- The legendary Actor Producer Steve McQueen was from Beech Grove, Indiana, near where Michelle grew up in Indianapolis, Greenwood then Mooresville, Indiana. Cousins of hers have resided in Beech Grove itself. McQueen was born at St. Francis Hospital which is where her aunt, cousin and sister have worked as nurses and managers. As Producer for the film Fate's Shadow, Michelle selected a set location not realizing until shoot time that Steve McQueen artwork hung on a wall visible for the scene.
- Michelle is a member of the international women's fraternity Alpha Phi. Their motto is "union hand in hand" and the Alpha Phi Foundation's philanthropy is women's heart health.
- Michelle's first experience at performing in front of a large audience came from baton twirling as a child. She was the leader of her twirling group. At a contest once, the entire team stopped twirling as she did until she remembered the next steps.
- New York is where Michelle resided a second time in her life when she became a Sales Development Manager for Visionaire Publishing based in SoHo. The art and lifestyle fashion magazine company produces Visionaire, V & VMAN magazines. She lived on Staten Island with her Jeep in those years and would commute to the offices via ferry across the New York Harbor.
- Her maternal grandmother, Frances Hicks, was a talented seamstress. She collected antique dolls and ran a doll hospital -- repairing and dressing dolls. Then her mother inherited the business when she passed away. So Michelle had an early taste of costume design and has an appreciation for the wardrobe departments of a set.
- After moving to Southern California the first time, Michelle met Warren Beatty and Annette Bening through her 3-year relationship with Richard Reisman, the Publisher of the Orange County Business Journal. Richard's ex-wife is Annette Bening's sister.
- Todd Miller, her second cousin, with the birth name Frank Miller Jr, was a Tap Dancer and Actor. He danced in The West Point Story with James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, and Doris Day, and performed with several other iconic actors, such as Judy Garland in the 6-time Oscar-nominated 1954 version of A Star Is Born, Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in the Golden Globe-nominated Silk Stockings, and Robert Wagner in Stars & Stripes Forever. His acting role as "Hank" was in the 5-time Emmy-nominated TV series Private Secretary. Todd was Michelle's paternal grandmother's nephew.
- Several artists have made Michelle their muse with paintings or sketches of her. They are George Tun Sein of New York City, Brian Dean from Boulder, Colorado, Ben Caudill from Durango, Colorado, and Garrell Robertson from Edinburgh, Scotland, in the United Kingdom.
- Although no one in her family has French ancestry, Michelle's first and middle name (Renee) are of French origin. She studied French in high school and college, and she is in the role of "Jesy" in the feature film The French Teacher. As Jesy, Michelle plays an adult student taking French classes. She speaks both English and French in that award-winning film.
- Scottish Actor Sir Sean Connery was a milkman for his first job and used to deliver milk to Michelle's ex-fiance Garrell Robertson when he was a small child in Edinburgh, Scotland.
- She is a member of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Michelle enjoys supporting the museum's mission to "advance the understanding, celebration, and preservation of cinema" around the world.
- The Venice Film Festival was founded on August 6, 1932, which is Michelle's birth date of August 6th in a different year. That prestigious film festival is the oldest in the world.
- Her former high school beau, the late Kelly Caruso, was a cousin of the late Actor James Dean. Michelle and Kelly attended Junior Prom together in Mooresville, Indiana.
- When Michelle was a baby her mother took her to hear former President Lyndon B Johnson speak on Monument Circle in Downtown Indianapolis. After his speech, LBJ shook hands with several in the audience. When he approached Michelle he kissed her on the forehead. Years later she would play a Journalist and Congressman's Wife in the HBO film Path to War. Donald Sutherland won a Golden Globe while Alec Baldwin and Michael Gambon, who played LBJ, were nominated. Paths crossed again with the famous politician as James Franco, the founder of her acting school, Studio 4, would travel in time in the Hulu TV series 11.22.63 to try to prevent the assassination of JFK.
- She graduated from high school in Mooresville, Indiana, and that town is portrayed in the feature film Public Enemies with Christian Bale and Johnny Depp. The film is about the Depression-era gangster John Dillinger, played by Depp, who was perceived as a Robin Hood figure and lived in Mooresville for some time. Fascinated with this part of history, Michelle has visited many of the sites where Dillinger made his mark and the film is one of her favorites.
- Michelle has lived in the Los Angeles area at 3 different times: from 1998 - 2002, from 2004 - 2006, and from 2014 to present.
