Dorian DeMichele was raised in the small Village of Bannockburn, Illinois. Born into a musical family, she began acting, singing, dancing and putting on original plays before the age of seven. As a child, she portrayed Cinderella, Gretel, and Snow White on the stage and has since then performed in numerous theatrical productions. In the sixth grade she opened her own Dance Studio (transforming her parent’s basement) to teach local children Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Tap and Improvisation. At the age of thirteen, she received a scholarship to study classical ballet from the Lyric Opera of Chicago under the direction of Maria Tallchief. She appeared at Chicago’s Civic Opera House in Sergei Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges (Production Advisor: George Balanchine). She worked with The Player’s Workshop of the Second City of Chicago with Bob Odenkirk (Emmy award-winning writer for Saturday Night Live) and later in New York, while in the midst of negotiating a recording contract as a singer/songwriter, chose instead to immerse herself in South American culture courtesy of a Rotary Foundation grant.
Upon her return to New York, after living in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro for two years, she appeared on Kate & Allie (CBS) and John Landis' Coming to America starring Eddie Murphy. A member of the New York and Los Angeles Actor’s Gym, she worked with founder Bobby Moresco (Co-Producer of the film Million Dollar Baby and Producer/Screenwriter of the film Crash with Paul Haggis) as an actress and writer. Some of her works honed in that company were included in her full-length solo play, Statues from the Fountain which, while appearing in New York City, garnered favourable attention from legendary theatrical producers Joseph Papp and Arthur Cantor as well as the National Endowment for the Arts panel.
She fronted and was the lyricist for the Chicago-based rock band, Yahoo Thirst, whose debut CD Maté was noted for its provocative lyrics and edgy guitar and has sung with various Jazz, Latin, and Funk bands. Among other recordings, she recorded a dance/funk mix of her tribute to Miles Davis with Jephte Guillaume of Téte Kalé which she performed at The Blue Note in New York City.
She portrayed Alice in Alice in Wonderland (originally created by the Manhattan Project under the direction of André Gregory) and originated the role of Paula in The Big Plan Nine, the musical adapted from Ed Wood's notorious cult film classic, Plan 9 From Outer Space.
She continues to write and perform these character studies and is compiling and capturing these personas on film. She creates engaging characters, many of whom unwittingly and subtly reveal their foibles and humanity as they both confront and succumb to the inevitable revelation of their true selves. Conversant in numerous languages, she has performed some of her character vignettes in cross-cultural settings thus tapping into their universality. Her film work as an additional lyricist and singer in Alan Rudolph’s critically acclaimed film The Secret Lives of Dentists brought her closer to her longstanding affinity for the medium of film. The satirical and timely independent feature film Side Effects, in which she co-stars with Katherine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy), is currently available on DVD, bursting on the scene amid controversy involving pharmaceutical industry practices. Ms. DeMichele metaphorically refers to her character, Jacqueline, as the snake in the Garden of Eden.
