Actor / Director Profile

At the age of 12, a talent agent scouted Michelle Krusiec in her hometown of Virginia Beach. She began formal training at the Virginia Governor's Magnet School for the Arts and graduated with a Theatre and English Degree from Virginia Tech in 1995. She completed additional studies on scholarship at Oxford and then found herself globe-trotting as the host of "Travelers" (1996) for the Discovery Channel, visiting over 50 destinations around the world. Krusiec has graced films such as Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Cursed (2005), Daddy Day Care (2003), and Duplex (2003), but her uncanny performance in Alice Wu's feature Saving Face (2004) caught the attention of critics from numerous publications, including the Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Slate Magazine, NY Post, and Washington Post. Michelle's performance opposite Joan Chen garnered Krusiec a coveted Golden Horse nomination for Best Actress. Inarguably recognized as the "Chinese" Academy Award, the Golden Horse awards have recognized and established talents such as Joan Chen, Maggie Cheung and Li Gong. She is one of the first Asian American actors to be recognized by these prestigious awards. In television, Michelle has made over 30 guest appearances (not including her own NBC series) on prime time hits such as "Grey's Anatomy" (2005), "Weeds" (2005), "Cold Case" (2003), "Without a Trace" (2002), "NCIS" (2003), "Monk" (2002), "ER" (1994), and HBO's dark comedy "The Mind of the Married Man" (2001). Krusiec's independent forays have premiered in festivals such as Sundance and the Toronto International film festival. In 2002, Michelle was invited to premiere her one-woman solo show, "Made in Taiwan," at the HBO Aspen Comedy festival. Hollywood Reporter named her one of the Top Ten Rising Stars. Recently, the Hollywood Reporter once again highlighted Michelle as part of their "Faces of Sundance" feature 2005.