Deadly Beauty: Horror’s Scream Queens and Rising Talent: Michelle Shields
“Michelle Shields is a young actress/model who is completely driven and focused with her career. Born and raised in the Chicago-land area, she has always had a passion for movies, film making and acting. From a young age it was obvious that she loved to entertain people and really enjoyed doing stand up and skits for family and friends. Throughout school, she received many awards for both her singing and acting abilities. After participating in all the school plays, she finally made her big screen debut at age 15 in ‘Timeserver’. It wasn’t long after that Michelle began professional training for her on screen acting career. She studied a variety of techniques from on screen to voice over and from scene study to improv.
Since then, she has been involved in many different kinds of projects from films to TV, to comic books to print. Because she takes her time when selecting projects to be a part of, she has a very impressive resume which includes major blockbusters like ‘The Dark Knight’ to the highly renowned ‘Frankenstein: Day of the Beast’. Along with feature films, Michelle has starred in a number of accredited short films such as ‘Slasher’, ‘Special Day’ and ‘Illusion’. She is also a core member of Comic Book Divas and has been featured in many of their books. She has received a lot of attention from fans, not only for her talent, but also for her sweet and sincere attitude. She is always in a great mood, ready to work, and professional in every regard.
Michelle frequently appears at conventions and public events all over the country to meet her supportive fans and showcase her projects. In addition, Michelle is continuing to further her education in the field of psychology. When she is not working or going to school, she enjoys one of her many hobbies that include comic book collecting, playing videos games, building models and, of course, watching movies.”*
Location: Home base for me is the Chicago-land area.
1. How did you get into the industry?
Well I have been acting all my life. I received first place in many competitions for my monologues and improve skits in school as well as stared in many of the classics we did like “Grease” and “Alice in Wonderland”. But even before I had opportunities like that, I entertained at home. From as early as I can remember I have always done whatever it took to make my family laugh from acting out movie scenes and musicals to doing voices to telling jokes. I have just always loved to make people laugh and entertain! I knew very early on, acting is what make me happy.
When I was sixteen my father saw a casting call for a local indie film so needless to say I was there with bells on… and my normal attire which included chains, a fishnet shirt, and red leopard pants lol! Needless to say I had no idea how to dress for an audition and they didn’t see me for the part I auditioned for. But they liked me so much they decided to write a character just for me! This made me more excited than I could have imagined. After that I met my soon to be good friend Robert D’Zar at a horror convention. He became a great mentor for me. I started taking acting lessons and doing more films. I never really thought growing up that I could really realize my dream of becoming an actress without just going straight to Hollywood but I was ecstatic to find out I could become an actress anywhere! I never thought I would be traveling around the country doing what I love and going to conventions to meet fans that I can share my passion with. For me, becoming a working actress is just a dream come true.
2. What Scream Queen inspired you most?
Growing up, I loved horror. I will always love horror, it’s just a huge part of who I am. I must have watched Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein like a thousand times by the age of five. I was always a fan of the classics. I loved the Universal monster movies and anything with Vincent Price. Carol Ohmart was the first actress I saw in a horror film (House on Hunted Hill to be exact) that felt very vulnerable, strong, and bad all at once. I really loved that. I loved that she wasn’t just some leading lady but had a lot of depth to her which I never really felt I got from the “damsel in distress” types. Jane Adams in House of Dracula was pretty inspiring simply because she was disfigured. Normally women in that time were always in some way glamorous and not put in roles like that but she proved to me that a woman could get her hands dirty and play something far from cookie cutter. And Elsa Lanchester as the Bride of Frankenstein just amazed me. She was a monster. The noises she made, body movement, and wide eyes made for one of the most interesting characters I had ever seen. Without even using words she was able to make you feel frightened, sad, uncomfortable, just a rush of emotions. And then to have her play Mary Shelly at the end was icing on the cake. She was so versatile, just like I wanted to be. I wanted to be that memorable character. I wanted to be more than just one dimensional female character.
But when it comes to the Scream Queen that influenced me the most, it has to be Linnea Quigley. “Return of the Living Dead”, which remains as one of my all time favorite movies to date, had everything I loved; horror, humor, and Linnea. When she came on the screen with this outfit and attitude unlike anything I had ever seen I just found myself drawn instantly. I not only wanted to be that character but I really just wanted to be her, lol! She was so unconventional and unbound. Linnea was my inspiration for my character in my first film. It seemed only fitting since she was one of the women that made me feel like it was possible for a woman to play outlandish characters like that. A few years ago I had the honor to co-star in the movie “Post Mortem America 2021” with her and that was just a childhood dream come true. She was amazing to work with and we have become great friends. I look to her as another mentor of mine and she continues to be the one that inspires me most.
3. What are the next couple projects you are working on?
I have several projects coming up, a couple I can mention right now are “Night of the Living Dead”, “Midnight Carnival”, and “Hells Little Angels”. I am also involved with Comic Book Divas as “The Face Of Comic Book Divas”. They have done several comic books featuring myself and plan on doing a few more very soon. I am also a model so I am booking new shoots all the time. I do a lot of guest appearances at conventions and other events, which I have some coming up. Anyone interested in where I will be can check out my website or look for updates on my official Facebook.
Official Website
IMDB Page
Official Facebook
*Bio Courtesy of www.themichelleshields.com
