Michael J. Anderson (October 31, 1953, Denver, Colorado) is an American actor best known for his role as the Man from another place in David Lynch's television series Twin Peaks.

Anderson was born with a genetic bone condition osteogenesis imperfecta. He didn't walk until his twenties. He formed the New York band, Wayward Gene and the Natural Selection, which played in local clubs. He also worked for NASA as a computer expert. He speaks with a stutter. He used phonetic reverse speak as a secret language with his junior high school friends and then coincidentally played a character in Twin Peaks where he used the same method of speaking.

Anderson appeared in but a few episodes of Twin Peaks. His turns were memorable for their acute disconcertedness and diabolic symbolism. The Man From Another Place is attired in a red suit and speaks in an unusual manner. He first appears in Special Agent Dale Cooper's cryptic dream about the murder of Laura Palmer, set in a red room. Anderson's Man also materializes in Lynch's film prequel to Twin Peaks, Fire Walk With Me. His character expresses more malevolent intent in the film than he did in the series.

Anderson portrayed a full-size man in Lynch's Mulholland Drive, using a prosthetic body.

From 2003 to 2005, Anderson played carnival manager Samson Leonhart on the HBO series Carnivale.

Among his other appearances are in the soap opera Port Charles, guest appearances like: "Peter Dreeb" in the Picket Fences episode "Mr. Dreeb Comes to Town", a hotel manager in an episode of the X-Files called "Humbug", the "If Wishes Were Horses" episode of Deep Space Nine, as Rumpelstiltskin, and as a returning leprechaun in the eighth season of the supernatural dramedy series Charmed.

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1953 births | Living people | Twin Peaks actors | People with dwarfism | X-Files actors | Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actors | Charmed actors | American character actors