Born in The Bronx, New York City, Harney went on to intensive study with legendary acting teachers William Esper and Philosophy Gushee, both of whom studied and taught with Sanford Meisner for many years at The Neighborhood Playhouse School Of The Theater.
After studying acting for 7 years he went on to run The Michael Harney Acting Studio in New York City for 8 years. During his time in New York City Michael acted in and/or directed over 80 plays and one acts and starred in On The Waterfront on Broadway playing the role of Charlie Malloy. Prior to Harney’s prominent television career, he starred in numerous blockbuster films such as Erin Brockovich and Ocean"s Thirteen.
Previous to this award winning role, Harney starred as Detective Mike Roberts in the award winning television police drama, New York City Police Department Blue and also in the Home Box Office historical drama series Deadwood as Steve Fields.
Harney first worked with Orange Is The New Black creator Jenji Kohan on the Showtime original dark comedy Weeds, starring opposite Mary-Louise Parker as Detective Mitch Ouellette. In 2015, Harney returned to his film roots in the moving independent drama, Bad Hurt, produced by Sons of Anarchy star Theo Rossi which had its world premiere at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival.
