Meet Michael Strauss | Actor, Producer, Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Strauss and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. -Rainer Maria Rilke

Rilke’s beautiful quote from “Letters To A Young Poet,” a book every artist should read, is not what you may expect when you think of an affirmation. But there’s something very sweet in a reassurance that not knowing the answers is actually a great place to be. I am a bit neurotic (a bit…haha) but I have tried very hard to find stillness and patience in presence. I am often trying to work out what others might say or think, or how events may unfold, even though I cannot possibly know what the future entails. I find that these words liberate me, coax me to acquiesce and trust the universe.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My career has taken many shapes. I am a storyteller and a student of theater. I believe that theater is a rite and celebration of life born from ritual and inhabited through festival and institution. In other words, we perform certain rituals intending to reap the benefits of their efficacy – but we create theater to both effect and entertain. As an actor, producer, director I try and make every experience somewhat significant. Not every monologue, YouTube video, or a short film will transform a life, but deep laughter can liberate a person from darkness. Isn’t that cool?

I just kept working at everything, acting in films and plays, producing, directing and starring in sketch comedy; and just by doing I have opened up the most opportunities for myself. Others have seen value in the things that I do. Once I made that decision, to keep creating and performing no matter what, accepting whatever future lies ahead, worlds of potential presented themselves before me. I am proud to say I am starting a new position as a producer at legendary comedy publication Cracked.

Brands and stories change and grow…but for now I am a not so serious man doing not so serious things. Which is quite comical and wonderful!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Whenever Im with a longtime friend in LA I like to hike, eat, and beach. Im one of those “bi-coastal” folks so I am sure to hit my favorite spots HARD! A quick trip to the Laurel Canyon Country Mart, where the 60’s legends got their coffee and groceries alike, before headed up to a secret spot in Fryman Canyon..which I will not disclose here for fear of losing another parking spot.

The bar at the Farmers Market on 3rd, Canter’s Deli, El Coyote, and Sake House on La Brea are my favorite haunts. Just eclectic enough to keep everyone happy. If I am not taking you there, we are getting a Guinness at Tom Bergins – the west coast alternative to my favorite bar of all time, McSoreley’s Old Ale House on the lower east side of Manhattan.

The beach is one of my favorite places to recharge. I prefer Leo Carrillo or any northern Malibu strip of sand.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I consider myself very lucky. My life is filled with incredible friends and family alike. I could say that I have paved many paths on my own, but I would be remiss if I didn’t attribute a little of my story to the music of Bruce Springsteen and a lot of encouragement from my mother. There are countless other earthly saints that have made an incredible impact on my life but just to name a few people, places, and things that bring me joy: The Kentucky Gentlemen, Stella Adler Studio of Acting, The Bucknell Bison Chips, Sunday Morning Digital, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Good Neighbor Stuff, Camp Starlight, Sony Pictures, Adam Sandler, the spot in Larchmont (you know the one), Big Sur, Canters Deli, the Redwood Forest, and the University Glee Club of New York.

Website: michaeljosephstrauss.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/airstrauss/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/airstrauss

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/cracked