Michael Moschen was born in 1955 in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
He started juggling in the summer of 1962 when he discovered a book on the art in a public library with his neighbor, Penn Jillette. Michael and Penn performed together for the first two years of their professional lives. They broke up amicably to go their separate ways (Penn Jillette created Penn and Teller and Michael became the best juggler in the world.)
Since becoming a professional juggler, Michael has performed with the Big Apple Circus, Lotte Goslar's Pantomime Circus, and has been featured in theatre and dance festivals in Hong Kong, Perth, Edinburgh, Barcelona, and Spleto USA, with Fred Garbo and Bob Berkey in the Obie Award winning Foolsfire. In 1986, Michael collaborated with Mr. Berkey in the creation of The Alchemedians Show, which was presented Off-Broadway and has toured throughout North and South America. He was commissioned by Cirque du Soleil to choreograph for their permanent show in Las Vegas, as well as with one of their touring shows, Quidam.
His movie credits include work in Hair and Annie. He choreographed and performed with the crystal balls as actor David Bowie's hands in Labyrinth.
He has made many appearances on television including Evening at Pops (with
the Boston Pops Orchestra), Late Nigh with
Conan O'Brian,
Maury Povich,
Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular, The Tonight Show starring
Johnny Carson,
Ricky Jay's Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women,
Sesame Street, The
David Lettermen Show and
PBS's television series Alive from Off-Center.
In 1996, Michael was a keynote speaker for the national Conference of Teachers of Mathematics and in 1998 for the New York Teachers of Mathematics. He has lectured on innovation and creativity at
MIT and
Carnegie Mellon and actively participates in educational activities for secondary schools in
Connecticut,
New Jersey and
New York.
He is featured in the book
Virtuoso: face to face with 40 extraordinary talents and in the
A&E documentary The
Mystery of
Genius. He in constant demand for a wide range of corporate projects, such as
industrial and
educational films, live performances and
lectures.