Michael McGlone - HE'S THE ONE! Actor, Musician, Writer ... A Phenominal Artist!
Laurie Wing
November 13, 2006
Michael McGlone – – a Phenomenal Artist!
Most of us know Michael McGlone from the movie, She’s the One (with Edward Burns, Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, Amanda Peet).
When I met Michael McGlone last year in New York City, I realized he’s someone who is incredibly talented not only as an actor but to my surprise, he is also a talented writer and a musician. And because Michael is a genuinely nice and well-balanced person, he is going places fast!
Michael is the One who knew very early on that he wanted to be on stage and in film as an actor. Here, the 34-year old Actor, Musician and Writer shared with me the details that led up to his successful career.
Michael McGlone wanted to write, sing and perform and be successful at all three. He did just that while remaining down-to-earth, balanced and very focused during his journey to express himself in so many ways in film, literature and music.
At age 13, while growing up with his family in the Northeast (New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania), Michael discovered his passion for poetry and writing. “Reading is as much a passion as writing.” he says. “Words, at last, are central to everything in my life. For the most part, in a film, book, song, it is for the goodness, to me, of the words that I will enjoy it or not. There are few things as magical and rewarding as a well shaped-thought because they shape other thoughts and they shape lives.” Thanks in part to his first literary hero, Edgar Allan Poe.
Michael McGlone's gift of writing inspired him to turn his ideas into a reality with his most recent novel "And All the Roses Dying", a story of Hell's Kitchen, 1952, which will have its first public reading by the author himself at the Somerville Writers Festival in Somerville, Mass. on November 12, 2006. Other books include CAL, Dice, and Hourigan's Song. It is not surprising that he is also the gifted author of numerous short stories, and several volumes of verse.
It seems age 13 was a year of discovery for Michael. Not only did he realize his talent for writing but he also discovered his desire to formally perform and he became more serious about pursuing this talent. He was cast in the show Peter Pan wearing tights, singing and dancing. He had such a marvelous time, and in retrospect, he was more consciously aware that he could be a performer. For McGlone’s 14th birthday, he was gifted with a new guitar and was soon on his way to writing songs and performing.
With a background in writing, music and performing, Michael, also managed to get a year of Arts School under his belt (the college environment didn't suit him) and took up a scene study class while looking for any and all the work he could find. He was thrilled with his first role, professionally speaking, on a soap opera playing a waiter. Having shot his scene and found out when it was airing, he told everyone of his upcoming appearance which, despite his great hopes, turned out to be limited the appendage of his left arm as he leaned in to serve one of the stars a glass of water. However, he poured that glass of water as exceptionally as any man could in his television acting debut.
The big break did not come easily for Michael. As an aspiring actor looking for work and trying to make ends meet, he was repeatedly fired from restaurants all over the city. He made sure he stored away food that would last him during even the most arduous lean times. The most memorable was a sixty pound bag of rice he bought, just in case. He could have fed four small villages but testament to the best laid plans, luckily, he never had to open it.
While emerging into the acting industry and starring in the hit films, The Brothers McMullen (Edward Burns) , She’s The One (Edward Burns), One Tough Cop (with Stephen Baldwin), The Bone Collector (with Denzel Washington), Hard Ball (with Keanu Reeves) and Dinner Rush (with Danny Aiello), Michael started pursuing his talent for music by playing in various clubs throughout New York City, most regularly, the Bitter End. Michael’s music speaks for itself. It is as real as real gets. He pours his heart into his music. It’s soul-absorbing, fresh, relaxing and it comes so natural to him.
When Michael was asked how it feels to perform in front of an audience, his response was, “One of the finest moments you can have is the feeling you get while standing before an audience who expressly came to see you. It fills you with two sensations: Gratitude and Happiness!” One night a member of the audience looked up to him on stage and asked, “When are you going to make a CD?” That question planted the seed for his next goal. Within the next six months, the ambitious McGlone did just that. He recorded his first album, Hero. It was self-produced and recorded over a furious but limited period of two days. For many reasons, it remains a very special album to him. Since then, McGlone has released yet another hit CD, To Be Down.
While Michael McGlone is very accomplished and an inspiration to many artists, here are just a few of the many life lessons he has picked up along the way:
For the aspiring musician who wants to get into the industry but doesn’t know where to start – Michael advice is, “Get out and play! Whenever, wherever you can. Be it in the Subway, the park, or at the Back Fence, or Bitter End...and don't listen to what people say about what you should write or how you should sound. Keep writing whatever you most want to write because it's only through doing that you'll discover what you most want to write.” And, in the words of Winston Churchill, "Never, never, never, never, never, never, never quit."
Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Leonard Cohen, Richard Burton, William Kennedy, John Irving, Charles Dickens, Ron Chernow are many of the long list of mentors who inspired Micheal's career. He was also inspired by anything he ever felt was good. As for fulfilling a dream, he says, “A dream is strictly yours. You follow your dreams because it's what you want out of life, independent of whatever anyone else has done. As an artist, too, of course, you believe no one can or will do it like you and the great ones are right about that.”
The 34 year old successful actor, writer and musician moved to New York City and has resided there for 15 years while he continues his career. His next Film, Dirty Work, will be released on DVD in November. It is a Chicago-based drama in which McGlone plays Frank Sullivan, an emerging politician who finds himself inexorably embroiled with the nefarious elements of Chicago's notorious Southside. The film also stars Lance Reddick of HBO's The Wire.
You can also catch McGlone reading from his novel "And All the Roses Dying..." at the Somerville News Writers Festival IV Sunday, November 12, starting at 7 p.m. at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway Theater located in Somerville, Mass.
For more information about Michael McGlone’s work and appearances, please visit his website at www.MichaelMcGlone.com.
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