Michael J. Anderson

Michael J. Anderson (born October 31, 1953) is a retired American actor known for his roles as The Man from Another Place in David Lynch's television series Twin Peaks, the prequel film for the series, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, and as Samson Leonhart on the HBO series Carnivàle. Early life and career He has the genetic disorder osteogenesis imperfecta, a disease that leads to frequent breaks in long bones and improper healing, leaving him with a shortened stature of tall. Prior to his acting career, Anderson worked as a computer technician for Martin Marietta. He was part of the ground support system for NASA's Space Shuttle. He appeared as himself in a 1984 documentary called Little Mike: A Videoportrait of Michael Anderson. Acting career Anderson appeared in four episodes of Twin Peaks. The Man from Another Place is attired in a red suit and speaks in an unusual manner. Anderson used phonetically reversed speaking as a secret language with his junior high school friends and then played a character in Twin Peaks where he used the same method of speaking, which was recorded and played backwards. Anderson then synced his lips to the reversed recording for film. He first appears in Special Agent Dale Cooper's cryptic dream about the murder of Laura Palmer, set in a red room. Anderson also appears as the Man from Another Place in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, the prequel to Twin Peaks.