Tammy Lynn Michaels was born in a tiny rural town north of Lafayette, Indiana, in the USA, on Wednesday, November 26^th 1974, and as  toddler  moved to Lafayette with her mother and older sister. A  single parent; Tammy's hard-working mother held down several jobs at once, in order to provide for her two children.  

Tammy's first taste of acting came when as a child, she and other children would re-enact  during  the day what they had seen on television the night before. Known for her great sense of humor and fun loving ways, Tammy was often the "life of the party." However, single parenthood was not the accepted norm of the day in Tammy's hometown, contributing needlessly to the hardships and the poverty the family endured while Tammy was  growing up. Tammy began working at a very early age helping to support her family. One job was delivering the Lafayette Journal and Courier for 2½ years, getting up at the crack of dawn to first rubber band the papers, then delivering them to residents in the neighborhood, earning her an award in the process as 'Carrier of the Week'. Another job was waitressing,  and for a while, as a teen, Tammy worked along side her mother at a local restaurant. She credits her mother with teaching her everything she knows about being a waitress. To this day Tammy has a great affinity and compassion for waitresses, and the hard work they do. Tammy even tried her hand for a day with the tough job of detassling corn stalks. 

Adolescence was a difficult time for Tammy having realized early on that her sexuality was different from the majority of the community, a knowledge which she kept private and did not reveal until shortly before leaving Lafayette, when Tammy came out to a friend. Tear stained diary pages attest to the internal turmoil Tammy was struggling with during these formative years. 

Although a very good and hard-working student in school, excelling in sports, the arts and other subjects, Tammy was not among the "popular crowd." These feelings of not fitting in were lessened when Tammy found a niche in drama. Encouraged to pursue acting by teachers, who instantly recognized her great talent, Tammy started acting while in the 8^th grade. Especially one teacher, Marcy, took Tammy under her wings, providing her with the intellectual, artistic and moral support she needed at the time. At a time in her life when things were particularly difficult for Tammy, Marcy lifted Tammy’s broken spirit, taught her that life is beautiful and positive and that it is okay to dream about a better future. Over the years, ever since Tammy left school, they have retained a very close friendship.

Tammy started attending summer theatre camps at Indiana State University taking on the name "Olivia Michaels" as a stage name. She later kept the name Michaels as a professional name, when signing up with the Actors Union. Tammy also starred in school theatre productions while attending Jefferson High School in Lafayette, in roles as Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac, The Wicked Witch of the West and the March Hare in Alice in Wonderland.

In 1993 Tammy graduated from Jefferson High School, determined to pursue acting professionally and to make a better future for herself elsewhere, she headed for acting school in New York City. Life in New York was tough, money was a real scarce commodity and for a while Tammy lived in an unheated, rat-infested apartment, eating cereal with water because she could not afford milk. To survive Tammy worked as a bartender, a waitress and a nanny. Eventually she landed an agent and started appearing in commercials such as Playtex, Earth Grains Bagels (appearing with Regis Philbin), Dupont Panwear, YooHoo Chocolate Drink, Secret Deoderant Sprint/Dime a minute plan, Pond's Pore Strips, Trident Gum, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Canon Elf LT Camera and several others. For a while Tammy would be recognized on the streets of New York as "that tampon girl." Auditioning whenever she had the opportunity, Tammy was close a few times to landing roles in daytime soaps such as "All My Children." 

She did at one point get a tiny job as an extra on the street, in an episode of  "Law and Order" in what Tammy herself describes as a "don't-blink-you-still-missed-it" moment. Despite the hardships, life in New York also provided Tammy with the freedom to be relatively open about her sexuality. 

A year later, she mustered up enough courage to come out to her mother, who gracefully accepted her daughter's personal truth with love and compassion.

Being openly gay only lasted though, until her agent made it clear to her, that being out and an actress, were incompatible, and that she would never work again in acting if she insisted on being out. Although it was eating her up inside, Tammy reluctantly acquiesced and kept quiet about her sexuality, fearing the prospects of a life long career as a waitress, if she didn't comply with her agent's demand. 

On a trip to California in 1999, Tammy had the opportunity to audition for shows. She auditioned for a new show to be aired called Popular, about a group of teens in high school. Tammy auditioned for the role of Nicole Julian; a beautiful, rich cheerleader, with a knack for being mean and nasty. With the move to California, Tammy's life took a whole new turn. Popular turned out to be like no other teen high school show. Outrageously funny, extremely witty and sarcastic, the show more than once pulled off spoofs on other shows and films. Yet, in the process Popular very intelligently dealt with every issue under the sun facing high school teens, at times getting somber and serious, but never losing that fun edge.

Playing the role of a girl so opposite herself in every way, Tammy was none-the-less perfectly cast as Nicole, who quickly became one of the most recognizable characters on the show. Beautiful, rich and blonde, Nicole uses her physical advantage to ensure that she is among the cream of the schools crop. 

A Machiavellian master in the making, she uses everybody and everything to further her own ends without any regard for what the consequences may be for her often times hapless victims. However, her continuous antics backfire on her, and she finds herself off the Glamazon team and abandoned by her friends by the end of season two. Yet in spite of all her nasty ways she is capable of great feats of kindness. 

The role as Nicole provides a window to Tammy’s formidable acting ability. With subtle facial expressions, she is able to convey a wide range of emotions, describing in nuances Nicole’s feelings and the mood she is in. Tammy provides great depth to the role of Nicole making her the most unique character on the show. She delivers Nicole’s lines with such skill and such venom, she makes Nicole come alive, and you really want to hate this nasty bitch. Sometimes Nicole cuts a rather comical figure when her schemes backfire on her and Tammy catches this too with her equally great talent for comedy and comedic timing.

