Michael Rosenbaum

Michael Rosenbaum
Rosenbaum in 2022
Born (1972-07-11) July 11, 1972 (age 51)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
  • writer
  • podcaster
  • musician
Years active1997–present

Michael Rosenbaum (born July 11, 1972) is an American actor and podcaster. He is known for portraying Lex Luthor on the series Smallville, a role that TV Guide included in their 2013 list of "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time".

Rosenbaum is also known for portraying Martinex in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Parker in Urban Legend, Adam/Adina in Sorority Boys and Dutch Nilbog on Fox's Breaking In. He also has an extensive voiceover career in animation, such as his role of Wally West / The Flash in the DC Animated Universe series Justice League (2001–2004) and its sequel Justice League Unlimited (2004–2006). Between 2015 and 2016, he played the lead role in the TV Land comedy series Impastor.

He is also the lead singer of the band Sun Spin with his friend Rob Danson. The band's first album, Best Days was released on February 9, 2021.

Early life

Rosenbaum was born in Oceanside, New York and raised in Newburgh, Indiana. His mother, Julie (née Eckstein), is a writer and his father, Mark Rosenbaum, worked in pharmaceuticals. He is one of six children with two brothers, and a sister. After his parents' divorce, his mother remarried sports reporter Gordon Engelhardt, and his father remarried Alexis Pelegrino, with whom he had two daughters, Rosenbaum's half-sisters. His uncle is pet behaviorist Warren Eckstein. Rosenbaum is Jewish, and says he was "closer to religion" in New York than in Indiana.

Rosenbaum graduated from Castle High School in Newburgh, Indiana and from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky with a degree in theatre arts. Immediately after, he moved to New York City to pursue an acting career.

Career

In 2001, Rosenbaum received a Saturn Award for his portrayal of Lex Luthor on Smallville. Continuing in the superhero genre, he played Wally West (a.k.a. the Flash) in the DC Comics animated series Justice League, Static Shock, and Justice League Unlimited as well as portraying a younger version of Wally West as Kid Flash in Teen Titans. In the third season Justice League Unlimited episode "The Great Brain Robbery", Rosenbaum reprised his role as Lex Luthor when Wally and Lex Luthor temporarily switched bodies. In February 2008, Rosenbaum confirmed that he would be leaving Smallville after the seventh season. After many months of speculation and him first turning down the contract to return, it was announced on February 11, 2011 that Rosenbaum would return to Smallville for the two-hour series finale, which aired on May 13, 2011, with Rosenbaum reprising his role as Lex Luthor.

In 2012, Rosenbaum appeared in Hit and Run, a film he made with his friends Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell. Michael portrayed the character Gil, a jealous ex-boyfriend from Annie's (Bell's character) past.[better source needed]

Rosenbaum does impressions including Christopher Walken, Keanu Reeves, Rodney Dangerfield, Dudley Moore, John Malkovich, Harry Caray, and Kevin Spacey. The makers of the DCAU have had Rosenbaum do his Walken voice for Ghoul in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and his Spacey voice for Deadshot; Spacey coincidentally portrayed Lex Luthor in the film Superman Returns, and Walken played Max Shreck in Batman Returns.[citation needed] Rosenbaum filmed the original SyFy comedy series Saved By Zeroes; yet was never picked up. He recurred in Fox's original sitcom Breaking In; the show was cancelled initially after the first season but got a second chance, and Rosenbaum was promoted to series regular. The series was cancelled again after a few episodes of the second season.

In 2014, Rosenbaum made his feature-film directorial and writing debut with the comedy Back in the Day, starring as an actor who returns to his hometown in Indiana for a class reunion. The film was filmed in Newburgh and Evansville, Indiana. Prior to the production of Back in the Day, Rosenbaum planned to direct another comedy film, titled Sorry is For Sissies. The film had a cast including Jon Heder, Colin Hanks and Jennifer Love Hewitt; however, at least half of the film's budget was lost, and the film was scrapped.

On June 17, 2014, Rosenbaum was cast as the lead in the TV Land original sitcom Impastor. The plot has been summarised as a "low-life who hides out in a small town by conning the residents into thinking he is their newly hired gay pastor".

In 2017, Rosenbaum served as narrator for the reality television show Hunted which pitted investigators against teams of ordinary citizens trying to evade capture as fugitives. Rosenbaum also starred in the Indie thriller "The Neighbor" opposite William Fichtner.

