Waszyński was born as Mosze Waks into a Polish Jewish family in 1904 in Kowel, a small town in Volhynia (now in Ukraine), which at the time was part of Imperial Russia.

As Germany occupied this part of Europe during World War I, he moved first to Warsaw and later to Berlin.

At the beginning of World War II Waszyński escaped from Warsaw, which was being bombed by German planes, to Białystok.

Later in his career, Waszyński worked as a producer for the major American studios in Italy and (primarily) Spain, credited as Michael Waszynski.

He died of a heart attack on 20 February 1965 in Madrid and was buried in a ceremonious Roman Catholic funeral in Rome.