Michael Hibler

Born about two months premature in Fresno California, Michael Hibler was raised in the small town of Porterville, Ca. His parents, John and Brenda Hibler, divorced early on in his life, around the age of four. The divorce would bring the first sings of serious OCD, anxiety, and depressive disorders into his life that would play a key part as he grew older. Not long after the divorce of his parents, Michael's parents started noticing a strange habit that he would do with his eyes. He would blink them harshly and then roll them into the back of his head uncontrollably. A stress test at a children's hospital simply just diagnosed Michael as being "stressed" due to the divorce. Much Later in life, however, doctors would diagnose this disorder as severe OCD and anxiety. By the age of twelve or so, Michael started noticing a disorder called Depersonalization Disorder. He would become so self aware and self conscious that it felt like he was in a dream. Michael was always fascinated and in love with movies, but it was his stepmother, Trudy, who first introduced him to acting. Michael found himself, like many, being bit by the acting bug and pursued it into high school, performing in many plays. Through high school Michael found himself to have many friends, but a loner. Severe depression had started setting in by his Sophomore year. After high school, Michael attended Porterville College. Even though he was on the Deans List for a few different semesters, he did not graduate. Michael had done some modeling with a local agency and a commercial, but by 2001, acting and such had come to an end. Hibler found himself moving to Fresno, Ca, a larger city about an hour North of Porterville. However, this move would begin the journey of bouncing from one worthless job to the next. It wasn't long before Michael found himself unemployed and broke. Michael made the hard decision to move away from his family and friends to Missouri to begin a fresh start. Missouri became his home, Michael feels, and loves it with all his heart. The second day he had arrived, he walked into a large arena called the Black River Coliseum that had an indoor gym, as well, and found employment. It wasn't long before Michael moved up from grunt who was just slinging tables and chairs in the arena to being a supervisor. That position led to him actually becoming the GM of the fitness and aquatic center that the arena also offered. Sadly but surely, depression would kick back in and Hibler found himself sinking back into old habits of doing nothing. Eventually, he lost his job and had to take low paying, even minimum wage jobs just survive for the next few years. It wasn't until his brother, Chris, and his brother's wife, Rachel, moving to Missouri from California that he would find himself getting back onto the stage. Rachel, who was also a talented actress, became involved with the local stage company by association with a coworker. Michael agreed to play various small roles in "A Christmas Carol" in 2009 and several more plays would follow in the next few years. He was cast as the male lead in a local commercial, as well. In 2011, Michael said enough was enough with the crappy jobs and started his own video production business called Dark Hamlet Studios. In only a few months, his brother Chris, who was his partner in the business, won 2nd place in Rush Limbaugh's "Two if by Tea" commercial contest, a contest with thousands of contestants. Unfortunately, business pretty much was dead and there would be months of nothing. Michael was living with his brother and sister-in-law during the video production days, and Chris and Rachel broke the news to him that they would be moving back to California. After much consideration, Michael realized he wanted to follow his dream of being an actor, something that kept him from settling at any job, and he decided to move to Los Angeles the same time his brother and sister-in-law left back to Fresno. Hibler made the hard decision to move back to Poplar Bluff, Mo, to begin treatment for mental illness, something that was an off and on thing in his adult past. He started his video production business back up and several months after moving back, the production of "Gone Girl", starring Ben Afleck, began in a town called Cape Girardeau about an hour and half away. Michael sent in his headshot and resume to the background casting directors and played a background reporter. An indie film called "Love Chronicles of the Cape" allowed him to get back into the film game with lines.