- Alleges that he was dismissed from his role on Law & Order (1990) because of his threatened lawsuit against Janet Reno, who had been campaigning against violence in the media and cited his show as a major offender. However, according to executive producer Dick Wolf, Moriarty was dismissed due to "erratic behavior" on the set and that the matters between Reno and the producers of the show were settled civilly.
- In 1971, Michael stunned playgoers at the Alley Theater in Houston by suddenly stopping in the middle of a performance of "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail," told the audience he was too tired to continue and walked off the stage. The audience went home, and Moriarty left town.
- Is a talented jazz pianist who has performed in jazz clubs throughout New York City and Canada.
- Won Broadway's 1974 Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "Find Your Way Home."
- Arrested for assault after slapping his then girlfriend/manager Margaret Helen Brychka after a fight in a Vancouver bar. (November 2000)
- His grandfather, George Moriarty, was a major league baseball player and then a MLB umpire.
- While he has won a number of Emmy Awards, he never won for his role on Law & Order (1990).
- In the 1990s, attempted to enter Canadian politics by forming his own political party.
- Starred with Sam Waterston in The Glass Menagerie (1973). Ironically, after his character was written out of Law & Order (1990) in 1995, Waterston was cast as his replacement.
- According to Neil Simon, Michael Moriarty played an "effeminate" Richard III in in an awkward performance of the Shakespearean play, which also featured Simon's wife Marsha Mason as Lady Anne. Simon believed the unusual portrayal was the (unnamed) director's choice, not Moriarty's, of whom Simon is a fan. This inspired the central storyline of a similarly odd Richard III in Simon's The Goodbye Girl (1977) that an actor (Richard Dreyfuss) is compelled to perform by a wacky director (Paul Benedict). Mason plays the actor's love interest, who consoles Moriarty's fictional counterpart.
- Occasionally plays jazz piano at Rossini's in Vancouver. (July 2005)
- While a student at Dartmouth College, he was a roommate of Stephen Macht.
- Has one child by his former wife Francoise Martinet, a son named Matthew Moriarty.
- Loves Jerome Kern songs.
- Was once on the editorial board for New York Quarterly. He has also published a number of poems in this journal.
- Irish-American.
- Was at one point considered for the role of Saul Tigh on Battlestar Galactica (2004).
- Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1973" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 25.
- Frequently cast in Larry Cohen's films.
- Living near Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada. (June 2002)
- Has appeared in two different, completely unrelated productions with Joel Gretsch about mysterious abduction: Taken (2002) and The 4400 (2004).
- Was originally supposed to play the Captain Cutshaw character in William Peter Blatty's The Ninth Configuration (1980), but dropped out at the last minute and was replaced by Scott Wilson.
- Appeared on the A&E documentary series Investigative Reports (1991) hosted by former Chicago television journalist Bill Kurtis on an episode discussing violence on television. The episode aired in March 1994 only two months before his final appearance on Law and Order (1990) and was presumably in response to his dislike of censoring television shows like the one he was in at the time. Dick Wolf creator and executive producer of Law and Order was also interviewed separately for the episode. Kurtis described Moriarty as "very outspoken.".
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