Michelle Bernard (actress)

Michelle Bernard, born and raised in Miami, Florida, is an American Actress and Writer. Michelle has been working in Hollywood since January 1999, from her first feature film role in Any Given Sunday working opposite Academy Award winners Al Pacino and Oliver Stone. After studying English Writing and Computer Science at Florida State University, Michelle moved back home to Miami to continue pursuing her passions for acting and modeling.

She currently has two recurring roles playing a Police Officer on Prime-time hit TV shows, 9-1-1 working opposite Angela Bassett and Peter Krause created by showrunner and executive producer Tim Minear and Ryan Murphy. She also worked on seasons 1 and 2 of The Rookie working opposite Nathan Fillion. She has also had roles in the TV shows such as Dads working with Giovanni Ribisi and Seth Green, Rake opposite Greg Kinnear, and Ironside opposite Blair Underwood. Michelle won an acting award in 2014 for her role-playing drug addict "Tori" in an American Film Institute film titled "Young Americans" which won numerous awards and accolades at the Milledgeville, GA Film Festival. Michelle has also photo-doubled for Julia Roberts for over 20 years and has worked with her on the Commercial and Ad Campaigns for Lancôme. She has also worked with famed photographers Annie Leibovitz, Robert Ashcroft and Robert Zuckerman, with appearances doing look-a-like work for Julia Roberts on The View.

Michelle has also been an active voting member of the prestigious Television Academy of Arts and Sciences, EMMYS, for over 10 years.

In addition to acting, Michelle has been writing in journals since December 1998, and is currently putting together her first novel, based on her Blog, "There's Always F**kin' Somethin'" and 48 hand-written journals.

Early life
Michelle was born in Miami, Florida, the youngest of 2 children from Michael Bernard, an electrical engineer and computer consultant for IBM, and Edie Grossman, a medical technologist and lab technician. Michelle started modeling on South Beach in Florida, when her uncle, who was an accountant, was doing the taxes for a modeling agency, "Runways," and the owner of the company, saw a picture of Michelle on her uncle's desk. Michelle booked her first model casting at age 15, for a runway show at The Fashion Mall in Plantation, with a special appearance by Beverly Hills, 90210 star Luke Perry Michelle continued to model throughout high school, and then continued in Tallahassee, Florida, where she studied at FSU. She won both Runway and Photo-shoot awards at a "Models of the South" competition in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina when she was only 22 years old. After college graduation, Michelle moved back home to continue pursuing her career in modeling and fashion. She signed with Mademoiselle Models where she booked print ads for Levi's Jeans and commercials for Dillard's Department Store. Through Casting Director Ed Arenas, Michelle auditioned for various commercials and print ads on South Beach, and eventually booked Any Given Sunday. Her first speaking role as an actor was working opposite Al Pacino and Jim Caviezel, directed by Oliver Stone. Michelle moved to New York in May 1999, to continue acting and modeling. Once she earned enough money to pay for her Screen Actors Guild Card, she began paying her dues working as a Background Actor on notable shows such as Sex and the City with Sarah Jessica Parker, Law & Order with Jerry Orbach and The Sopranos with James Gandolfini and Michael Imperioli, who became her first Acting Coach and teacher ever. Michelle worked with Michael for 6 months and accredits him to helping her make strong choices about character and back-story and knowing how to feel confident in the audition room.

In July 2003, Michelle moved to Hollywood, CA. There, Michelle studied at the highly respected Beverly Hills Playhouse under the direction of Milton Katselas, Allen Barton, and Art Cohan. She has also worked with Bobbie Chance at Expressions Unlimited and continued to perfect her craft at Improv at the famed Groundlings and The Second City Improv in Hollywood. Michelle created her own web series on YouTube called 'BackstageGirlsTV.' She starred, produced, directed, and edited this heartfelt project with working partner Stephanie Ann Saunders.

Michelle was honored to be a part the first run of the World Debut of the hilarious play entitled "Married People: A Comedy" which opened February 23, 2017, at The Zephyr Theater in Hollywood. The show broke all ticket sale records at the theater, selling out 14 out of 17 shows, with celebrities coming out to support the show, which also received 5-star rave reviews. The show was written by famed Stand-up Comedians Mark Schiff and Steve Shaffer, also starring comedic sitcom actor Andrew Lauer who played Michelle's husband in the show. Celebrities in attendance included Jerry Seinfeld, Lea Thompson, Mark Feuerstein, Amy Pietz, Teresa Ganzel and Paul Reiser.

Michelle has also turned 48 written journals into her "There's Always F**king Somethin" BLOG. Her first novel is currently being written.

Michelle is recurring on two Prime-time TV shows, and on two streaming services web-series. In March 2018, Michelle worked on her first episode of 9-1-1 on FOX under Ryan Murphy Productions. She plays the role of 'Officer Carol Branford.' This show can now be seen on its new network ABC on Thursday nights at 8:00pm, which started on March 14, 2024.

In February 2019, Michelle was first seen on The Rookie on ABC, which is executive produced and starring Nathan Fillion. She plays the role of 'Officer DeSantos.' This show can be seen on Tuesday nights at 9pm on ABC.

In October 2018, Michelle shot a web-series, DIRT, for BRAT Productions. Michelle played Randi Roach, a Mob Boss, whose son, River, was played by Social Media Star, Hunter Rowland. Executive Producers at BRAT brought Michelle to cross her character over to another show, "On the Ropes" centering around real life Light Weight Champion, Ryan Garcia, which began shooting in January 2019, and aired on the BRAT Channel in February 2019.

Living and working in Los Angeles for over 20 years, Michelle still travels to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and to New York working in film, television and commercials.