With the role of Nicole, Tammy began to experience the advantages and drawbacks of fame. She would often be recognized on the street by young teens who didn’t see her, Tammy Lynn Michaels, but only Nicole Julian. Some would follow her at a safe distance, but would then run away when “Nicole” turned around to talk to them. Young teens would yell at her in the streets or lewdly comment on her appearance in public places. 

Although this was very unpleasant for Tammy, she realized that these young viewers were not seeing her, but Nicole. She was even forced to move out of an apartment because a young resident, and her parents living in the building, were incapable of respecting Tammy’s need for privacy.

Although highly uncomfortable about being closeted, Tammy had none-the-less been discreet about her sexuality while working. However, as the second season commenced, Tammy was outed by a co-worker without her consent, and was subsequently outed throughout that entire  season of Popular. As the shooting for the second season of Popular wrapped in April 2000, Tammy, thoroughly annoyed by the whole thing, threw caution to the wind and decided it was time to be more open. She invited a group of girls from the set, to come with her to lesbian night at a West Hollywood bar named Felt. It was in this bar on that evening that Tammy met Melissa Etheridge for the first time and they became friends.

As their budding friendship grew into a loving and committed relationship, it was not long before the media caught wind of the news of Melissa’s new girlfriend and Tammy was publicly outed when People Magazine wrote about them. The news of their relationship was not received very warmly by some of Melissa’s many fans. They thought of Tammy as nothing more than a “fame-seeking gold digger.” She shelved her acting career for a while, realizing that no matter how she acquired a new role, she would inevitably be accused of riding Melissa’s coat tails.

However, in 2002 Tammy did land the role of Patty, guest starring in 3 episodes on “That ‘80’s Show” on the Fox Network. Tammy also starred in a 10 minute “mini-film” called D.E.B.S. and she has been featured as herself in the documentary sections of Melissa’s two DVD’s  “Live and Alone”(2001) and “Lucky” (2004) and in Melissas’s music video “I Want To Be In Love” (2001) and guest starring in three episodes of the first season of the L Word (2003) guest starring as Lacey, a slightly crazy character who stalks one of the regulars on the show.

In 2003 Tammy and Melissa decided to take their relationship to a new level, and amidst the ongoing and raging debate pertaining to the legality of gay marriage, they threw themselves a huge wedding on the 20^th. of September, exchanging vows in a very romantic setting in front of 150 family members and friends. Due to the guest list involving some of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities, their wedding was featured on ABC’s Instyle Wedding program, resulting in extensive media coverage.

Being openly gay does not seem to have hurt Tammy’s acting career and in 2004 she was invited to audition for a supporting role as a New York nanny, in a new show Committed. She was later hired to play the part. Committed is a funny comedy about a bunch of slightly off kilter people living in New York City. Tammy plays Tess, a somewhat irresponsible nanny with a little alcohol problem. A regular on the show, Tammy outshines the other actors whenever she is “on”. The scenes with Tammy as Tess are the funniest ones on Committed. However, Tammy's many fans feel though, that she is not in enough scenes and that Committed needs to show more of her to be truly successful. Some critics, who claim the writers of Committed; "are squandering the talent of their supporting cast" tend to agree with this view. So far, Committed has been on the air for one full season. Latest news is that the show will not be renewed for a new season. 

In the fall of 2004, the Etheridges happy home life was temporarily shattered when the devastating news hit them that Melissa was suffering from a potentially life-threatening breast cancer. Amidst her own private fears and worries as to the outcome, Tammy found herself faced with keeping her family together, caring for a desperately ill wife and honoring her commitment to the show she was working on. Fortunately Melissa's cancer was caught early and after enduring months of excruciating chemo treatments and radiation, losing her hair in the process, Melissa returned cured and in triumph to the stage; at the annual Grammy Awards. Attributing her successful return completely to her wife's unflinching support and devoted care, Melissa bald, beautiful and bold, ripped the song "A Piece of My Heart" out with awesome intensity and power in a tribute to Janis Joplin, bringing the house down and the audience to it's feet. Melissa, who for years had been an icon and a hero to the gay community, now found herself an icon of hope and courage to cancer sufferers everywhere. In February 2005, Time Magazine designated Melissa "one of the hundred most influential people in the world" along with such notables, as the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey and others.

On October 17th. 2006 Tammy gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl named Miller Steven and Johnnie Rose after people both Tammy and Melissa know and love.

Tammy is multi-talented, and one talent, which has previously escaped the public eye is her ability to write. A talent, that may well prove to be considerably greater, than her already formidable abilities as an actor. In her blog on the internet, Tammy posts daily commentaries, vignettes of her life; painting clear and vivid pictures with few but well chosen words. Intelligent, wise, thought provoking, provocative and loving; Tammy touches on people, feelings, events and situations that she has experienced or come across in her life. She draws the reader right in, transporting you, for the few minutes it takes to read each blog entry, to a different time and another place. You see what she saw and feel what she felt. The hallmark of any great writer, is the ability to touch the minds and hearts of her readers, and Tammy is blessed with that ability in abundance. Following Tammy's ongoing career as a writer is going to be as fascinating as following her career in TV shows and movies. Now that Committed has been cancelled, it would be a crime if Hollywood just lets this able actress slip between their fingers. Tammy’s fans are sure though, that she is heading for better and greater shows in the future, shows that will do justice to her formidable talent.