Misha Collins

Early life

Misha Collins was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His mother is Rebecca Tippens. He was raised in an irreligious family. Growing up, his family was poor and often homeless. He has said that his surname, Krushnic, "goes back six generations in Canada, and we're not sure where they came from". He is of partial Jewish descent.

Collins attended Greenfield Center School, Northfield Mount Hermon School and the University of Chicago, where he studied social theory.

Career

Interning

Before acting, he interned for four months at the White House during the Clinton Administration in the Office of Presidential Personnel.

Acting

His film work includes an uncredited appearance in the 1999 movie Liberty Heights, as well as roles in Girl, Interrupted, Finding Home, Karla, and Loot (on which he also served as Associate Producer).

He starred as the angel Castiel on the CW television series Supernatural from 2008 to 2020. Some of his other television credits include Legacy, Charmed, NYPD Blue, 24, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, ER, Monk, and Timeless. He hosted Roadfood: Discovering America One Dish at a Time on PBS, a TV show focused on local foods in America. In 2022, he was cast as Harvey Dent/Two Face in Gotham Knights on the CW.

He has appeared on several podcasts. In 2018, he voiced the role of Adler Harrison in The Angel of Vine, produced by Vox Populi. In 2021, he starred as Jeremy Bradshaw on Bridgewater produced by Grim & Mild.

Writing

Collins is a published poet. His poems, including "Baby Pants" and "Old Bones", can be found in the 2008 edition of Columbia Poetry Review #21.

Collins has also co-written a cookbook, The Adventurous Eaters Club, with his wife, Vicki Collins. It is reported that much of the book's sales will go to charitable organizations who specialize in food nutrition.

Collins and Kathryn Leonard, together with several other collaborators, are authors of "The 2D Shape Structure Dataset", an academic research paper on a crowd-sourced database on the structure of shapes.

Collins's poetry book, Some Things I Still Can't Tell You, was published on October 12, 2021, and reached the NYTimes bestseller list.

Charity work

Collins is the co-founder and board president of Random Acts, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding and inspiring acts of kindness around the world. Collins founded the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen (GISHWHES) in 2011. Entrance fees for the international competition go towards Random Acts, and in 2012, GISHWHES broke the world record for most pledges to perform an act of kindness.

On May 5, 2023, Collins became an ambassador of the United 24 platform.

On May 21, 2024, Collins visited Kyiv, along with American filmmaker Darius Marder. Collins has started a fundraiser for a pyrotechnic machine for humanitarian demining.

Personal life

On October 6, 2001, Collins married Victoria Vantoch in Maine. They have a son born in 2010 and a daughter born in 2012.

In the acknowledgments of his 2021 poetry book, Some Things I Still Can't Tell You, Collins stated that he and his wife had separated.

In April 2022, Collins clarified that he is straight after a fan convention appearance led to reports he had appeared to come out as bisexual.

Collins self-identifies as an agnostic. In a 2008 interview, he said that Supernatural showrunner Eric Kripke asked him to read the Book of Revelation as research into Castiel's nature, and he was surprised by the biblical text: "In reading that, I was kind of surprised. There is a lot of destructive capacity in an angel's being."

Filmography

Film

Television

Podcasts

Acting roles are in bold.

Web

Producer

Director

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. "Misha Collins in LA 09: On his name". YouTube.
2. "Misha Collins". CBS Interactive.
3. O'Hare, Kate. (November 18, 2008). "Misha Collins is Supernatural's Dark Angel".
4. (5 March 2018). "Behind The Cape: Supernatural's Misha Collins, Advocates Against Cyberbullying Through 'Random Acts'". Forbes.
5. "Inspired by his family, Misha Collins is fighting homelessness for a very personal reason.". Upworthy.
6. "Misha Collins Answers Our Top 3 Q's – EveryJoe". EveryJoe.
7. "Jewish comics stump against Trump".
8. (August 16, 2013). "Just try to find a stranger scavenger hunt than this". [[The Recorder (Massachusetts newspaper).
9. (April 18, 2014). "Eternal Life, Thanks to Angels and Abs". [[The New York Times]].
10. "Supernatural Cast Bios Misha Collins". The CW.
11. (January 29, 1998). "Lewinsky wasn't the only infatuated intern". [[Baltimore Sun]].
12. "IMDb".
13. (September 29, 2021). "Roadfood TV: Discovering America one dish at a time with our host Misha Collins".
14. Maas, Jennifer. (2022-03-23). "'Supernatural' Alum Misha Collins to Play Harvey Dent in The CW's 'Gotham Knights' Pilot".
15. Iannucci, Rebecca. (2022-03-23). "Misha Collins Eyes CW Return, Joins Gotham Knights Pilot as Harvey Dent".
16. "CREDITS".
17. "Bridgewater".
18. (2019-06-25). "Cover Released for Misha and Vicki Collins' Cookbook".
19. (August 2016). "The 2D shape structure dataset: A user annotated open access database". Computers & Graphics.
20. "Some Things I Still Can't Tell You".
21. "Paperback Trade Fiction Books - Best Sellers - Books - Oct. 31, 2021 - The New York Times". The New York Times.
22. "Random Acts – Our Staff". Random Acts.
23. "Random Acts – Non-profit dedicated to acts of kindness worldwide". Random Acts.
24. Mandy, Chaos. (October 11, 2012). "GISHWHES – International Scavenger Hunt". [[Wired (magazine).
25. Hayes, Molly. (August 14, 2013). "Wanted: Rooster costume and Russian colonel". [[The Hamilton Spectator]].
26. "Misha Collins".
27. "Misha Collins visits Kyiv: Supernatural star poses amidst destroyed Russian equipment".
28. "US actor Misha Collins arrives in Kyiv to show support for Ukraine".
29. "Misha Collins collecting funds for a demining vehicle".
30. Raftery, Liz. (September 28, 2012). "Supernatural's Misha Collins, Wife Have a Baby". [[TV Guide.
31. (September 28, 2012). "We got this on tuesday. No...".
32. (August 18, 2021). ""Some Things I Still Can't Tell You" by Misha Collins is an Upcoming Must Read!".
33. (2022-04-25). "Supernatural's Misha Collins Apologizes for 'Misspeaking' After Appearing to Come Out as Bisexual".
34. Collins, Misha. (September 24, 2008). "RIP". Facebook.
35. Gallagher, Brian. (September 24, 2008). "Misha Collins Gets Angelic in Supernatural [Exclusive]". MovieWeb.
36. Chatterjee, Anuraag. (October 14, 2024). "Supernatural: Eric Kripke Personally Instructed Misha Collins to Read a Biblical Book about Angels Wiping Out Humanity for Castiel". FandomWire.
37. [http://www.divinetheseries.com/blog/news/behind-door-number-1/ Divine the Series Cast] {{webarchive. link. (September 25, 2011 Retrieved on May 16, 2011.)
38. [http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/loot Loot: Home]. HBO. Retrieved on March 1, 2011.
39. "People's Choice Awards: Fan Favorites in Movies, Music & TV - PeoplesChoice.com".
40. "People's Choice Awards: Fan Favorites in Movies, Music & TV - PeoplesChoice.com".
41. "People's Choice Awards: Fan Favorites in Movies, Music & TV - PeoplesChoice.com".