Mike Faist
Birthdate: Jan 5, 1992
Birthplace: Gahanna, Ohio, USA
Mike Faist (birthname: Michael David Faist) is an acclaimed actor in film, television, and theater, with Tony, Emmy, and BAFTA award nominations to his credit. Faist’s screen debut was in a supporting role in filmmaker Dan Sallitt’s superb indie drama, The Unspeakable Act (2012), with Tallie Medel, Sunita Mani, and Kate Lyn Sheil, premiering internationally at the Edinburgh and Rotterdam film festivals, and released by The Cinema Guild.
Faist landed a small supporting role in writer-director Paul Dalio’s indie drama, Touched with Fire (2015), co-starring Katie Holmes, Luke Kirby, Christine Lahti, Griffin Dunne, and Bruce Altman, and was released by Roadside Attractions after a South by Southwest film festival premiere. Faist joined the ensemble of director/writer Patrick Wang’s highly acclaimed tragic drama, The Grief of Others (2015), with Wendy Moniz, Trevor St. John, Rachel Dratch, and Oona Laurence, and released by Grasshopper Film after its South by Southwest film festival premiere.
Mike Faist then co-starred in director/writer/producer Marc Lucas’ indie feature, Our Time (2016), with Robert Gorrie, Craig Walker, Keenan Jolliff, and Ashley Anderson. Faist followed this film turn with his first lead big screen role in director/writer Nadine Truong’s bullying-themed drama, I Can I Will I Did (2017), co-starring In Jo Kang, Selena’s Leyva, Ellie Lee, Jack Difalco, and Ryan-James Hatanaka, and which won the audience award during its premiere at the Asian American film festival.
Faist played a supporting role in co-writer/director Aaron Fisher-Cohen’s comedy-drama, Active Adults (2017), with Lola Kirby, Dominic Chianese, Rosie Perez, Ellen Barkin, Scott Cohen, and Sondra James, which was released in limited form by The Orchard. Faist branched out to the fantasy-horror genre with a supporting role in director/co-writer Fritz Bohm’s Wilding (2018), co-starring Bel Powley, Brad Dourif, Collin Kelly-Sordelet, and Liv Tyler, and premiering at the South by Southwest film festival.
Mike Faist had his second starring role in a feature opposite Jessica Hecht in director/writer/producer Henry Butash’s romantic drama, The Atlantic City Story (2020), with Nina Hellman, Gary Wilmes, Prema Cruz, and Emily Donahoe, which premiered at the Denver film festival.
Faist had his movie breakthrough as Riff, leader of The Jets, in the Steven Spielberg/Tony Kushner Oscar-winning adaptation of West Side Story (2021), the second big-screen version of the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim musical, starring Ansel Elgort, Ariana DeBose (Oscar winner for best supporting actress), David Alvarez, Rita Moreno, and Rachel Zegler, but which lost money for 20th Century Studios with a poor $76 million return (on a $100 million budget).
Faist then starred as journalist Roger Sharpe in the true story, Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game (2022), co-directed and co-written by Austin and Meredith Bragg, and featuring Crystal Reed and Dennis Boutsikanis, and which was released by MPI Original Films in a limited pattern after its Hampton film festival premiere. Faist played opposite Zendaya as a tennis prodigy and Josh O’Connor in MGM’s Challengers (2024), directed and co-produced by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes, originally slated as opening film of the 2023 Venice film festival (but pulled as a result of the SAG-AFTRA strike) and then released in 2024 theatrically by Amazon Studios (in the U.S.) and Warner Bros. (internationally).
Mike Faist was a key part of the ensemble of filmmaker Jeff Nichols’ drama, The Bikeriders (2023), based on Danny Lyon’s book, and co-starring Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Michael Shannon, Norman Reedus, and Tom Hardy, and which premiered at the 2023 Telluride film festival before a postponed 2024 theatrical release by Focus Features.
Personal Details
Mike Faist was born in Gahanna, Ohio, and was adopted by Julia and Kurt Faist (real estate agents) raised in Gahanna, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. Faist has two half-brothers through his birth parents, whom he met when he was seventeen years old. Faist fell in love with theater and dancing at five years old, when he began to take dance classes and children’s theater, leading to roles in productions by the Columbus Children’s Theatre.
Faist attended both the Academy of Performing Arts in Columbus, and Gahanna Lincoln High School, where he was cast in stagings of Grease and Jesus Christ Superstar. Faist graduated from high school a year early in 2009 and moved to New York City to pursue an acting career, including studies at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, from which he dropped out after two semesters. Faist’s height is 6’.
Filmography
actor
Previous (3)
- 2024 | The BikeridersasDanny
The Bikeriders
After a chance encounter, headstrong Kathy is drawn to Benny, member of Midwestern motorcycle club the Vandals. As the club transforms into a dangerous underworld of violence, Benny must choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.
- 2024 | ChallengersasArt Donaldson
Challengers
Tashi, a former tennis prodigy turned coach, transformed her husband into a champion. But to overcome a recent losing streak and redeem himself, he'll need to face off against his former best friend and Tashi's ex-boyfriend.
- 2021 | West Side StoryasRiff
West Side Story
An adaptation of the 1957 musical, West Side Story explores forbidden love and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds.
Some Facts About Mike Faist
Struggling Artist: Mike Faist as a young, struggling actor auditioned for Off-Broadway productions while collecting food stamps and living in the rear of a McDonald’s parking lot.
Theatre Man: Faist has had an acclaimed theater career, including roles in the 2011 staging of Newsies at Paper Mill Playhouse, which transferred to the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway in 2012; he has appeared in several Off-Broadway plays, including Appropriate at the Pershing Square Signature Center, Chekhov’s A Month in the Country (2015) at Classic Stage Company, and Days of Rage (2018) at Second Stage Theatre; and most prominently as Connor in the original production of Dear Evan Hansen (2016) at Second Stage Theatre, which transferred to Broadway at the Music Box Theatre from 2016 to 2018. Faist has also appeared in London’s West End, as Jack Twist in Soho Place’s stage version of Brokeback Mountain in 2023.
