Michael Rooney

Michael Joseph Rooney (April 2, 1962) is an American choreographer. He is the son of actor Mickey Rooney. Best known for his work on a number of music videos, Rooney has won MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography five times.

Biography

Rooney is the son of actors Mickey Rooney and Barbara Ann Thomason (known professionally as Carolyn Mitchell). He is Mickey Rooney's sixth child and youngest biological son. His mother was Mickey Rooney's fifth wife. Michael has two older sisters, Kelly Ann (born September 13, 1959) and Kerry Yule Rooney (born December 30, 1960); and one younger sister, Kimmy Sue (born September 13, 1963). In addition to his sisters, he has three older half-brothers and two younger half-siblings all from his father's other marriages.

Michael and his sisters were brought up by their maternal grandmother after the murder of their mother. When Michael was almost 4 years old, Thomason was shot to death by her lover, who then turned the gun on himself. [1] [2] Michael and his two older sisters were in the house when the murder-suicide occurred. [3]Michael attended Rolling Hills High School in Southern California, where he was active in performing arts and known as Michael Thomason.

Career

Rooney is a choreographer, who has won MTV Video Music Awards for best choreography for the videos to both Björk's "It's Oh So Quiet" and Fat Boy Slim's "Praise You". He is currently the Co-Producer and Choreographer for the smash TV show for VH1's "Hit the Floor" for the year 2013. Rooney also choreographed the major dance sequence in the film "500 Days of Summer," starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Notable work has included choreographing Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" and Fatboy Slim's "Praise You".[4] Further music video work has included for Fiona Apple's "Paper Bag", My Chemical Romance's "Helena" and Bon Jovi's "Say It Isn't So". TV work has included for Dancing with the Stars, Any Day Now, Mad About You, Zeke and Luther and Saved by the Bell, while film work has included "500 Days of Summer", "Clerks 2" and "The Muppets". He has also done choreography for adverts, including for Mother's Cookies, Diesel Jeans and Baileys.[5]

Awards

Year Project Accolade(s)
1996Björk's "It's Oh So Quiet" (music video)
1997 Wyndham Hotels (advertisement)
  • American Choreography Awards: Best Choreography in Commercials
1999 Fat Boy Slim's "Praise You" (music video, with Richard Koufey)
  • MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography
2001 Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" (music video, with Spike Jonze and Christopher Walken)
  • MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography
  • Music Video Production Association Award: Best Choreography in a Music Video
  • American Choreography Awards: Best Choreography in a Music Video
2001 Exxon (advertisement)
  • American Choreography Awards: Best Choreography in a Commercial
2002 Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" (music video)
  • MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography
2003 eBay (advertisement)
  • American Choreography Awards: Best Choreography in a Commercial
2008 Gnarls Barkley's "Run" (music video)
  • MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography

References

  1. Hopwood, Jon C. ""Carolyn Mitchell Biography"". IMDb. IMDb.com. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  2. Murder in Tinseltown, by Emma Brockes, The Guardian, 17 October 2005
  3. Hopwood, Jon C. ""Carolyn Mitchell Biography"". IMDb. imdb.com. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  4. Pop's Greatest Dance Crazes, BBC3, 2011
  5. "Baileys kick starts re-launch with biggest ever global campaign", (Press release). Diageo, October 4th, 2012

External links