Biography

Tyler Michaels King is a Twin Cities based theatermaker and is the Founding Artistic Director of Trademark Theater. As a director, performer, producer, and Artistic Director, Tyler has worked extensively in musical theater, physical theater and comedy, Shakespeare, and new works development.

Tyler has worked with the Guthrie Theater, The Ordway, Children's Theater Company, Hennepin Theater Trust, Theatre Latte Da, History Theater, Chanhassen Dinner Theaters, Illusion Theater, Actors Theater of Minnesota, Minneapolis Musical Theatre, HUGE Theater, Artistry (Bloomington Civic Theatre), among others. Tyler has also created new works with Flying Foot Forum, Live Action Set, 7th House Theater, and many productions for the Minnesota Fringe Festival.

In 2017, Tyler launched Trademark Theater, a Twin Cities based theater company devoted to the creation, development, and production of new works. Since its founding, Trademark has produced six world premieres, commissioned nine new plays/musicals, and held numerous workshops and readings of works created, designed and performed by local artists.

Tyler is also a founding member of The Bearded Company, a long-form experimental improv troupe that performs weekly at HUGE Improv Theater and has been featured in comedy festivals and tours across the country.  

A critically acclaimed performer, Tyler was named “Artist of the Year” by City Pages, was awarded the 2014 Emerging Artist Ivey Award and a Mark Twain Prize for Comic Performance from the Kennedy Center National ACT Festival, and has contributed to two productions that won Ivey Awards for Overall Excellence in a Production. Tyler was also named Minneapolis' "Best Actor in a Musical" by Broadwayworld.com.

Tyler holds a Theater Arts degree from Minnesota State University Moorhead and studied at Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theater in Blue Lake, California.  He is also a proud member of the Actor's Equity Association, and SAG-AFTRA.

Reviews

"Did someone say “personality?” Wait till you get a load of Tyler Michaels as Freddy. [...] With his lovestruck balladeering on one of the slower-moving songs in the show, Freddy can be a bit of a bore, but the athletic Michaels makes “On the Street Where You Live” into a show-stopping comic highlight that recalls the loose-limbed clowning of Dick Van Dyke in the “Mary Poppins” movie."
     - Review of My Fair Lady by Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press

But an effect that we see at the beginning of “The Hollow” and again at the end — the Michaels Kings jump up but Olson cuts out the light before we see them land — feels like a metaphor for this show, which is an exciting leap into the unknown."
     - Review of The Hollow, Chris Hewitt, Star Tribune 

"Michaels is more than just a daredevil, though. His skills, charisma and determined ambition have propelled him into the forefront of Twin Cities musical theater."
     - Review of Cabaret, Graydon Royce, Star Tribune

“I want to see more shows like THE BOY AND ROBIN HOOD - exciting, creative, engaging, and bold.”
- Review of The Boy and Robin Hood, Jill Schaffer, Broadway World

“It felt like this elusive future of theater that we as theater artists have been wracking our minds about.”
- Review of Understood, Denzel Belin, Minnesota Playlist

The dancing is astonishing in its precision, breathtaking in its athleticism, and alluring in its seductiveness. There is a moment towards the end of the show where the movements of the dancers is so perfectly timed with a lighting effect that they actually appear to be levitating, it is one of several moments of actual awe that the evening afforded.
- Review of The Hollow, Rob Dunkelberger, Stages of MN

"...but here’s absolutely the best thing about Cabaret: Tyler Michaels.  Wow.  Michaels plays the Emcee with a combination of sweetness and nastiness, of innocence and delicious wickedness, with delightful smiling innuendo.  He’s tall, lean and handsome.  Well-muscled and acrobatic. [...] His performance is a star turn, really."
     - Review of Cabaret by John Olive, Howwastheshow.com

Resumes