Michael Torontow

Michael Torontow is a Canadian actor, singer, and director whose work spans musical theatre performance and artistic leadership. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he attended Bell High School, where a role as Joseph in a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat prompted him to pursue acting professionally. He later earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and a Certificate in Arts Administration from the University of Ottawa.

Torontow launched his professional career in 2001 as a member of the ensemble and understudy for the role of Sky in the first North American tour of Mamma Mia!, the production through which he is credited with a Broadway appearance. Three years later, he took on the role of Link Larkin in the first Canadian production of Hairspray, which ran at the Princess of Wales Theatre from April to November 2004. He subsequently joined the ensemble of the first Canadian production of Dirty Dancing, which opened at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in July 2007.

His association with The Light in the Piazza spans two productions. In 2010, he played Giuseppe Naccarelli in a Toronto staging presented by the Musical Stage Company and the Canadian Stage Company, then reprised the role in 2016 at the Max Bell Theatre, earning a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical at the 2016 Calgary Theatre Critics Awards.

Torontow performed Every Brilliant Thing, a one-man show written by Duncan Macmillan, in a Talk is Free Theatre production that originated at the Five Points Theatre in Barrie before transferring to the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. A subsequent presentation at the 2020 Adelaide Fringe Festival won the BankSA Best Theatre and Physical Theatre award.

Since 2019, Torontow has served as an artistic director of Talk is Free Theatre, a professional company based in Barrie, Ontario, that produces work across Canada and internationally. In 2021, he directed a TIFT production of Into the Woods, performed in Barrie and at the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto, which earned him a nomination for Best Direction at the 2022 Dora Awards. That same year, he starred as the title character in TIFT's production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a performance that brought him a Dora Award nomination for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role in a Musical.

In 2023, Torontow played Kevin J. and other roles in a production of Come from Away staged in Gander, Newfoundland, the setting of the musical itself. He returned to the production in the summer of 2024, this time performing the role of Kevin T. and others. He is also part of the original Canadian production of Titanique, playing Cal, which premiered at the Segal Centre in Montreal in late 2024 before transferring to the CAA Theatre in Toronto.