Born and raised in upstate New York, actor Chad Michael Collins landed in Los Angeles after being offered a job in entertainment public relations during college. But since the day a successful talent manager convinced him to try an acting class several years ago, Collins has gone on to amass over two dozen major television and film credits.
Collins is best known for his franchise-starring role in Sony’s reboot of their internationally renowned SNIPER films. Collins first appeared in SNIPER: RELOADED (2011), playing the son of Tom Berenger’s original legendary Marine sniper. The film co-starred Billy Zane, and Collins reprised his lead role as ‘Sgt Brandon Beckett’ in SNIPER: LEGACY (2014) alongside co-stars Tom Berenger and Dennis Haysbert. On August 2nd 2016, Sony released SNIPER: GHOST SHOOTER, Collins' third film in the franchise with co-stars Zane and Haysbert. He recently wrapped principal photography on SNIPER: HOMELAND SECURITY, which co-starred both Berenger and Zane together for the first time since the original SNIPER film, and is slated for a late 2017 release.
In SNIPER: LEGACY, Collins teamed up with Oscar-nominee Tom Berenger and follows father and son as they track a deadly assassin. Gritty fight sequences, breathtaking locations, and strong performances from a cast that also included Dennis Haysbert and Mercedes Mason highlighted Director Don Michael Paul’s action-packed addition to the SNIPER film canon. For SNIPER: GHOST SHOOTER, Collins reunited with Director Paul and previous co-stars Billy Zane and Dennis Haysbert in another action-packed thriller that pits their unit against a deadly international terrorist and his band of radicals.
Last fall, Collins was seen recurring on the new digital horror series "Freakish" from AwesomenessTV for digital streaming platform Hulu. In the show about a group of teenaged survivors trapped in their high school after a chemical plant explosion besieged by mutated freaks, Collins plays a mysterious character that shows up offering to save the group, but may have his own agenda. More information about the series and Collins' role can be found in the exclusive casting announcement from TheWrap.com.
Collins recently wrapped season one of the new action-adventure sci fi television series "Extinct" for BYUtv, from renowned Ender's Game Saga author Orson Scott Card and New York Times best-selling author Aaron Johnston. Produced by GO Films and shot on location in Utah, Collins was plays the lead role of 'Ezra,' who finds himself in charge of a band of mysteriously "reborn" humans on planet Earth 400 years after an alien race wiped out mankind. News of the pilot and Collins' casting was broken by several media outlets, including JoBlo.com and Shockya.com, as well as announced by Variety here regarding the season one order. “Extinct” will premiere on October 1st, 2017.
Collins also recently wrapped the independent action-horror film HOWLERS from Director Josh Ridgway, starring in the lead role of 'Colt,' a werewolf slayer from the old west mysteriously transported to modern times to battle a vicious gang of bloodthirsty "howlers" ravaging a small town. Shot in and around Dallas, Texas, the film co-stars Sean Patrick Flanery and was featured in an exclusive first-look piece on entertainment news site JoBlo.com. A late 2017 release is anticipated.
Recent guest-starring work featuring Collins include the CBS hit procedural “NCIS: New Orleans,” playing a TOP GUN-esque Navy jet fighter pilot, as well as FOX’s “Bones ” and the pilot episode of CBS “CSI: Cyber”.
Collins is known to sci-fi/fantasy fans for his work playing ‘Frankenstein’s Monster/Gerhart’ in ABC’s hit show “Once Upon a Time” as well as in lead roles for the SyFy Channel/Sony film LAKE PLACID 2 and SyFy’s ROCK MONSTER. His other TV guest-starring credits include “Blue Bloods” (CBS), “Major Crimes” (TNT), “2 Broke Girls” (CBS), “Castle” (ABC) and a recurring role in “Last Resort” (ABC). Additional TV work includes “CSI: NY” (CBS), “CSI: Miami” (CBS), “NCIS” (CBS), “90210” (The CW), “Enlightened” (HBO), and “Ringer” (The CW). Collins also starred as the lead for Sony’s WWII action film COMPANY OF HEROES (2013), co-starring Tom Sizemore, Neal McDonough, and Vinnie Jones, which was based on the popular THQ video game franchise, as well as in the indie SUNKEN CITY and the indie mockumentary ROCK BARNES: THE EMPEROR IN YOU.
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A self-proclaimed “accidental” actor, Collins made his way west to Hollywood in pursuit of a public relations career after majoring in Journalism at Ithaca College. He was a few years in with an entertainment PR firm when a successful talent manager and producer they shared a client with convinced him to take an acting class. Instantly hooked, acting was simply a hobby for Collins at first as he continued to work in personal publicity and build his freelance writing career. But successive projects with bigger roles – and budgets – soon followed, and it became clear to him that he had found his calling: playing pretend for a living.
Collins grew up in Canajoharie, NY, a small town west of state capital Albany. Collins is a weekend warrior who enjoys playing league basketball and boxing, mountain biking, and ran his first Tough Mudder on a whim last spring. He is an avid reader of Bernard Cornwell’s historical fiction and all things fantasy, a lover of anything comic book-related, is a certified rock 'n' roll-o’phile, a member of Raider Nation, and could watch the NFL, NBA or NHL on a loop. He also enjoys getting his game on with World of Warcraft, retro 8 and 16-bit throwbacks, or Magic: The Gathering.