Hi, nice to meet ya!
I'm a gay, Italian, only child who loves to act, sing, and *move* for a living. But I am, above all things, extremely capable of making myself laugh.
"Michael, sometimes I can't tell if you're the tough Italian mob member or the prom queen... or both?" - Teacher at SU
Artistic Inspirations: James Taylor, Cynthia Erivo, Frank Sinatra, Jonathan Groff, and Lizzy McAlpine.
About Me!
Michael Vincent Cagnetta (he/him) is a 22-year-old actor raised in West Hartford, Connecticut, and currently based in New York City! He is a part of a beautiful, supportive, and extremely large Italian family. His Nonna, one of his many artistic inspirations, moved to the USA at a young age from Argusto, Italy. When he was very young, she exposed him to many types of music including opera, classic orchestral music, and big band jazz. Just like that, his love for the arts was born!
From elementary school to early high school, Michael played the violin, saxophone, piano, and guitar. All these instruments were a fun time but Michael really found his footing at 14 when he discovered his passion for performing. His roots as a vocalist come from performing in a vocal jazz ensemble and as a soloist all throughout high school. Although his high school didn’t have a musical, he sang a collection of jazz, pop, and musical theatre with the national title-winning Concert Jazz Band in an annual review called “Pops N’ Jazz.” The group got to perform in the springtime his senior year, they took the show to Germany and Spain where he was lucky enough to perform the show 14 times across 9 different cities and stay with incredibly kind and generous host families.
Michael did his first play in his junior year of college and a whole new passion for acting came with it! After performing in three plays that year, he decided to audition for college programs in pursuit to get his BFA. After his first college tour (which just so happened to be Syracuse University), he knew that Syracuse was the place for him and gladly accepted his admission into the BFA Acting class of 2022.
At Syracuse, Michael was able to achieve his goal of performing in a great variety of show types including contemporary and classic plays, musicals, song cycle, and a workshop of a new musical! He spent a summer at the College Light Opera Company in 2019 where he performed 6 musicals and 3 operettas in 11 weeks while enjoying beach life on Cape Cod with his extremely talented and influential company members! Even through covid, he was lucky enough to dive into several projects and grow as a performer. Now living in NYC, he has had a fantastic time balancing life as a student and auditioning. He graduated from SU in May and can’t wait to continue looking for his next opportunity as a theatre artist!