Michael Cruz was born and raised in NYC, though he split his time between the US and Medellin, Colombia. After high school, he went to work at the Old Vic, the Globe, and the Battersea Arts Center in London, UK before living and traveling through India. He then became a volunteer high school teacher in Majuro, The Republic of the Marshall Islands where he co-directed a local translation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, produced and co-directed the country's first narrative feature film with the support of the United Nations, and help kick-start the first local TV programs produced and run entirely by local youth funded through various international banks and investors. He returned to the US to earn an MFA in Film Production from Chapman University, was mentored in screenwriting by Academy Award Winner David Ward, and began a career working for UK film financier Future Films and later premiere management and production company Circle of Confusion. Focusing his work in the crossover between the traditional entertainment industry and new media talent and distribution, Mike has gone on to co-produce the feature documentary Please Subscribe, serve as credited and UN-credited narrative and producing consultant on over a dozen native narrative series, helped build a YouTube audience of over 2.5 million subscribers and 300 million views, and been nominated for multiple Streamy and Webby Awards. He is Director of Digital Programming for The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirman's Skybound Entertainment where he is tasked with developing a wide variety of digitally native content.
