Michelle Danner
Michelle Danner is a film and stage director, an author, and a world-renowned acting coach. She has taught the Golden Box Acting workshops in South America, Europe, Canada, Dubai, New York, and Australia. It was her father, Alexander Valdez, who opened the very first William Morris Agency in Paris, France, that instilled a strong passion and work ethic that has stayed with her throughout her life.
Michelle has taught acting for the last 27 years and has worked with many A-list actors privately and on set including: Henry Cavill, Gerard Butler, Abigail Breslin, Zooey Deschanel, Penelope Cruz, Andy Garcia, Salma Hayek, James Franco, Seth Macfarlane, Michelle Rodriguez, Isla Fisher, Luke Wilson, Emily Van Camp, Donald Sutherland, Kyle MacLachlan, Mireille Enos, Taryn Manning, Ryan Phillippe, Chris Rock, Enrique Murciano, Josh Bowman and many others. Throughout the years she was voted the favorite acting coach by Backstage readers. She was brought in for her expert coaching on the WB show The Starlet and was featured with Andy Richter on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Michelle trained extensively in Paris and New York with Stella Adler and Uta Hagen.
She is the Founding Director of the Creative Center for the Arts (formerly known as the Edgemar Center for the Arts) and raised $1.3 million to construct the two theaters and the art gallery at the Center. At the opening ceremony, Steven Spielberg commented, " Here we have a venue that can turn out some extremely experienced, daring and resourceful artists." She served as Artistic Director of the Edgemar Center for the Arts for the last 20 years, now Creative Center for the Arts, and teaches ongoing classes at the Michelle Danner Studio and the Los Angeles Acting Conservatory.
Michelle has directed and acted in over thirty plays and musicals in New York and Los Angeles. Her favorite acting credits include Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo, which garnered critic picks and awards including best actress; House of Yes, Bright Ideas, Ibsen's Ghosts, and One White Crow.
Her highlights at Edgemar have been pioneering new works that include The Night of the Black Cat, a world premiere and winner of the 2005 Best Musical of the Year at the Los Angeles Music Awards, which had a revival as recently as 2016. She directed the world premiere of Mental the Musical, winner of several 17th Annual TicketHolder awards for acting and musical score. She wrote and directed the world premiere of You're on the Air, an improv based comedy which is in development to become a movie. She directed the west coast premiere of Hello Herman by John Buffalo Mailer and co-directed Jane Fonda in The Court of Public Opinion starring Academy Award and Golden Globe Nominee Anne Archer. The play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang won 5 Scenies, and StageSceneLA Awards, including for best actress in a Comedy for Michelle's portrayal of Sonia. Her acting film credits include playing the part of Alexandra, the psychic, in the feature film Ovation directed by Henry Jaglom as well as Mrs. Mack in Reach directed by Leif Rokesh.
Michelle also produced and acted in the award-winning short film Dos Corazones, which premiered at the Nashville Film Festival and went on to win Best Cinematography & Audience Favorite at the Malibu Film Festival. In 2006, she made her feature film directing debut How to go Out on a Date in Queens, with Jason Alexander, Esai Morales, Ron Perlman, Kimberly Williams, Rob Estes and Alison Eastwood.
Her second film Hello Herman starred Norman Reedus (AMC's The Walking Dead), Martha Higareda, and Garrett Backstrom. The film premiered at the Hollywood Film Festival and had its international premiere at the Monaco Charity Film Festival where it won the award for social relevance. It opened theatrically nationwide and was distributed by Warner Brothers.
The Bandit Hound, a family comedy starring Catherine Bell, Lou Ferrigno, Judd Nelson, Paul Sorvino, and Verne Troyer, was released in 2016. In 2017, Michelle shot Sigueme, a short documentary about Mariana Rizo, a transgender Mexican woman with a fascinating story to tell. The documentary premiered at the Cinema At The Edge Film Festival in 2018 and has since been shown in several prominent LGBT and Latin Film Festival all across the US, including Indianapolis LGBT, Tampa Bay Latin, and OutFest Fusion in Los Angeles.
Michelle's film, Bad Impulse, premiered in the US in December 2020 with a wonderful cast including Paul Sorvino, Sonya Walger, Grant Bowler, and Dan Lauria. Bad Impulse is a psychological thriller that successfully played at many film festivals, winning both Audience and Jury awards including: Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the Golden State Film Festival, Best Director for a Feature Film at the Culver City Film festival and Best Feature Film at the London International and Manhattan Film Festivals.
The next film that Michelle directed, The Runner starred Cameron Douglas, Elisabeth Rohm, Nadji Jeter, Eric Balfour, Kerri Medder, Jessica Amlee, and Edouard Phillipponnat. This was a very personal story about children getting lost in the war on drugs and paying the price for it. The Runner premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival in March 2021 and screened at the Houston WorldFest as well as internationally at the Ischia Global Film Festival, winning Best Independent Feature Film as well as best Cinematography at the Toronto Independent Film Festival and Best Director at the Vancouver Film Festival, Paris Play Festival, Milan Gold Award, and L'age d'Or International Arthouse Film Festival. Now the film is being released theatrically on August 19th and on demand on August 23rd by Saban Films.
She just wrapped principal photography on Miranda's Victim, the riveting true story of the creation of the Miranda Rights told from the perspective of the victim. Her courage that intersects with one crucial moment in history makes this incredibly timely and compelling. The film stars Abigail Breslin, Andy Garcia, Donald Sutherland, Luke Wilson, Ryan Phillippe, Emily VanCamp, Kyle MacLachlan, Mireille Enos, Josh Bowman, Enrique Murciano, Brent Sexton, Sebastian Quinn Taryn Manning, Nolan Gould, and Dan Lauria.
She is in development for her next projects Love in Retrograde, a modern romantic comedy, and The Italians, a family comedy drama.