Misha Collins is an American actor best known for his role as the angel Castiel on the TV series Supernatural (2005). He has had recurring roles on ER and 24, and has guest-starred on NCIS, Nip/Tuck, NYPD Blue, CSI, CSI:NY, Monk and Charmed. On the big screen, Misha is most known for his role in a film called “Karla” about a real life serial killer named Paul Bernardo, a film he has openly said he regrets making due to the nature of the real life events the film is based upon.
Misha Collins was born Dmitri Tippens Krushnic in Boston, Massachusetts, to Rebecca Tippens and Richard Edward Krushnic. He has Hungarian-Russian Jewish, German, English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry. Misha earned a BA in Social Theory from The University of Chicago, where he graduated with honors. Before turning to acting, he worked as a carpenter and woodworker in New England’s Berkshire Mountains. Misha also interned at the White House during the Clinton Administration and worked at National Public Radio headquarters in DC.
Misha is a published poet with works in “The Columbia Poetry Review,” “The California Quarterly” and other literary journals. A film Misha helped produce, “Loot,” won “Best Documentary Feature” at the LA Film Festival in 2008 and aired on HBO.
Misha founded the 501c3 Random Acts, which has built schools, orphanages, and mobilized people all over the world to participate in good works. Misha has run several marathons and ultra-marathons. He produces a cooking show with his son, “cooking fast and fresh with west” and he runs the world’s largest scavenger hunt, GISHWHES the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt The World Has Ever Seen, which has helped him break 5 Guinness World Records.
Misha has spent several months in seclusion in monasteries in Yosemite, Tibet and elsewhere. Misha is a certified lifeguard, EMT and motorcyclist who resides in Bellingham, WA.
Misha has and famously quirky sense of humor and an incredible talent for relating to his fans, which have earned him a dedicated twitter following. He jokingly refers to his Twitter followers as his “minions” and “flunkies,” and to himself by several titles including “The Supreme Overlord,” “The Babysitter,” and “The Great Confuser.”
