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Michael York      

Award-Winning Actor

With an impressive body of work on screen, stage, and television, Michael York retains the enthusiasm for the actor's life he first experienced while growing up in England. A member of Britain's National Youth Theatre, he studied English at Oxford University. As a professional actor, he joined Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company where he worked with Franco Zeffirelli who, in 1967, launched York's film career in The Taming of the Shrew. He also starred in Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet and Jesus of Nazareth. York's more than 60 other screen credits include memorable roles in Cabaret, Something for Everyone, The Three Musketeers, Logan's Run, The Island of Doctor Moreau, Murder on the Orient Express, and Fedora. He played in all three Austin Powers movies and in the two Omega Code films. His latest film is The Mill and the Cross.

York's television work includes The Forsyte Saga, Great Expectations, Space, The Far Country, The Heat of the Day, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. He has had guest appearances on The Simpsons and Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Among his Broadway credits are "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me," "Bent," "The Little Prince," "The Crucible," and Tennessee William's "Outcry." In addition, he has appeared at music festivals worldwide.

York's familiar voice is in constant demand, with over 70 audio book credits, many of them award-winning, including his recent CD Enoch Arden, which he has also performed internationally in concert. His autobiography Accidentally on Purpose was followed by A Shakespearean Actor Prepares and Dispatches from Armageddon. His new book is Are My Blinkers Showing?

A master thespian, Michael York has been awarded the Order of the British Empire, France's Ordre National des Arts et des Lettres, and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A lecturer on the arts, he delivers unique presentations that delve into the history of theatre and acting and serves as chairman of the California Youth Theatre, providing performing arts education for young people.

Speech Topics


Speak the Speech: Acting Shakespeare

An entertaining presentation about actors and acting from past to present and the most wonderful, challenging, and memorable characters they portrayed, many of which are excerpted by the classically trained York.

Adventures in Filmmaking: From Shakespeare to Austin Powers

Rogues & Vagabonds: A Lighthearted Look at Actors & Acting Through the Ages

"Rogues and vagabonds" - the term used in Elizabethan times to describe performers - is an entertainment about art and the profession of acting. This presentation has a British bias, concentrating on the theatre of the last five centuries and highlighting such luminaries as Burbage, Garrick, Siddons, Kean, Macready, Irving, and those latter-day titans Olivier and Gielgud. Extracts are taken from songs, poems, and novels as well as contemporary diaries, pamphlets, and documents. There is a lighthearted review of the critics' contribution as well as many personal anecdotes and an attempt to analyze what acting is, review its different styles, and celebrate some of its great moments.

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