Michael Mando is a Canadian actor, writer, director and singer with a background in contemporary and classical theatre. He became known for his role as Vaas Montenegro, an antagonist in the video gameFar Cry 3, Victor "Vic" Schmidt in the science fiction series Orphan Black and Mac Gargan/Scorpion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Mando currently plays Nacho Varga on AMC's Better Call Saul.
Early life
Mando was born in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. He was raised by his father, and is the middle child of three brothers. Their family frequently travelled, living in more than 10 cities, across four continents and in more than 35 different homes; all before his mid-20s. His family is of Mexican descent. His native language is French, and he also speaks English and Spanish fluently. Mando was enrolled in many fields, including international relations, at the University of Montreal before discovering the performing arts at The Dome Theatre Program in 2004. Despite having no prior training, Michael went on to play the male lead in all five productions of the program. He graduated with excellence in 2007. His Dome credits include Orlando in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Professor Katz in David Edgar’s Pentecost, and Valentine Xavier in Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending. Upon graduation, Steven W. Lecky, the Chairman of the program, proudly stated Michael to be "one of the finest talents to emerge from the program in the past25 years."
Career
After playing the leading character in two award-winning professional theatre productions in Montreal, Mando founded Red Barlo Productions. The company’s first film, Conditional Affection was released in 2010 and officially selected to Fantasia, Bare Bones, ACTRA Short Films, and the New Hope International Film Festivals. Mando’s television debut simultaneously followed with a wide range of contrasting characters. His credits include guest appearances in the crime series The Bridge, the medical drama mini-series Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, as an MS-13 gang member in The Border, and as a close friend of the character Kenzi in the sci-fi series Lost Girl. Mando has had repeated collaborations with directors John Fawcett and Eric Canuel as well as producer David Barlow. He had a starring role in the 2010 feature film Territories. In 2011, he had a recurring role in Les Bleus de Ramville and a guest appearance on the series King. In 2012, he featured in Far Cry 3 where he voiced and inspired one of the main villains: Vaas Montenegro, a vicious and twisted antagonist who arguably became the main face of the video game. He also starred in a webseries called "The Far Cry Experience" where he plays Vaas who captures and tortures a celebrity who has been challenged to survive the island. In 2012, Mando was cast in the first season of the science fiction television series Orphan Black, which began airing in 2013. He played Vic, an abusive drug-dealer and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for his work on the series. He reprised his role of Vic in the second season in a recurring role. In 2014, Mando joined the cast of Better Call Saul, the Breaking Badspin-off, portraying Nacho, a career criminal.
Personal life
Mando grew up wanting to be a writer or an athlete. In his mid-twenties he suffered a knee injury and consequently decided to change direction. He then pursued an academic scholarship at the University of Montreal in international relations, but shortly afterward decided to go into acting.
