Biography

A native of Key West, filmmaker Michael Baumgarten attended high school (and then film production classes) in Orlando, Florida. His first professional year in the biz was spent doing production assistant gigs on commercials, indie film projects, an MTV Spring Break special, and the studio movies "Oscar" starring Oscar winner Sylvester Stallone, Tim Curry, and Oscar winner Marisa Tomei; "Honey I Blew Up The Kid" starring Emmy winner Rick Moranis and Golden Globe winner Keri Russell; and "Problem Child 2" starring Golden Gobe winner John Ritter and Oscar nominee Jack Warden. Seeking bigger career challenges, Michael later moved to Los Angeles in 1995 where he did assistant director gigs, worked as an executive assistant for a Century City film finance company, and then held assistant to the producer positions on movies such as "Wedding Bell Blues" starring Paulina Porizkova, John Corbett, and Carla Gugino; and "Kiss Toledo Goodbye" starring Michael Rapaport, Oscar nominee Christopher Walken, Christine Taylor, and Oscar nominee Robert Forster. In the late 90's, Michael also devoted over 3 years to the theatrical distribution company Legacy Releasing where he served as the Director of Acquisitions. During his time with Legacy, Michael attended the Sundance Film Festival 3 times and participated in the theatrical release of over 30 motion pictures that included the drama "Digging To China" starring Emmy nominee Evan Rachel Wood and Golden Globe winner Kevin Bacon; the romance comedy/drama "The Only Thrill" starring Oscar winner Diane Keaton, Oscar nominee Sam Shepard, and Oscar nominee Diana Lane; the action film "Thursday" starring Golden Globe nominee Thomas Jane, Golden Globe nominee Aaron Eckhart, and Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke; and the inspirational boy and dog movie "Shiloh" starring Golden Globe nominee Scott Wilson, Emmy winner Michael Moriarity, and Oscar winner Rod Steiger.

With a decade of experience under his belt, Michael started writing and producing with the comedy/drama feature film "Hollywood Roomies" starring A. J. Buckley, Holly Fields, Jennifer Lyons, Stephen First, Joel Michaely, Dana Barron, and Lisa Brenner. Michael followed that up with 3 seasons of segment producing the hit show "MTV Taildaters" and moonlighted as a line producer on award-winning films such as "Exodus Fall" starring Jesse James, Devon Graye, Dee Wallace, and Golden Globe nominee Rosanna Arquette. Wanting to make a heartfelt boy and dog movie with a positive message, Michael wrote and produced the award-winning feature "Smitty" starring 2-time Oscar nominee Peter Fonda, Oscar winner Mira Sorvino, Oscar winner Louis Gossett, Jr., Gemini Award nominee Lolita Davidovich, and Jason London.

As a screenwriter, director, producer, Michael has directed 9 features from his screenplays. He is best known for writing and directing the award winning anti-bullying comedy/drama "The Martial Arts Kid" starring Don 'The Dragon' Wilson, Cynthia Rothrock, Jansen Panettiere, Kathryn Newton, Sydney Sweeney, and T.J. Storm; and the award-winning action-comedy "Paying Mr. McGetty" starring Burbank Intl. Film Festival Best Actor winner R. Marcus Taylor and Don 'The Dragon' Wilson. In 2025, Michael is set to direct his 10th film -- the family suspense film "Beyond the Crashing Waves." As a work-for-hire screenwriter, Michael wrote the screenplay for the LionsGate sci-fi/family film "The Adventures of Ari: My Robot Friend" (released in 2020). Looking ahead, Michael has ready-to-produce screenplays available that include the 1880's Montana western "The Key to the West," the teen crime drama "Suburban Gangstas," the sequel "The Martial Arts Kid 2: Payback," the buddy comedy "Man Campers," the female in danger drama "Star of the Show," the teen romantic comedy "My Social Media Nightmare," the drama and romance story "The Ingenue Palace," and the action-packed vampire trilogy (or streaming/TV series) "Blood Walkers."
- IMDb mini biography by: MB