Michael Van Orden

BIOGRAPHY

Michael Van Orden was born in Provo, Utah. Michael graduated with a BA in Media Arts at Brigham Young University where he studied filmmaking, his life's passion. While there he wrote and directed his capstone project, Spit, being accepted into various festivals.  He continued this passion for three years as a directing student in Chapman's Conservatory of Motion Pictures where he wrote and directed his graduate thesis film Being Doug. While attending school, Michael worked professionally for both narrative and documentary projects and has experience working on television programs, commercials, short films, and feature films. Through his time at Chapman University, Michael worked on the set of CSI, Las Vegas as Martha Coolidge's director's assistant for the filming of the episode Maid Man. He has traveled to Seoul, South Korea, and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso for filmmaking exchanges where he directed two separate short films. During his time at Chapman, Michael wrote and directed six short films, several of which have screened at various festivals around the country. In addition, Michael immersed himself in the school's television program, directing two pilots, one of which being, Called to Serve, written by Michael himself.