Mike Mitchell was born in Toronto, Canada. He studied with several memorable teachers in both Canada and New York and owes much of his study and work patterns to them. He was a student at Royal College of Art in Toronto and served as faculty at the Royal College of Art in London, England. His painting career eventually lead him into film production design in New York, London, Milan, Rome and Los Angeles, both in live action and in animation. He was a faculty member at Parsons School of Design in New York and joined the teaching staff of CalArts in 1994 while continuing in production design.