Presence Into A Real-World Business |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/03/28/creators-how-to-turn-your-online-presence-into-a-real-world-business/ |access-date=May 8, 2022 |website=Forbes}} Soon after, Disney approached Michael and asked him to read for a role on an upcoming sitcom.{{Cite Instagram|postid=CU7pcDnFxBX|user=blakemichael14|title=Out of the blue Disney came to me and had me read for what was then a show with a title I almost turned down. "Dog with a Blog"|date=October 12, 2021|author=Blake Michael}} Michael later accepted the role as Tyler James in the Disney Channel sitcom Dog with a Blog, who he portrayed from 2012 to 2015.{{cite news |author=Jethro Nededog |date=April 13, 2012 |title=Disney Channel Announces Series Pickup for 'Dog With a Blog' |work=The Hollywood Reporter |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/dog-with-a-blog-disney-channel-series-pickup-311998 |accessdate=May 5, 2016}}
As a director, Michael directed the short film Anonymous in 2011, and Notes of Hers in 2013, the latter of which was featured at the Toronto Student Film Festival, and won the Audience Choice Award at the Red Rock Film Festival. In 2015, he appeared as Chase in the Lifetime television movie I Killed My BFF.{{cite web |title=I Killed My BFF |url=http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/i-killed-my-bff-the-movie |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612025820/http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/i-killed-my-bff-the-movie |archive-date=June 12, 2015 |access-date=May 5, 2016 |publisher=Lifetime }} In 2018, he voiced Curtis in eight episodes of Voltron: Legendary Defender.{{Cite web |title=Voltron: Legendary Defender (2016) |url=https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/tv-shows/Voltron-Legendary-Defender/ |access-date=May 8, 2022 |website=Behind the Voice Actors}} In 2019, he was featured as Pete in Princess of the Row, which premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival.{{Cite web |last=Emerson |first=Andrew |date=March 23, 2019 |title=Princess of the Row |url=https://filmthreat.com/reviews/princess-of-the-row/ |access-date=May 8, 2022 |website=Film Threat}}
In 2021, Michael joined the board of directors of Lumanu, a social media management company, as the Chief Evangelist.{{Cite web |title=Lumanu {{!}} About Us |url=https://www.lumanu.com/about |access-date=May 8, 2022 |website=Lumanu}} He was inspired to help other creators elevate their social status on the internet instead of following what he called the "traditional Hollywood film route", using experience he gained from becoming one of the first and youngest people to be officially partnered with YouTube from a young age.{{Cite podcast |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blake-michael-the-future-of-how-companies/id1493357557?i=1000555827785 |title=Blake Michael: The future of how companies work with creators |website=Creators Are Brands |publisher=Apple Podcasts |host=Tom Boyd |date=March 31, 2022 |access-date=May 25, 2022}} He also began writing for Forbes as a marketing expert, and to promote Lumanu's services, that same year.{{Cite web |title=Blake Michael - Forbes Councils |url=https://profiles.forbes.com/members/business/profile/Blake-Michael-Chief-Evangelist-Officer-Lumanu/903ccb78-55eb-41ba-a0b7-3cd99c1f8f3d |access-date=May 8, 2022 |website=Forbes}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
| 2004
| Chosen | Restaurant Patron | |
| 2008
| Elephant Juice | Jim | rowspan="2" | Short film |
| 2009
| Magellan | Austin Brewer |
| 2010
| No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School | Zach | |
| rowspan="2" | 2011
| The Mortician | Street Kid | |
| Living with N.A.D.S.: The Jimmy Epson Story
| Jimmy Epson | Short film |
| 2014
| Mostly Ghostly: One Night in Doom House | Nicky | |
| 2017
| The Student | Vance Van Sickle | |
| 2019
| Pete | |
=Television=
=Director=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 2011
| Anonymous | rowspan="2" | Short film |
| 2013
| Notes of Hers |
Awards and nominations
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Award ! Category ! Work ! Result ! {{Abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}} |
|---|
| rowspan="2" | 2013
| Best Leading Young Actor in a Television Series | Dog with a Blog | {{won}} | style="text-align:center;" |{{cite web |title=34th Annual Young Artist Awards |url=http://www.youngartistawards.org/noms34.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605095846/http://www.youngartistawards.org/noms34.html |archive-date=June 5, 2013 |access-date=May 5, 2013 |work=Young Artist Awards}} |
| Red Rock Film Festival
|Audience Choice Award |Notes of Hers |{{won}} | style="text-align:center;" |{{cite web |title=Red Rock Film Festival, Utah, USA (2013) |url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0001541/2013/1/ |access-date=March 26, 2018 |website=IMDb}} |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website}}
- {{IMDb name}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michael, Blake}}
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:Male actors from Georgia (U.S. state)
Category:Male actors from Atlanta
Category:American male child actors
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:American actors of Puerto Rican descent
Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Category:Hispanic and Latino American male actors