Blake Michael (born July 31, 1996) is an American actor, businessman, and journalist. He played Charlie Delgado in the Disney Channel original movie Lemonade Mouth (2011) and Tyler James in the Disney Channel series Dog with a Blog (2012–2015), which won him the Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Television Series. For directing the short film Notes of Hers (2013), he won the Audience Choice Award from the Red Rock Film Festival.

Blake Michael
Michael in 2015
Born (1996-07-31) July 31, 1996 (age 28)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • businessman
  • journalist
Years active2004–present

As of August 2024, his last role was in a 2019 episode of What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage, choosing to focus on other endeavours. In 2021, Michael became the Chief Evangelist of Lumanu, a social media management company aimed at helping online creators manage their brand and business, and began writing for Forbes as a marketing expert and business analyst.

Life and career

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Michael was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and is of Puerto Rican and Russian Jewish descent.[2] Michael's career as a child actor began at the age of three, when he started booking print ad jobs. Michael enrolled at the Company Acting Studio in Atlanta at the age of five, and was discovered by a talent agent when he was six.[3] His first commercial role was for Bojangles' Famous Chicken, alongside NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme. At age ten, he was chosen to host of a series of four commercials for Hasbro Toys that would air on Cartoon Network. After the ad campaign, Cartoon Network invited Michael to present and host his own show on the network, which culminated in two shows named Fried Dynamite, which aired on Fridays, and Dynamite Action Squad! on Saturdays.[4]

In May 2010, Blake appeared in No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School and later joined with the film's star, country singer Celeste Kellogg, to create and sing a duet titled "Looking In Your Eyes".[5] He made a small cameo in Kellogg's music video "My Jeans".[6] In June 2010, he was discovered in an open casting call and was cast in a co-lead role as Charlie Delgado in the Disney Channel made-for-TV movie musical Lemonade Mouth.[7] Michael later called this role the one that "catapulted his career" and "helped him gain an audience".[8] Soon after, Disney approached Michael and asked him to read for a role on an upcoming sitcom.[9] Michael later accepted the role as Tyler James in the Disney Channel sitcom Dog with a Blog, who he portrayed from 2012 to 2015.[10]

As a director, Michael directed the short film Anonymous in 2011, and Notes of Hers in 2013, the latter of which was featured at the Toronto Student Film Festival, and won the Audience Choice Award at the Red Rock Film Festival.[11][3] In 2015, he appeared as Chase in the Lifetime television movie I Killed My BFF.[12] In 2018, he voiced Curtis in eight episodes of Voltron: Legendary Defender.[13] In 2019, he was featured as Pete in Princess of the Row, which premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival.[14]

In 2021, Michael joined the board of directors of Lumanu, a social media management company, as the Chief Evangelist.[15] He was inspired to help other creators elevate their social status on the internet instead of following what he called the "traditional Hollywood film route", using experience he gained from becoming one of the first and youngest people to be officially partnered with YouTube from a young age.[16] He also began writing for Forbes as a marketing expert, and to promote Lumanu's services, that same year.[17]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2004 Chosen Restaurant Patron
2008 Elephant Juice Jim Short film
2009 Magellan Austin Brewer
2010 No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School Zach
2011 The Mortician Street Kid
Living with N.A.D.S.: The Jimmy Epson Story Jimmy Epson Short film
2016 Mostly Ghostly: One Night in Doom House Nicky
2017 The Student Vance Van Sickle
2019 Princess of the Row Pete

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2007 October Road Young Ronny Episode: "Pilot"[18]
2008 Out of Jimmy's Head Stop Light Kid Episode: "Bad Fad"
2011 Lemonade Mouth Charlie Delgado Television film[19]
2012 True Blood Teenage Alcide Herveaux Episode: "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"[20]
2012–2015 Dog with a Blog Tyler James Main role[10]
2013 Melissa & Joey Archer Adams Episode: "Inside Job"[18]
2015 I Killed My BFF Chase Television film[12]
2018 Voltron: Legendary Defender Curtis (voice) Recurring role; 8 episodes[13]
2019 What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage Corey Episode: "Havenbrook"

Director

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Year Title Notes
2011 Anonymous Short film
2013 Notes of Hers

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
2013 Young Artist Award Best Leading Young Actor in a Television Series Dog with a Blog Won [21]
Red Rock Film Festival Audience Choice Award Notes of Hers Won [11]

References

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  1. ^ Blake Michael [@BlakeMichael14] (July 31, 2021). "Now I'm 25" (Tweet). Retrieved May 16, 2022 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Blake Michael [@BlakeMichael14] (January 31, 2014). "I'm part Russian (" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. ^ a b "7th Annual RED ROCK FILM FESTIVAL GUIDE". Red Rock Film Festival Guide: 20–21. October 30, 2013 – via Issuu.
  4. ^ "Bio – Blake Michael". Blake Michael Official Website. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
  5. ^ CELESTE KELLOGG "Looking in Your Eyes" Official Vid with BLAKE MICHAEL! (Music video). January 31, 2011.
  6. ^ Celeste Kellogg - My Jeans (Official Music Video) (Music video). September 18, 2009.
  7. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (August 4, 2010). "Disney Channel Casts Its Next Big Musical". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  8. ^ Michael, Blake (March 28, 2022). "Creators: How To Turn Your Online Presence Into A Real-World Business". Forbes. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  9. ^ Blake Michael [@blakemichael14] (October 12, 2021). "Out of the blue Disney came to me and had me read for what was then a show with a title I almost turned down. "Dog with a Blog"" – via Instagram.
  10. ^ a b Jethro Nededog (April 13, 2012). "Disney Channel Announces Series Pickup for 'Dog With a Blog'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  11. ^ a b "Red Rock Film Festival, Utah, USA (2013)". IMDb. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  12. ^ a b "I Killed My BFF". Lifetime. Archived from the original on June 12, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  13. ^ a b "Voltron: Legendary Defender (2016)". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  14. ^ Emerson, Andrew (March 23, 2019). "Princess of the Row". Film Threat. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  15. ^ "Lumanu | About Us". Lumanu. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  16. ^ Tom Boyd (March 31, 2022). "Blake Michael: The future of how companies work with creators". Creators Are Brands (Podcast). Apple Podcasts. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  17. ^ "Blake Michael - Forbes Councils". Forbes. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  18. ^ a b "Blake Michael". Apple TV+. Apple. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  19. ^ Vena, Jocelyn (April 15, 2011). "'Lemonade Mouth' Stars Talk Possible Tour Plans". MTV. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  20. ^ Michael, Blake (September 21, 2012). "Blake Michael Interview - Variety's Power of Youth 2012" (video). ClevverTV. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  21. ^ "34th Annual Young Artist Awards". Young Artist Awards. Archived from the original on June 5, 2013. Retrieved May 5, 2013.
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