Michael Anthony, (born Michael Gould, Jr.) also known by the stage name Mike Bless, is an American actor, singer-songwriter, and former serviceman in the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

. He is known for appearing in TV series such as ''

Raising Dion ''Raising Dion'' is an American superhero drama streaming television series that premiered on October 4, 2019 on Netflix. It is based on the 2015 comic book and short film of the same name by Dennis Liu. In January 2020, Netflix renewed the ser ...

'', ''

Chicago Med ''Chicago Med'' is an American medical drama television series created by Dick Wolf and Matt Olmstead, and is the third installment of Wolf Entertainment's ''Chicago'' franchise. The series premiered on NBC on November 17, 2015. ''Chicago Med'' ...

'', ''Big 50 – The Delronda Hood Story'', and ''Ready to Love''.

Early life

Anthony was born in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

and was raised in Akron and

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. He eventually joined the military, achieving a rank of E-4/SRA in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

. He was security forces during

Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 at ...

Career

In 2008, Anthony entered

Slip-n-Slide Records Slip-N-Slide Records is an American record label, founded in 1994 by Ted Lucas. History Ted Lucas founded the label in 1994. Slip-n-Slide signed local rapper Trick Daddy Dollars in its early years; he debuted in 1997 with the locally popular albu ...

' "The Next Big Superstar" competition. He won the competition and was signed to a record deal under the stage name Mike Bless. As Mike Bless, he released the singles "Do It Like This" in 2009 and "Gone" in 2011. He also released a mixtape titled ''Mr. Make It Happen'' in 2009. Anthony began acting after doing production work on a film soundtrack. After meeting him, the film's director suggested him to audition for a role in the movie, which he was then cast in. Anthony was one of the contestants in the first season of

OWN Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

's reality television series ''Ready to Love'', which premiered in 2018. In 2020, Anthony guest-starred in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''Kings of Jo'burg'', which was created and produced by

Shona Ferguson Aaron Arthur Ferguson (30 April 197430 July 2021), professionally known as Shona Ferguson, was a Motswana actor based in South Africa, executive producer and co-founder of Ferguson Films, alongside his wife, Connie Ferguson. Early career Ferg ...

. Anthony was also cast in a lead role in the short film ''She Had to Ask'', which premiered on Allblk in the same year. Anthony was cast as Ricky in the

BET+ BET+ (pronounced "BET plus") is an over-the-top SVOD service operated by Tyler Perry Studios and the Paramount Streaming, a division of Paramount Global. The service was first announced on June 24, 2019 and launched on September 19, 2019. BET+ ...

original film ''Big 50 – The Delronda Hood Story'', which premiered in 2021. Anthony was also cast in a recurring role as Gary Stafford in ''

''. Other television series that Anthony has appeared in include ''

'', '' Greenleaf'', ''

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

'', ''

MacGyver Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot. In both po ...

'', ''

Black Lightning Black Lightning (Jefferson Pierce) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character, created by writer Tony Isabella and artist Trevor Von Eeden, first appeared in ''Black Lightning'' #1 (April 1977), during ...

'', and '' The Outsider''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

;Singles ;Mixtapes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Michael Living people Male actors from Akron, Ohio Year of birth missing (living people)