Meet Michael John Wagner of Woodland Hills

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael John Wagner.

Hi Michael John, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m originally from Pittsburgh, PA, but I’ve now spent over half my life in Los Angeles. Back home, I graduated from the city’s performing arts high school and earned a near-full scholarship to a university theater conservatory. Not long after, I realized I was craving something bigger and more challenging. With $300 to my name, I packed a bag and flew to LA, crashing with a friend in West Hollywood before eventually landing in a shared room in Culver City.

My first audition was a massive open casting call for a Pirates of the Caribbean film — and I booked it (even though I ended up on the cutting room floor). I thought it might always be that easy… until I didn’t book another job for nearly a year. That’s when music found me. While I was at Disney during pre-production, I was on the phone with my mom, who told me to “make a friend” so I could catch a ride back to the Westside. That moment ended up changing everything. The friend I made — a working actor with a home studio — introduced me to another artist, DJ Paper. We clicked instantly and started writing and recording nonstop. I bought myself a guitar for my birthday, and before long, I was completely hooked on songwriting.

I found a home at an open mic called Natural High at Earlz Grille on Crenshaw — a community of rising artists like Anderson .Paak, SiR, and Lovelogiq. That scene shaped me in ways I’m still discovering. Soon after, I landed a residency at Harvelle’s in Santa Monica, where I truly came into my own as a performer and met many of the musicians who still influence my sound today.

In 2011, I got my first major placement under the name Ultralove, writing and performing for a flash mob scene in Friends With Benefits. The track, “New York, New York (FWB Remix),” went on to be featured on America’s Got Talent and twice on Dancing With the Stars — not a bad run for a song born out of pure creative momentum. From there, I wrote and recorded a track that was used as a remix in Here Comes the Boom, woven into a scene alongside Neil Diamond’s “Holly Holy.” That period helped me carve out a lane and build a real career writing and recording for film and advertising. At the same time, I was performing all over LA with my band, with shows and residencies at venues like Perch, The Mint, and The Troubadour.

In 2015, I began recording my first full-length album with my band. Thanks to my producer and close friend Travis Margis, we were able to track the entire project at a top-tier studio where he worked as a resident engineer — often sneaking in sessions when bigger artists canceled. Night after night, we’d get a last-minute text, rush over, and chip away at what would become The Recipe. It felt like making something real against all odds, which is maybe the best way to make anything.

With the album finished and fresh off a music video for two songs featured in Universal Pictures’ Bring It On: Worldwide, I took a leap and booked my first tour — starting in Europe. It felt like the perfect moment to ride that momentum across the Atlantic. What began as a short run in the UK, France, and Ireland quickly turned into a biannual tradition over the next seven years. I went on to perform across France, Germany, Belgium, Iceland, Spain, and beyond. In 2019, I performed in South Korea as part of an international arts delegation — and returned in 2022, after the world had reopened, for a second run as part of the same program. Touring became one of the most meaningful parts of my life — the connections, the audiences, the perspective. It reshaped how I see music and its power to reach people across every boundary.

Then the pandemic hit.

Like so many others, it nearly broke me. The industry stalled, and I found myself isolated, creating in a vacuum while waiting for the world to reopen. But something unexpected happened during that stillness — I started acting again, and it lit a fire in me I hadn’t felt in years. When the world finally reopened, I got back out on the road, returning to France, Ireland, the UK, and even Seoul for another run. The shows were great, the audiences warm — but something inside me had shifted. My priorities had quietly changed.

That evolution pushed me back toward my acting roots in a real way. I joined a class for the first time in years and began booking again — landing a role as Ike Clanton in the TV show Wild West Chronicles, securing a few international ad campaigns, and eventually returning to the stage in a theater production called The Fourth Alice. That experience reignited something deep in me. By chance, a longtime friend from my Santa Monica College days was in the audience. She had just come off tour with the American cast of Mania: The ABBA Tribute (of London’s West End fame) and let me know about an opening!

Soon after, I found myself stepping into platform boots, strapping on my “new vintage” Epiphone, and — clad in a custom white jumpsuit — joining the tour as Björn. Last year, we played over 50 shows across the country — and this past winter, we came back even stronger, with a run of 60 shows. If you had told me years ago that I’d be performing ABBA for sold-out audiences nationwide, I wouldn’t have believed you — but it’s been one of the most unexpectedly joyful chapters of my career.

