Mike Smith Rivera was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in Park Slope. At an early age, he frequently visited the United Nations where his mother worked as a radio producer for Latin America and began to mimic the various dialects.His formal acting training began at Berkeley Carroll where he played Willard in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. One year later, he transferred to Stuyvesant High School to satisfy his passion to play football and studied theatre with Forensics/Theatre teacher Julie Sheinman, performing in Pippin, Arsenic and Old Lace, and appeared annually in Sing.At Syracuse University, he completed the Drama program and began writing under the tutelage of Professor Emeritus, Gerardine Clark. In his junior year, he began street clowning, boxing, making short films, and participated in a workshop with Daniel Stein (then Artistic Director of the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre) which expanded his world view of theatre and the creative possibilities of the actor/creator.One year later, he was a Dell'Arte graduate and immersed himself in mainstream theatre while developing artistic projects through his residency with Chashama, where he received an NEA performance grant. This led him to create, direct, and perform shows in Macedonia, Croatia, and Slovenia. During this time, he taught Mask & Gesture at the Strasberg Institute.Upon returning to the U.S, he studied Buffon and Native American Clowning with Sue Morrison, and helped develop the Bouffon Glass Menajoree, which went on to be nominated for 5 New York Innovative Theatre Awards (winner, Outstanding Production of a Play). During this time, he met and fell in love with Kelly Anne Burns, his wife and frequent collaborator, and they began Burning Clown Productions (www.burningclown.tv), an award-winning production company that develops original works of film and theatre. Their recent Off-Off Broadway production of Eddie Antar's The Navigator received two Drama Desk nominations and 8 NYIT nominations (2 wins) and is slated to be produced Off-Broadway in 2013. Show less «