Michael Gross

Michael Edward Gross, born on June 21, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American actor whose career spans television, film, and stage. He is the son of Virginia Ruth Gross, a telephone operator, and William Oscar Gross, a tool designer, and was raised Catholic alongside his younger sister, Mary, who later became a Saturday Night Live cast member and actress. The siblings are first cousins to actor Ron Masak. Gross attended St. Francis Xavier and St. Genevieve schools before graduating from Kelvyn Park High School on Chicago's north side in 1965. He earned a drama degree from the University of Illinois Chicago and subsequently completed a Master of Fine Arts at Yale University.

Gross made his Broadway debut in November 1979, originating the role of Greta in Martin Sherman's Bent. His stage work during this period earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play in 1980. His Broadway appearances, which spanned from 1979 to 2000, also included productions of Macbeth and The Philadelphia Story.

On television, Gross became widely recognized for portraying Steven Keaton on the NBC sitcom Family Ties, which ran from 1982 to 1989. His co-star Meredith Baxter, who played his wife Elyse Keaton on the series, shares his exact birth date of June 21, 1947. His longest-running role, however, has been survivalist Burt Gummer in the Tremors franchise, a character he played for thirty years beginning with the original Tremors in 1990 and concluding with Tremors: Shrieker Island in 2020. He is the only actor to have appeared in every film and the television series in that franchise. His performance in Tremors 3: Back to Perfection earned him a Best Actor award from the DVD Exclusive Awards.

Among his other television credits, Gross appeared on Boston Legal, How I Met Your Mother, Batman Beyond, ER, Parks and Recreation, Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, and Law and Order: Criminal Intent. From August 2008 to January 2009, he played River Baldwin on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. In 2000, he appeared on Spin City as a therapist to Michael J. Fox's character during Fox's final episodes as a series regular. In 1988, Gross portrayed a murderous bank robber in the television film In the Line of Duty: The F.B.I. Murders.

Gross has been married to casting director Elza Bergeron since June 2, 1984, and is the stepfather to her two children. Outside of his acting career, he is a dedicated railfan with an extensive collection of railroad antiques and pursues interests as an amateur railroad historian, photographer, and modeler. He was formerly a part-owner of the Santa Fe Southern Railway, a working railroad operating between Lamy and Santa Fe, New Mexico, which was once a branch line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. He has served as spokesman for the Model Railroad Industry Association's World's Greatest Hobby campaign and as a spokesperson for Operation Lifesaver, which promotes safety at railroad grade crossings. Since 2009, he has been the celebrity spokesman for the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, and hosts the museum's television network on YouTube. He is also a member of the Santa Fe Railway Historical Society and a fan of the Chicago Cubs baseball team.