Another meaningful chapter to come out of the pandemic is my weekly showcase in Woodland Hills. I started Showcase West in 2024 as a passion project, inspired by the community that helped shape me early on. What began as a small gathering has grown into a weekly event featuring 6–7 artists in an intimate setting at White Harte Public House on Ventura Blvd. We recently celebrated our 100th show, and it’s become a true creative home — a place where both emerging and established artists can connect, perform, and build something real together. Everyone is welcome to come down and join in.

Looking back, my journey feels like something out of a film. It’s not the life I imagined as a kid growing up in Pittsburgh, but Los Angeles has given me the experiences — and the resilience — to navigate all of it. The highs, the lows, the plot twists. I love this city, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Staying persistent and learning how to fail and learn from those failures.

Also, I realized that if you wnat something in this industry, whatever it is, acting, performing – you absolutely cannot wait around for the opportunities to come to you. You have to create them. I learned that early on but it took ages to incoproate that into my life.

Community is everything. Staying on people’s radar and on their minds helps you maintain the visibility needed to get a leg up, and being a part of a class, a workshop, things like that helps.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
At my core, I’m a singer, songwriter, and actor; but what I do is probably best described as storytelling. I love narrative driven songs esepcially. Even if it’s not my story that I’m telling. Music is where I live, but I’ve never let it be a ceiling.
I specialize in writing and performing soul-driven alternative R&B. I try to make music that draws from the classic sounds of artists like The Isley Brothers, Prince, D’Angelo but lives very much in the present.

I write, compose, and perform, and over the years I’ve built a parallel career in sync and licensing that I’m enormously proud of. My songs have been placed in major studio films including Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Friends With Benefits, Here Comes the Boom, and Bring It On: Worldwide, and have appeared on network television — America’s Got Talent, Dancing With the Stars, America’s Next Top Model — as well as a few Netflix originals. A track I collaborated on with Barcelona-based DJ duo Boxinlion has surpassed 50 million streams worldwide. I’ve also written music that’s been featured across ESPN, NFL Films, Fox, CNN, and more. It’s a body of work I never could have planned — it just grew organically out of a love for the craft.

As a performer, I’ve played stages across the US and Europe for over a decade — from intimate residencies at The Troubadour and The Mint here in LA, to sold-out theater tours across the country. Most recently I’ve been touring nationally as Björn in Mania: The ABBA Tribute, which has been one of the most joyful and unexpected chapters of my career — 50 shows last fall, 60 this past winter.

On the acting side, I’m SAG eligible with television, film, and theater credits. I played Ike Clanton in Wild West Chronicles, appeared as the White Rabbit in the LA stage production The Fourth Alice, and have worked in commercials internationally.

I’m not sure what sets me apart of even if I’m any good at what I do but the joy I get out of making things with friends and collaboraters brings me the upmost joy. I genuinely love of the work behind it. I’m equally at home writing a song for a major studio film, fronting a band at a 1,000-seat venue, or playing a villain in a western. I don’t fit neatly into one box, and I’ve stopped trying to. The thread running through all of it is a deep commitment to authenticity in performance, in songwriting, and in the connections I make with audiences.

What am I most proud of? Honestly, two things that couldn’t be more different on the surface. One is the sync catalog — years of quiet, grinding work that ended up soundtracking moments in some of the biggest films and TV shows of the last decade. The other is Showcase West. Building a creative community from scratch, the way communities built me when I was coming up — that means as much to me as any credit on my resume.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Years ago when I was starting out, I was at a movie premiere and I met Cary Elwes. I’ve loved that guy since I was a kid and we got to chatting. It normally would never occur to me to ask someone for advice but I did. He told me to “persevere.” Always showing up, being open and available to the right stuff, and it’s cliche but, never giving up on your dreams. Even if it seems like its all for not.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mjultramusic.com
• Instagram: @mjultra
• Facebook: @mjultra
• Twitter: @Ultralover
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/MJUltra

Image Credits
Drew Pluta
Kaylin Mae