Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Vitovich
Hi Michael, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My story starts in the morgue, YES the morgue. I started my career working in the death care industry performing autopsies, scene investigation and giving educational lectures about the work. I was doing great in this career, I was starting to make a name for myself regionally within the law enforcement community. I always tackled the toughest, most difficult cases that presented themselves. Which led to me working on eight of 11 victims of serial killer Anthony Sowell, R&B singer Gerald Levert, a playboy mate and other high profile cases.
Working in this career tends to lead you to a lot of moments of self realization and self actualization. This question of if I die tomorrow, would I regret anything? I asked myself that and after years of working in that industry. I walked away from working full-time and started dedicating myself towards the only thing that provided me solace and escape from the regular world. I went back to chasing a childhood dream of becoming an actor.
I took classes, audition for everything that I could, and took the same basic principles of professionalism, preparation and inspiration into this new career. I took advice from a few Acting friends that had been in the business, and I got involved in every project that I could in order to sharpen my skills and set out to fail until I learned.
When you’re trying to support a family, this leap of faith can be extremely hard to generate support for especially when you compensation sometimes hot meal and IMDb credit. So I decided to go into work for myself as a professional actor and as a forensic consultant. They are very different and yet very similar paths in life. If I’m describing my story, who would have to be one of balance being passionate and committed helps you realize how much balance you may need.
I’ve currently acted in over 50 projects from feature film, independent film, short film, TV show and commercials. I am at that place in my career where there when someone asks, where can I see you, I ask what do you like to watch. I don’t like to shy away from any roles but I have learned boundaries as my name has gotten out there. ‘Average Joe’ , “DID I “, “Santastein”, “St. Gabriel” “The Good Lord Bird” , are a few titles where you might be able see my work.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There has been a numerous amount of challenges and obstacles along the way whether it is second-guessing a choice within myself or it’s an outside voice. The challenges you just have to learn to overcome them or compensate. One of the first challenges that I was faced with was stage fright which is an internal struggle of you versus you. The most constant struggle of any artist, is the enormous amount of rejection that you receive. This rejection comes at the cost of putting food on the table or needing to pay your rent. This makes this struggle of yourself versus your dreams. When you get to the place of when you accept your struggles and your challenges and have placed the resolve that nothing will get in your way and nothing will stop you. That’s when you can overcome a lot of these challenges and goals. Everything can be worked out and everything can be figured out, but not all can be done alone. That’s why it helps to have good people around you. They make the difference. They feed your energy when you have none. They breathe life when you have none left to give.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
The one thing that’s really set me apart is my ability to step back and look at the bigger picture for better or for worse. I applied everything that I learned while working at the medical examiner’s office in deconstruction of crime scenes, and I utilize that towards breaking down scripts to scene moments to even subtle nuances of my Acting performance. I’m proud of my performances where I have disappeared within the role so much so that even my own mother didn’t recognize me. I was proud of my performance on the TV show Average Joe ( season one) I played an intimidating Russian hitman that speaks only Russian. I learned Russian and made strong character choices that were not in the script originally which added to the intensity of the scene which added weight to the story. That’s what good character actors do and I felt like I had achieved that. I showed the episode to my own mother and she asked me who spoke my lines. I just laughed and explained to her the effort and the work, that I put into it. She just smiled and told me that she was proud of me, So at least my mom likes my work.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I still do some consulting work on the side where I fly around the country reviewing forensic cases, medical cases, and research cases. I’ve worked as an expert witness for the Mishandling of remains during Covid and fought for accountability in the death care industry. I have worked and performed autopsies from one side of the country to the other and I am currently writing a book about this experience of death and dying across the United States.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6649499/
- Instagram: @morguecandy
- Twitter: @morguecandy
