Michael Hamish Budd (born 2 July 1974) is an Australian film actor, director and producer. Budd is best known for playing Esmael, alongside Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) and Sigourney Weaver in The Cold Light of Day. The film also starred Bruce Willis.

Budd, an Australian filmmaker of African American descent, has achieved several vaguely notable milestones in his career. In 2012/13, he directed and produced "Love of My Life," a horror thriller in which he also starred alongside Peter O'Brien and Diarmid Heidenreich. The film premiered in the United States at the Mt. Hood Independent Film Festival in Oregon and won the Best Horror/Thriller award. Following its success, "Love of My Life" was released on Video on Demand with Gravitas Ventures.. 

Budd's second feature film, "Life of the Party," starring Christopher Kirby, completed filming in December 2016. It premiered in September 2018 at the Arena Cinelounge Sunset in Los Angeles. The screenplay, co-written by Budd, was recognized by the Oscars Foundation and included in the Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' permanent Core Collection. It premiered on the 14th of September 2018 at the Arena Cinelounge Sunset Los Angeles in the U.S. state of California.

Currently, Budd is working on his third feature film, a science fiction thriller titled "Enter Sanctum," starring Lara Robinson. The film is currently in post-production.

In 2020, Budd began shooting his fourth feature film, "Ruby's Choice," for the Glenn Family Foundation and the Sir Owen Glenn legacy, an Australian drama that explores the topic of dementia. The film stars Jane Seymour OBE and Jacqueline McKenzie, and 50% of the profits will be dedicated to dementia research. The production faced challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was eventually completed under strict guidelines in Windsor. "Ruby's Choice" premiered at Margaret River HEART for CinefestOZ in August 2021.

Career
In 1995, Michael Budd was a resident supporting artist in the Australian TV program Heartbreak High. Budd's initial break in Hollywood came in 2001 when the Wachowskis selected him as a body double and stand in for Laurence Fishburne in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. After 200 shoot days, the directors cast him in his own role as Zion Controller. In 2008 Budd starred a in a music video for roll deepcalled Moving in Circles which featuredGoldie. Budd studied Acting and Staging in London, where he was mentored under a second-generation Meisner tutor (Scott Williams) and the teachings of William Ball. After nearly three years with the conservatory, he graduated from the Meisner technique with the Impulse Company in 2010 he then went on to play on stage in works of Chekhov and Shakespeare and Mamet plays, in particular playing Othello in a shortened version of Othello in the Tristan Bate Theatre in London's West End.

In 2011 Mabrouk El Mechri cast Budd as Esmael in The Cold Light of Day, set and shot completely in Spain. He played a Mossad agent, with dialogue in both Hebrew and English.

On the 7th March 2022, Rubys Choice premiered in the  Santa Barbara, California at the 37th Santa Barbara International Film Festival where it was Nominee Best International Feature Film with Q&A Michael Budd Jane Seymour

On Wed, Oct 19th, and Thu, Oct 20th 2022, New Port Beach film festival  Ruby's Choice was (SOLD OUT) with positive reviews

Director credits

References

External links 

1974 births
Living people
Australian male film actors
Australian film directors
Australian film producers
Australian screenwriters
Mass media people from New South Wales