Michael Mando

Early life

Mando was born in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. He was raised by his father, and is the middle child of three brothers. He is of Mexican Canadian descent. Their family frequently traveled, and lived in over 10 cities, across 4 continents, and in over 37 different homes, all before he reached his mid-twenties. His native language is French, and he also speaks English and Spanish fluently.

Mando was enrolled in many fields, including International Relations at the University of Montreal, before discovering the performing arts at The Dome Theatre Program (Dawson College) in 2004. Despite no prior training, Michael went on to play the male lead in all 5 productions at the program. He graduated with excellence in 2007. His Dome credits include, Orlando in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Professor Katz in David Edgar’s Pentecost and Valentine Xavier in Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending. Upon graduation, Steven W. Lecky, the Chairman of the program proudly stated Michael to be “one of the finest talents to emerge from the program in the past 25 years.”

Career

After playing the leading character in two award-winning professional theatre productions in Montreal, Mando promptly founded Red Barlo Productions. The company’s first film, Conditional Affection (which Mando starred in, directed and wrote) was released in 2010 and officially selected to Fantasia, Bare Bones, ACTRA Short Films, and the New Hope International Film Festivals.

Mando’s television debut simultaneously followed with a wide range of contrasting characters. His credits include guest appearances in the crime series The Bridge, the medical drama mini-series Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, as an MS-13 gang member in The Border, and as a close friend of the character Kenzi (played by Ksenia Solo) in the sci-fi series Lost Girl.

Mando has had repeated collaborations with directors John Fawcett and Eric Canuel as well as producer David Barlow. He had a starring role in the 2010 feature film Territories. In 2011, he had a recurring role in Les Bleus de Ramville and a guest appearance on the series King. In 2012, he featured in Far Cry 3 where he voiced and inspired one of the main villains: Vaas Montenegro, a vicious and twisted antagonist who arguably became the main face of the video game. He also starred in a webseries called "The Far Cry Experience" where he plays Vaas who captures and tortures a celebrity (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) who has been challenged to survive the island.

In 2012, Mando was cast in the first season of the science fiction television series. Orphan Black, which began airing in 2013. He played Vic, an abusive drug-dealer and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for his work on the series. He reprised his role of Vic in the second season in a recurring role. In 2014, Mando joined the cast of Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spin-off, portraying Nacho, a career criminal.

Personal life

Mando grew up wanting to be a writer or an athlete. In his mid-twenties he suffered a knee injury and consequently decided to change directions. He then pursued an academic scholarship at the University of Montreal in international relations, but shortly afterward decided to go into acting.