The first generation American actor's biggest role had him hanging out in the halls of West Beverly Hills High, playing charming yet politically-charged high school student Navid in the CW's reimagining of Fox's early 1990s smash series, "90210" (2008- ).
Michael Mateus Steger was born on May 27, 1980 in Los Angeles to an accountant mother and an operations manager father. The third of four sons in his family, the actor was of Ecuadorian, Austrian, and Norwegian descent. While his brothers dabbled in art and a little bit of commercial acting, Steger was the only one who pursued entertainment as a lifelong career. The young man grew up watching Bruce Lee movies and hoped to follow in the film icon's footsteps, remarking in interviews, "I've always wanted to do a really good martial arts film."
Steger graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theater and a minor in Spanish from Cal Poly Pomona before starting his Hollywood career. After appearing in several TV and print advertisements, he guest-starred in the children's action/adventure show, "V.R. Troopers" (FOX Kids, 1994-96) before taking a few years off from acting. He came back in 2005 with a small part in the independent release "3 Girls and the Golden Cocoon," filmed in India. That same year, the California native appeared as Sniper in the Emmy-nominated series "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Services" (CBS, 2003- ). Liking the young man's look, visionary filmmaker Tim Burton cast Steger in his very first music video, for The Killers' song, "Bones" in 2006. The actor described the shoot as an incredible experience. "I kept thinking, 'This guy works with Johnny Depp and so many amazing people and has such an eye for amazing storytelling,'" Steger commented.
His hard work in minor roles soon lead Steger to more steady work on television, starting with a recurring role as Miguel in "The Winner" (FOX, 2006). Showing his acting versatility, he also guest-starred in several Disney Channel series including its biggest hit, "Hannah Montana" (2006- ) and the less than stellar "Cory in the House" (2007) - a spin-off of the mouse network's longest-running show, "That's So Raven" (2003-07). Disney could seemingly not get enough of Steger, giving him a role as Vikram in the network's original movie "The Cheetah Girls: One World" (2008), where Steger made a return trip to India to film the movie. Getting the Indian accent down came easily for the actor, who had a hobby of listening to tapes of different accents at home.
Thankfully, Steger did not have to utilize any foreign accents when he joined the cast of "90210," a show based on hit 1990s teen drama, "Beverly Hills, 90210" (FOX, 1990-2000). He played Beverly Hills teen Navid Shirazi, the son of an adult film director and the best friend to Dixon Wilson (Tristan Wilds), one of the show's central figures. "He's overly-ambitious, a little self-entitled, but he's looking for true friendship and has a great relationship with Dixon," Steger said about his character - who also produced the fictional school's Blaze News and was reported to be a Scientologist.