Michael Kripchak

Michael Kripchak is an actor, writer and director based in Los Angeles, California. He has acted in more than 30 films, music videos, television pilots, web series & commercials as well as in numerous plays. Kripchak (which is his preferred nickname) was born in Youngstown, Ohio. His father was a police lieutenant and his mother was an elementary school teacher specializing in reading. The seeds of an artist were planted in Michael's life from his grandfather who constantly painted, played the violin, and sang with him as a child. Michael's first taste of writing and acting was in the 4th grade when he participated in Odyssey of the Mind - a local to national competition in which teams of students wrote and acted out skits that met certain creative criteria. His first theatrical performance was in fifth grade in the musical "Aladdin" at the Youngstown Playhouse. He also studied piano for eight consecutive years throughout elementary and junior high school. An accomplished vocalist, Kripchak was a member of school choirs throughout his academic education. Also an accomplished athlete, Kripchak studied Kwan Mu Kan karate through childhood and into high school, eventually earning his black belt. He was also a gymnast for 10 years, competing at the national level and was an Academic All-American. He started running track and field during junior high school, competed in the State Track & Field finals with the 4x400m relay team, and was eventually recruited by the Air Force Academy Track and Field team, where he competed during his freshman year. Kripchak is a Distinguished Graduate from the United States Air Force Academy with a BS in Physics and minors in Mathematics and Japanese. Kripchak served as an Air Force officer and physicist, and was stationed at Air Force Research Lab, Hanscom Air Force Base, MA. While serving, he worked as an actor in Boston with the Longwood Players and Riverside Theatreworks on the musicals, "Merrily We Roll Along", "A New Brain", and "Seussical The Musical". Kripchak also starred in many dramatic productions including Tom in "The Glass Menagerie" and Heisenberg in "Copenhagen". His theatre directorial debut was a production of "Marvin's Room". He also wrote his first screenplay, "Cracked Rearview", shortly thereafter. After his military duty, Kripchak moved to Los Angeles to further his acting career and upon his arrival served as a production assistant on feature films including "The A-Team" and "Battle LA". To gain experience behind the camera, Michael attended a summer intensive film program at Sarah Lawrence College in New York where he wrote and directed his first short film "the Perfect Fix". Post-production for the film was completed in Spring 2011. Michael currently studies at Santa Monica College, at first focusing on film and acting and then branching out into game design. He was a lead actor in the Fall 2013 SMC production of J. M. Barrie's WWI play "The Old Lady Shows Her Medals." That production was chosen from 100s of school productions to perform at the Kennedy Center American College Theater program held in Los Angeles California. He continues to grow his treater experience by regularly performing with the Santa Monica-based Shakespeare troupe The Colonials. As of Summer 2014, recent film accomplishments include completing production as a principal actor in the feature film "Searching for Fortune" in Colorado. Along with actively pursuing acting and writing, Kripchak has also begun development of experimental web-series and game design projects.