Michael D. Xavier was born Michael David Smith in Liverpool on the 27th of November 1977 and attended St Francis Xavier’s College in Woolton, Liverpool. His first stage performance was singing 'Walking In The Air' in front of his primary school at the age of about 9 and he says, "I was so nervous that I remember focusing on the clock at the back of the hall as I didn't want to make eye contact with anyone. My parents sat on the back row because they thought I'd be awful. They sit much closer these days! Then at Knutsford High School as a 15 year-old, he played the Teen Angel in their production of 'Grease'. Michael says, "I was a very sporty child and one winter I had a bad case of bronchitis and couldn't play football – I couldn't run a few yards without being completely out of breath, so I had to give it up until my lungs repaired. During that time, my school were auditioning for roles in their production of 'Grease' and my friend Wil Mainwaring knew I could sing, so convinced me to audition. I did extensive breathing exercises daily to strengthen my lungs and subsequently auditioned for the show and got two roles, Teen Angel and Vince Fontain. From the first day of rehearsals I was hooked." Ultimately he completed his professional acting training at the Manchester Metropolitan University in 1999 and his first job out of College was working as a singer and compere with Robbie Williams' father Pete Conway at a luxury hotel. "The sound system crashed on the first night and the boss pushed me out on stage and said 'say something'. I had no jokes up my sleeve and so I wandered around asking where people had come from."
Michael forged an accomplished career in musicals once graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University but his journey to the West End was an incredibly unorthodox one! Having studied as an actor, and not Musical Theatre, he came to London with a crazy idea that someone would 'discover' him. Having no money at all he grabbed two jobs as soon as he got there - one in a call centre and the evening spent working behind a bar in Covent Garden to earn enough to pay his rent. Luckily he managed to get an afternoon off from the call centre and went to an open audition, as he didn't have an agent, for a fringe production of 'Pageant' (2000) by Bill Russell. Bill took a chance on him and cast him in the show there and this production transferred from the tiny pub theatre called the King's Head in Islington to The Vaudeville Theatre in the West End. So he landed his first West End job without an agent or a clue! He says "I've enjoyed every job I've done since starting professionally in 1999. Highlights range from my first West End job in 'Pageant' to singing 'On The Street Where You Live' in 'My Fair Lady' (2003) at Drury Lane in front of the Queen (who he later met and chatted to).
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| On stage with Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard |
Michael is also a well known leading man in the theatre scene and has worked in lead roles on stage in the United Kingdom and the
United States of America for over 20 years and has been nominated twice for the Olivier Awards, for 'Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical', 'Cinderella's Prince/Wolf' in 'Into The Woods', and 'Best Actor in a Musical' as 'Oliver' in 'Love Story'. His performance in 'Sunset Boulevard' won the 2016 Broadway World UK/West End Award for 'Best Actor in a New Production of a Musical'. In 2013 he co-presented the Oliver Awards BBC Radio 2 Covent Garden Stage with Claudia Winkleman and the ITV Stage in 2014 with Myleene Klass. He has hosted the UK Theatre Awards in both 2013 and 2014. Notable productions in which
he has appeared include Joe Gillis in 'Sunset Boulevard' on Broadway, 'Prince of Broadway' with the theatre director and producer Harold Prince, and 20 years later Professor Henry Higgins in 'My Fair Lady', Raoul in 'The Phantom of the Opera' and Captain von Trapp in 'The Sound of Music'. His theatre credits also include: Shakespeare’s 'The Wars of the Roses', 'Show Boat', 'Assassins', 'The Pajama Game', 'Spamalot!', 'Soho Cinders', 'Sweet Charity',' Hello Dolly!', 'Wonderful Town', 'Oklahoma!', 'Mamma Mia!', 'Miss Saigon' and 'The Mikado' amongst others. He has said, "My favourite experience has to be working opposite Glenn Close in 'Sunset Boulevard' in the West End and then on Broadway," and says that led to the aforementioned Broadway World Award, "That changed my life."
Film roles include the hilarious, original, and highly quirky short film 'Gnomeland' (2013) and the action thriller written and directed by Howard J. Ford 'Never Let Go' (2015), before appearing on TV in the series 'The Blacklist' (2019). There then followed 3 episodes playing Lieutenant Hamilton Knox in 'Outlander' (2020) a costume period drama set in the Second World War followed by playing Dr Steph Belcombe in 3 episodes of 'Gentleman Jack' (2019-22).
Michael is also very enthusiastic about the weekly Musical Theatre school in London, MX Masterclass, which is how the performing arts school is known as today. Michael says, "I originally set up West End Masterclass, as it was known at first, with my ex-partner as initially we realised we had a lot to offer. Over time it’s become not only a passion project, but I’ve made it part of my mission to help young performers to not only get better at the three disciplines of musical theatre – singing, acting and dancing – but to grow into confident, kind, compassionate humans who are team players. After all, being part of a theatrical production is about being part of a team."
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2025/03/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians.html
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