Michael Sopkiw
- Actor
Although his moment in the acting spotlight was regrettably fleeting,
Michael Sopkiw did nonetheless prove to be a delightfully sincere,
spirited and enthusiastic asset in the four enjoyably low-rent mid-80s
Italian exploitation features he starred in. Born in 1954 in
Connecticut, the handsome and engaging Sopkiw worked as a merchant
sailor laying submarine detection cable in the North Sea in England in
the 70s. He eventually began sailing yachts and later ships after
spending a year in college in Miami, Florida. Michael was arrested by
the DEA for shipping marijuana and served one year of a two and a half
year prison sentence. Following being paroled from jail in the late
70s, he studied acting in New York City and then worked for a short
spell as a catwalk and photographic model in Europe. Sopkiw made his
film debut with a substantial lead part as rugged Snake Plissken-like
survivalist warrior hero Parsifal in the immensely fun'n'funky
post-nuke sci-fi/action romp "2019: After the Fall of New York" (1983).
Sopkiw next appeared in two movies for director Lamberto Bava: he's
tough ex-cop turned convicted murderer Jake "Tiger" Sharp in the
exciting "Blastfighter" (1984) and dashing hunk Peter in the
deliciously cheesy "Jaws" rip-off "Devilfish" (1984). Sopkiw concluded
his acting career with a lively turn as scruffy bargain basement
Indiana Jones-style adventurer Kevin Hall in the terrifically trashy
"Massacre in Dinosaur Valley" (1985). After calling it a day as an
actor, Michael Sopkiw went on to study medicinal plant science and
launched Miron Violet Glass, a California-based company which makes
special glass bottles that protect plants from the sun.