Michael Colleary

{{short description|American film producer}} {{Use American English|date=October 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Michael Colleary | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date =  | birth_place = Montclair, New Jersey | death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = | occupation = Film producer, screenwriter, television writer | years_active = 1988–present | spouse = }}

'''Michael Colleary''' is an American film producer, screenwriter and television writer. His writing credits include ''Face/Off'',<ref>Maslin, Janet. [https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/27/movies/good-and-evil-trade-places-body-and-soul.html "Good and Evil Trade Places, Body and Soul"], ''The New York Times'', June 27, 1997. Accessed October 16, 2025. "Then, in a savvy screenplay by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, things get interesting."</ref> ''Firehouse Dog'', ''The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', the story for ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,'' and the Cartoon Network live-action series ''Unnatural History''.

He is a frequent collaborator with Mike Werb, whom Colleary met at UCLA after Werb had sold his car to cover tuition and Colleary had given him lifts in his car.<ref name=SL1997/> Together they won a Saturn Award for their original screenplay of ''Face/Off''.<ref>[http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html#writing Saturn Award for Best Writing: Past winners] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512032708/http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html |date=May 12, 2011 }}</ref>

Colleary is the writer-showrunner of the independently financed, action-adventure TV series, ''Professionals'', starring Tom Welling, Brendan Fraser, and Elena Anaya, which currently airs on the CW network.

Colleary was born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey.<ref>Hamil, Denis. [https://www.nydailynews.com/1997/07/13/scripted-for-success-the-co-author-of-faceoff-has-screenwriting-in-his-blood/ "Scripted for Success; The Co-author of ''Face/Off'' Has Screenwriting in His Blood"], ''New York Daily News'', July 13, 1997. Accessed October 16, 2025. "Last month, there was a special screening of ''Face/Off'' in Cedar Grove, N.J., followed by a party at Lotsa Pasta on Bellevue Ave. where the family and friends of co-writer Michael Colleary honored the local boy made real good. 'I grew up in Montclair,' says Colleary, who in 1990 penned the best action movie of Summer '97 with writing partner Mike Werb."</ref> The son of comedy writer Robert M. Colleary, he graduated in 1978 from Montclair High School.<ref name=SL1997>Seitz, Matt Zoller; and Sepinwall, Alan. [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-star-ledger-prodfile-of-faceoff-sc/183097714/ "A Reel-Life Success"], ''The Star-Ledger'', July 2, 1997. Accessed October 16, 2025, via Newspapers.com. "Colleary, a 1978 graduate of Montclair High, studied journalism at Temple University before enrolling in UCLA's graduate screenwriting program."</ref> He attended Temple University and studied journalism there, before heading west to do graduate work in screenwriting at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.<ref name=SL1997/>

He is married to screenwriter Shannon Bradley-Colleary, whose film ''To the Stars'' premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb name|0171718}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colleary, Michael}} Category:Film producers from New Jersey Category:American male screenwriters Category:American television writers Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:American male television writers Category:Mass media people from Montclair, New Jersey Category:Montclair High School (New Jersey) alumni Category:Screenwriters from New Jersey Category:Temple University alumni Category:UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television alumni Category:Writers from Montclair, New Jersey