- A groomsman, at Michelle's wedding with her ex-husband Tom, married Actor Peter Fonda's niece. That couple is John and Kelly Hague.
- Michelle's cousin Rebecca married the award-winning Director, Cinematographer, Writer Joe Dietsch. Coincidentally, Joe earned a BFA in Film Production from Chapman University where Becky's father (Michelle's Uncle) teaches journalism.
- Her ex-husband's father was Dustin Hoffman's Manager, the late Actor and Broadway Producer Walter Hyman Sr. Thomas Hyman and Michelle met in NYC and were married 2 1/2 years of the 6 years that they were together. One of Walter's three sons, Walter Hyman Jr., is also an Actor.
- She appeared in a Saturn commercial filmed in LA in 2001. Then, during the recession in 2008, she actually sold Saturn automobiles for 6 weeks. Her father retired from General Motors after 30 years, and her paternal grandfather co-owned a car dealership called Arthur & Son.
- Owner Maureen Mahon of the award-winning MM Interiors firm in Los Angeles has named a piece of furniture after her -- "The Michelle Ottoman." It's circular and in a reddish hot pink velvet-looking fabric with gold accents. The fabric is from Iman's line, David Bowie's widow. Mahon also offers slipcovers in a white shaggy faux fur.
- She shares coincidences with Marilyn Monroe. The name of one of Marilyn's ex-husbands is Michelle's last name and late paternal grandmother's maiden name -- Cordia Miller Arthur as in Arthur Miller. Marilyn's first name starts with Michelle's initials -- MAR as in MRA. To take the "Miller" name a step further, Marilyn told The Saturday Evening post in 1956 that it was Actor turned 20th Century-Fox Executive Ben Lyon who renamed her from Norma Jeane Dougherty. "Ben said that I reminded him of two people, Jean Harlow and somebody else he remembered very well, a girl named Marilyn Miller. When all the talk began about renaming me, I asked them please could I keep my mother's maiden name, which was Monroe; so the choice was whether to call me Jeane Monroe or Marilyn Monroe, and Marilyn won." Marilyn Miller, born as Mary Ellen Reynolds in Evansville, Indiana, has a Star on the Walk of Fame as Broadway's stage star of the 1920s. She abbreviated her first name and adopted her stepfather's last name of Miller. Both Michelle's and Marilyn Monroe's maternal grandfathers were born in Indiana and worked for a railroad. Michelle's grandfather, Clarence Hicks, worked for the B&O Railroad in Washington, IN, while Marilyn's grandfather, Otis Monroe, was also a painter from Indianapolis and later worked for the Pacific Electric Railway Co. Marilyn was found passed away on August 5, 1962, and Michelle was born on an August 6th. Marilyn's Housekeeper Eunice Murray sensed something wrong at 3 am. Marilyn's Physician Hyman Engelberg arrived around 3:50 am pronouncing her deceased. Michelle was born at 3:12 pm. Michelle's ex-husband's last name is Hyman while his late mother's maiden name was Murray -- Gail Murray Hyman Putziger. Marilyn and Michelle are both known for their blonde hair, and both have a mole on the left cheek of their faces. Also, Marilyn was 5'5" while Michelle is nearly that at 5'4" and both did some magazine modeling before entering the entertainment industry. Marilyn took acting classes at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and Michelle took acting classes at The Actors Edge Studios in Burbank. Both women also took classes at UCLA. Marilyn studied art and literature appreciation in 1951 while Michelle studied creative writing in 2001. In the premiere for the TV show Feud: Bette and Joan with Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon, for which a commercial aired at Super Bowl LI in 2017, Michelle is featured as a Golden Globe Awards Ceremony Actress who, while everyone else is seated, strolls past a Marilyn Monroe, portrayed by Alisha Soper, as the iconic figure goes to the stage to accept her trophy in 1960. In addition, the last professional photo shoot of Marilyn was with George Barris on July 13,1962, in Santa Monica. That session was an assignment from Cosmopolitan magazine. Michelle's first publishing job after college was with Cosmopolitan magazine in NYC. Marilyn spent her final weekend alive at the Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe, July 28 - 29 of '62. Michelle lived at Lake Tahoe working at the Reno Gazette-Journal in the early 1990s. Also, Michelle was hired for 2 episodes of TruTV's comedy show Those Who Can't. Both episodes were filmed at Van Nuys High School, the same public school in Los Angeles that Marilyn attended. For one episode Michelle was paid but excused early because her blonde hair was picking up too much light and distracting the camera from their Lead Actress.
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