In 2018, Rosenbaum debuted his casual celebrity interview-based podcast called Inside of You. His first guest was his Smallville co-star Tom Welling. The two have launched a podcast Talkville, where they re-watch every episode of Smallville in July 2022.

On August 5, 2022, Rosenbaum confirmed that he would reprise the role of Martinex in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in May 2023.

On January 6, 2023, Rosenbaum's band Sun Spin released their second album, Never Is What it Is.

It was announced in August, 2023 that Rosenbaum and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) will be starring and executive producing the new series "SCARED" with DASH Entertainment. Release date is scheduled for early 2024.

Filmography

Michael Rosenbaum at GalaxyCon Richmond in 2020

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1997 The Devil & the Angel The Devil
1997 The Day I Ran Into All My Ex Boyfriends Bart
1997 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil George Tucker
1998 1999 Brick
1998 Urban Legend Parker Riley
2000 Eyeball Eddie Skelley Short film
2000 Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker Ghoul Voice
2001 Sweet November Brandon, Brandy
2001 Rave Macbeth Marcus
2002 Poolhall Junkies Danny
2002 Sorority Boys Adam, Adina
2003 Special Fred Molinski
2003 Bringing Down the House Todd Gendler
2005 Cursed Kyle Uncredited
2005 Racing Stripes Ruffshodd Voice
2007 Cutlass Background Extra #2 Short film
2007 Kickin' It Old Skool Kip
2007 Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight Tanis Half-Elven Voice
2008 Shear Love Short film
2010 Father of Invention Eddie
2010 Catch .44 Brandon
2010 Ghild Brauly Gullivan Short film
2012 Justice League: Doom Barry Allen / Flash Voice
2012 Hit and Run Gil Rathbinn
2014 Back in the Day Jim Owens Also director, writer, and executive producer
2015 Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Drift Leader Voice
2017 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Martinex T/Naga
2018 The Neighbor Scott
2020 DC Showcase: The Phantom Stranger Seth Voice
2023 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Martinex

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1998 The Tom Show Jonathan Summers Episode: "The Talk"
1999 Rocket Power Sports Announcer Voice, episode: "Super McVariel 900/Loss of Squid"
1999–2000 Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane Jack Cooper Main cast, 24 episodes
1999–2001 Batman Beyond Ollie, Carter Wilson / Terminal, Wendell, Carl, Agent West Voice, 6 episodes
2000 The Wild Thornberrys Tom Ravenhearst Voice, episode: "A Shaky Foundation"
2000–2004 Static Shock Trapper, Flash Voice, 5 episodes
2001–2008, 2011 Smallville Lex Luthor 154 episodes
Main cast (Seasons 1–7)
Special guest (Season 10)
Directed the 125th episode "Freak"
Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television (2002)
SFX Award for Best Newcomer (2003)
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television (2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006)
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series Drama (2003)
Nominated – Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Sidekick (2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009)
2006 Ultraman Tiga Evil Tiga Voice
2001–2002 The Zeta Project Agent West Voice, recurring role
2001–2004 Justice League Wally West / Flash, Deadshot Voice, main role
2003 Player$ Himself Episode: "Charlie's Angels"
2004–2005 Jackie Chan Adventures Drago Voice
11 episodes
2004–2006 Justice League Unlimited Wally West / Flash, Deadshot, Ghoul Voice, recurring role
2005–2006 Teen Titans Kid Flash Voice, 2 episodes
2005 It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Colin Episode: "Gun Fever"
2008 PG Porn Charlie Brown 2 episodes
2009 Untitled Family Pilot Derek
Batman: The Brave and the Bold Deadman Voice, episode: "Dawn of the Dead Man!"
2011–2012 Breaking In Dutch Nilbog 8 episodes
2015–2016 Impastor Buddy Dobbs Lead role
2017 Hunted Narrator 7 episodes
2017 Typical Rick Mark Episode: "Mr. Gaber"
2019 Robot Chicken Westley Voice, episode: "Musya Shakhtyorov in: Honeyboogers"

Video games

Year Title Role
2003 Gladius Valens
2006 Yakuza Akira Nishikiyama
2008 Dark Sector Hayden Tenno
2012 Lollipop Chainsaw Nick Carlyle
2013 Infinite Crisis Barry Allen / Flash
2015 Batman: Arkham Knight Johnny Charisma
2016 Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness Christophe
2018 Lego DC Super-Villains Barry Allen / Flash

This page was last updated at 2023-10-19 19:45 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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