Biography

Emmy Award winner Michael Swanson is a Hollywood TV studio executive, movie producer and theatre producer. He is also a visionary entrepreneur and president and CEO of the entertainment company, Faith Filmworks.

As senior vice president of production at Universal Studio Group, Michael is the studio executive responsible for the production of Universal Television’s Parks and Recreation, Hacks, The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Good Girls, Never Have I Ever, Community and Master of None.

Throughout his distinguished career in entertainment, Michael has produced movies to critical and audience acclaim including Albany Road, All About You, All About Us, For the Love of Ruth, To Hell and Back, Andraé Crouch: Making The Journey, Two Seasons, Notre Dame First Time Fans: Legacy, The Wayman Tisdale Story and Fannie.

On Broadway, Michael is involved with the Tony Award winning hit musical, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, the upcoming Hippest Trip - The Soul Train Musical and the first Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange’s groundbreaking choreopoem, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. This celebrated work garnered 7 Tony Award nominations, including Best Revival of a Play. Michael is currently developing and producing the Broadway and West End bound musical, I’ll Be There, about Motown’s Four Tops.

After attending Princeton Theological Seminary, Michael joined NBC's "Must See TV" national primetime sales team in New York City that sold commercial space for top-rated NBC shows including Seinfeld, ER, Friends, Frasier and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. This sales team became the first in broadcast television to book over $2.2 billion in upfront advertising revenue.

Earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in Film, Television and Theatre from the University of Notre Dame; Michael was chosen by the Notre Dame Alumni Association as The Rev. Arthur S. Harvey Award recipient, acknowledging his achievements in the arts. Michael serves on the board of directors for Wedgwood Circle, FEAST, Success Through Education Program and is a member of Notre Dame’s Performing Arts Advisory Council, the Coalition for Faith and Media and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. A South Side of Chicago native, Michael resides in Los Angeles with his wife, filmmaker Christine Swanson, and their four children.