Michael J. Anderson (born October 31, 1953) is a retired American actor. He is best known for his role as The Man from Another Place in David Lynch's television series Twin Peaks and the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. leaving him with a height of .
Before his acting career, Anderson worked as a computer technician for Martin Marietta. He was part of the ground support system for NASA's Space Shuttle. He appeared as himself in the 1984 documentary Little Mike: A Videoportrait of Michael Anderson. and the same method was used in the series. Anderson would speak into a recorder. This was then played in reverse, and Anderson was directed to repeat the reversed original. This "reverse-speech" was then reversed again in editing to bring it back to the normal direction. This phonetic reversal created the strange cadences, rhythms, and accentuation that set Cooper's dreamworld apart from the real world. Lynch was unaware of Anderson's familiarity with the phonetic reversal method when he cast Anderson, and had hired a trainer to help with enunciation. When he found out Anderson could already talk backward, he canceled the trainer and wrote more difficult lines of dialogue for Anderson.
Anderson's character first appears in Special Agent Dale Cooper's cryptic dream about the murder of Laura Palmer, set in a red room. Anderson also appeared as the Man from Another Place in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, the prequel film to Twin Peaks.
Anderson portrayed Rumpelstiltskin in the 1993 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "If Wishes Were Horses" and appeared two years later in The X-Files episode "Humbug". He portrayed a man of average height in Lynch's 2001 film Mulholland Drive, using a prosthetic body. From 2003 to 2005, Anderson was a cast member of the TV series Carnivàle. Other television and film roles include Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Charmed, Cold Case, and Adventure Time. Anderson retired from acting in 2014. His last role was in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.
Controversies
In 2015, Anderson was asked to reprise his role as The Man from Another Place for Twin Peaks third season but declined over compensation.
Filmography
Television
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Show
! Role
! Notes
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1988
|rowspan="2"| Monsters
| Holly
| Episode: "Holly's House"
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1990
| Household God
| Episode "Household Gods"
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1990–1991
| Twin Peaks
| The Man from Another Place
| 4 episodes
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1992
| Picket Fences
| Peeter Dreeb
| Episode "Mr. Dreeb Comes to Town"
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1993
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
| Rumpelstiltskin
| Episode "If Wishes Were Horses"
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1994
| Cyberkidz
| Doctor Fubbles, Iggy
| Credited as "Bart Williams"
|-
| 1995
| The X-Files
| Mr. Nutt
| Episode "Humbug"
|-
| 1996
| Night Stand with Dick Dietrick
| Jimmy
| Episode "Staff Talent Show". Credited as "Michael Anderson"
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1998
| Maggie
|
| Episode "Ka-Boom"
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1998
| Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show
| Omar
| Episode "Honey, I've Joined the Bigtop"
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1999
| The Phantom Eye
| Doll Man/Carl
|
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1999
| Port Charles
| Peter Zorin
|
|-
|2000
|This is How the World Ends
|Customer
|Cameo in unaired Gregg Araki MTV pilot
|-
|rowspan="1"| 2001
| Black Scorpion
|
| Episode "Crime Time"
|-
|rowspan="1"| 2001
| Snow White: The Fairest of Them All
| Sunday (Violet)
|
|-
|rowspan="1"| 2003–2005
| Carnivàle
| Samson
| 24 episodes
|-
|rowspan="1"| 2006
| Charmed
| O'Brian the Leprechaun
| 2 episodes
|-
|rowspan="1"| 2010
| Cold Case
| Nathaniel "Biggie" Jones
| Episode "Metamorphosis"
|-
|rowspan="1"| 2011
| Adventure Time
| Gummy (voice)
| Episode "The Silent King"
|-
|rowspan="1"| 2012
| Transactions
| Appeared with Jerry Seinfeld in a commercial for Acura ("Last Living Munchkin")
| Aired during the 2012 Super Bowl.
|-
|rowspan="1"| 2014
| Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
| Dancing Man (voice) and as Professor Horatio Kharon (voice)
| Episodes "Stand and Deliver", "Nightmare In Red"
|-
|}
Film
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Film
! Role
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1983
| Buddies
| Thai Buyer
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1984
| Little Mike: A Videoportrait of Michael Anderson
| Himself
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1987
| The Great Land of Small
| Fritz/The King
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1989
| Suffering Bastards
| Little Elvis
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1989
| No Such Thing as Gravity
| Botanist
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1990
| Whatever Happened to Mason Reese
| Sushi Chef
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1990
| Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted
| Lightman
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1991
| Mannequin Two: On the Move
| Jewel Box Bearer
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1992
| In the Soup
| Little Man
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1992
| Fool's Fire
| Hop-Frog
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1992
| Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
| The Man from Another Place
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1993
| Night Trap
| Police Officer
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1994
| Murder too Sweet
| Harry the Huckster
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1995
| Caged Hearts
| John
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1996
| Street Gun
| Lamar
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1997
| Warriors of Virtue
| Mudlap
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1998
| Club Vampire
| Kiddo
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1999
| Minimum Wage
| Zeke Bleak
|-
| rowspan="1"| 2001
| Mulholland Drive
| Mr. Roque
|-
| rowspan="1"| 2001
| Snow White: The Fairest of Them All
| Sunday
|-
| rowspan="1"| 2003
| Sticky Fingers
| Irate Man
|-
| rowspan="1"| 2003
| Tiptoes
| Bruno
|-
| rowspan="1"| 2004
| Big Time
| Henri Blunderbore
|}
Video games
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Game
! Role
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1994
| Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine
| Bartender
|-
| rowspan="1"| 2000
| Road Rash: Jailbreak
| Punt
|}
Music appearances
- (1985) "Hell in Paradise," music promo video by Yoko Ono
- (1989) "Turtle Song", music promo video by alternative band Hugo Largo
- (2000) Lodge Anathema (with The Nether-Carols)