Born and raised just outside New York City,[1] in Mamaroneck, New York and attending Mamaroneck High School where he was heavily involved in music and a bit in drama, Michael Lange first developed a taste for drama in college, where he served as both an actor and director in a number of productions.
[1] In 1980, he quit after eight years in the advertising business and moved to California aspiring to become a film and television director.
[2] Since then, he has garnered directorial credits from two hundred and forty television episodes, including amongst many others The O.C., Beverly Hills, 90210, The Larry Sanders Show, Tracey Takes On..., Northern Exposure, Eureka, The Pretender, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Eli Stone Brothers & Sisters, One Tree Hill, Dirty Sexy Money, Dawson's Creek, Point Pleasant, Miss Match, Everwood, Diagnosis: Murder, Jake and the Fatman, The Royals, and Greek.
[3] He has directed one feature film, Intern, and the Disney Channel television movie Jumping Ship.
Lange is Jewish, a background that has given him inspiration for Kosher Christmas Carols, a collection of musical parodies written by Peter Gorin and himself, and also landed him a minor role in an episode of The O.C.