Michael Ryan Lawrence

Michael Ryan Lawrence, (born May 15, 1976 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American filmmaker, writer/director. He is also the founder of Philly Philms, a California based film production company producing short films and music videos.

Filmography

"LOST DOG"- A short film about a man and his hot dog. Written and directed by Michael as his first film at The Los Angeles Film School.

"TIME TO STAND UP" - Written and directed by Michael Ryan Lawrence, Time To Stand Up is the story of a hopeful Comedian, whose dead-end office job motivates his day dreams to create an opposite perfect day.

"SUPER-8" - Directed by Michael Ryan Lawrence, written by himself and Lindsey Washburn. Super-8 is the story of SUPER-8, a superhero whose good work lies in the hopes of protecting the world from its bad movies. When Super-8's life crashes into the life of a regular guy, he unconsciously creates his anti-hero SUPER-FAKE who with a Super-8 uniform of his own, begins to undo the good work of SUPER-8 in hysterical fashion.

"JACK IN THE BOX" - Written and directed by Michael Ryan Lawrence, is a story of Trey Murphy, a film student whom Hollywood continues to turn down his thesis script. In a last ditch effort to make his movie and get into some film festivals, Trey and his classmates kidnap Jack Nicholson in hopes of convincing him to star in his thesis film. The Los Angeles Lakers playoff game the following night is more than enough motivation for Jack to help, so long as they let him out of the box they're keeping him in.

Acting Career

Michael's acting work includes commercials for Konami, Silent Scope and Sprint Nextel

Michael was also the body double for Jonathan Silverman on CBS Close to Home (TV series) a successful prime time drama.

Michael has appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in Jimmy's first season on ABC. Michael, pulled from the audience and brought to the couch, made three telephone crank calls live on the show. Afterward, Jimmy offered Michael "on-air" a job with Jimmy's new Comedy Central show "Crank Yankers". Due to subsequent canceling of Crank Yankers, his crank calls never were televised.

Michael has also appeared in numerous television shows as a background actor.

Personal Life

Michael Ryan Lawrence grew up in Philadelphia, the son of Joni and William. Michael was also raised by Maryann, William's second wife, in the Bridesburg section of Philadelphia. He has three siblings, all brothers. His older brother, Robert Drake, a Philadelphia DJ on WXPN as well as a DJ for Philly's Sex Dwarf, is related to Michael from their mother Joni's first marriage. Thenafter Joni and William divorced, William remarried Mary Ann and had two children, Joseph and William. They are related to Michael from the same father but different mothers. This makes Robert, and William and Joseph, actual blood brothers to Michael, yet William and Joseph have zero blood relation to Robert due to no common parents so therefore are unrelated to each other, at least by blood.

Michael attended 7 different schools before high school at Northeast Catholic, Michael graduated in 1994 and enrolled at Penn State University from 1994-1996 as a Journalism major and Broadcast Cable/TV minor. He left Penn State in 1996 after his sophomore year and returned to Philadelphia.

Military Career

Michael enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on November 17, 1997. and graduated from Marine boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina in January of 1998. [vetrecs.archives.gov] After graduating from the Marine Combat Training at United States Marine Corps School of Infantry in Camp Lejeune, he went to FAA Air Traffic Controller school at NAS Pensecola, eventually graduating with honors and moved to Jacksonville North Carolina where he became the RADAR watch supervisor of Marine Corps Air Station New River and air traffic control operations.

In an isolated incident during the 1999 air show at MCAS New River, Michael "talked" down a civilian pilot in a no-fuel/bad weather situation using a military P.A.R. approach. With no P.A.R. computers on board the aircraft, Michael relayed instructions verbally to the pilot as a last resort to land him safely. After the landing, Michael was decorated with a Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal for his help in saving the aircraft, its crew and passengers and won the Air Traffic Controller of the year award for the same period. [RotoVue Newspaper article]

After 3 years at MCAS New River, Michael was deployed overseas to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, Japan where he transfered from a radar controller to the tower, eventually becoming certified on ground control, flight planning and local control, qualifying him for his first FAA Control Tower Operator license. [FAA Air Traffic Controllers rank and rates]

Michael served under Operation Enduring Freedom [vetrecs.archives.gov] and was awarded a combat ribbon for F/A-18 Hornet support for the Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF-A) missions beginning on October 7, 2001. He was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps as a Non-Commissioned Officer in 2002.

Film Education

After his honorable discharge from the Marine Corps, Michael went back to bar tending in Philadelphia, eventually moving out to Hollywood, California with long time friend and actor John Wister. After gaining residency in the state of California, Michael used the Montgomery G.I. Bill and attended Santa Monica College film program, graduating in 2007 with a degree in film theory. He then transfered to The Los Angeles Film School as a directing and cinematography major with a minor in film editing.

Michael currently resides in Hollywood, California and is working as a director/cinematographer on various short films.

External links

*imdb name|2790942