Mike Portnoy

Biography

Michael Stephen "Mike" Portnoy is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Known for his drumming prowess and technical skill, Portnoy has won 23 awards from the Modern Drummer magazine. He has co-produced the last six Dream Theater albums with guitarist John Petrucci, starting from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. From A Change of Seasons onwards, Portnoy had been writing a substantial amount of Dream Theater's lyrics. He is the second youngest person (after Neil Peart) to be inducted into the Modern Drummer's Hall of Fame (at 37 years of age). On September 8, 2010, it was announced that Portnoy had left Dream Theater. Portnoy cited conflicting interests as the reason behind his departure. On February 3, 2011, Portnoy announced that he has started a new project with Symphony X singer Russell Allen and guitarist Mike Orlando. Also he is involved in various projects with Neal Morse.

Most Famous Work

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8

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Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage

(2010) Self

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7

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Liquid Tension Experiment: Live In LA

(2009) Himself - Drums

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8

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Metal Meltdown - Featuring Twisted Sister Live at the Hard Rock Casino Las Vegas

(2016) Himself - Drums

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Mike Portnoy - Liquid Drum Theater

(2001) Himself - Drums

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9

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Sons of Apollo: Live With The Plovdiv Psychotic Symphony

(2019) Self

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8

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Dream Theater: Score - 20th Anniversary World Tour

(2006) Himself - Drums

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Amazing Journey: One Night in New York City

(2006) Himself - Drums

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8

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Dream Theater: Metropolis 2000 - Scenes From New York

(2001) Himself - Drums

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Acting

Year	Character	Movie/Tv
2023	N/A	Transatlantic: The Final Flight: Live At L'Olympia 2023-02-17 Movie
	N/A	Morsefest 2020: Cover2Cover 2023-01-23 Movie
	N/A	Morsefest 2020: Sola Gratia 2023-01-23 Movie
2022	N/A	The Neal Morse Band: Morsefest 2021 2022-06-24 Movie
	N/A	The Neal Morse Band: A U.S. Tour Of Innocence And Danger 2022-03-01 Movie
2021	N/A	Morsefest 2019 2021-08-27 Movie
	N/A	The Neal Morse Band: The Making of Innocence & Danger 2021-08-27 Movie
	N/A	Neal Morse: The Making of Lifeline 2021-07-01 Movie
	Himself - Drums	Mike Portnoy - LTE3 2021-04-17 Movie
	N/A	Liquid Tension Experiment 3 2021-04-16 Movie
	Himself	The Making of the Absolute Universe by Transatlantic 2021-02-05 Movie
	N/A	Transatlantic - The Absolute Universe 2021-02-05 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy: The Absolute Universe 2021-01-01 Movie
2020	N/A	Transatlantic: Live At Sweden Rock 2014 2020-11-01 Movie
	N/A	Flying Colors : Third Stage - Live in London 2020-09-18 Movie
	Himself	Neal Morse: The Making of Sola Gratia 2020-09-11 Movie
	N/A	The Neal Morse Band : The Great Adventour - Live in BRNO 2019 2020-03-06 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy : MPMMXX Drum Cam 2020-01-01 Movie
2019	Self	Sons of Apollo - Live with the Plovdiv Psychotic Symphony - Documentary 2019-08-30 Movie
	Self	Sons of Apollo: Live With The Plovdiv Psychotic Symphony 2019-08-30 Movie
	N/A	The Neal Morse Band: The Great Adventure Commentary 2019-03-01 Movie
	N/A	The Neal Morse Band: The Adventure Begins (The Making Of The Great Adventure) 2019-01-25 Movie
	N/A	The Neal Morse Band – Live In Limbourg 2019-01-15 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy: The Great Adventure 2019-01-01 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy: Third Degree 2019-01-01 Movie
2018	N/A	Morsefest 2017 - Testimony of a Dream 2018-11-23 Movie
	N/A	Haken - L-1VE 2018-06-22 Movie
	Gong (Guest Appearance)	Haken - Live at ProgPower USA 2016 2018-06-22 Movie
	Himself	The Neal Morse Band : The Similitude of A Dream - Live in Tilburg 2017 2018-06-15 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy: The Similitude of a Dream Live 2018-01-01 Movie
2017	Himself - Drums	The Winery Dogs : Dog Years - Live in Santiago and Beyond 2013-2016 2017-08-04 Movie
	N/A	Morsefest 2015: Question Mark 2017-03-24 Movie
	N/A	Morsefest 2015: Sola Scriptura 2017-03-24 Movie
	Himself - Drums, Vocals	Neal Morse: Question Mark and Sola Scriptura Live 2017-03-02 Movie
2016	N/A	The Neal Morse Band: The Making of a Dream 2016-11-11 Movie
	Himself	The Neal Morse Band: Alive Again 2016-08-05 Movie
	Himself - Drums	Metal Meltdown - Featuring Twisted Sister Live at the Hard Rock Casino Las Vegas 2016-07-22 Movie
	N/A	The Neal Morse Band: Cruise to the Edge 2016-01-01 Movie
2015	Himself	Flying Colors : Second Flight - Live at The Z7 2015-11-13 Movie
	N/A	Neal Morse: The Sola Scriptura Sessions 2015-09-01 Movie
	Himself	Morsefest 2014: Testimony 2015-08-21 Movie
	Himself	Morsefest 2014: One 2015-08-21 Movie
	N/A	The Neal Morse Band: Live in Athens 2015-05-01 Movie
	N/A	The Neal Morse Band: The Making of The Grand Experiment 2015-02-10 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy: Hot Drums 2015-01-01 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy: Metal Drumming 2015-01-01 Movie
	N/A	Neal Morse: The Making of ? 2015-01-01 Movie
2014	Himself - Drums	Transatlantic: KaLIVEoscope 2014-10-27 Movie
	N/A	Flying Colors: Second Nature Video Anthology 2014-09-29 Movie
	N/A	Neal Morse: Morsefest - Testimony & One feat. Mike Portnoy Live 2014-09-25 Movie
	Himself - Drums	The Winery Dogs: [2014] Sonisphere Festival 2014-07-05 Movie
	N/A	The Neal Morse Band - Live In India 2014-07-01 Movie
	N/A	Transatlantic: The Making of Kaleidoscope 2014-01-28 Movie
	Himself - Drums	The Winery Dogs - Unleashed in Japan 2014-01-15 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy: Drumming Nature 2014-01-01 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy: Kaleidodrums 2014-01-01 Movie
2013	Himself - Drums	Flying Colors: Live in Europe 2013-10-14 Movie
	Self - Drums	Portnoy Sheehan MacAlpine Sherinian: Live in Tokyo 2013-09-03 Movie
	N/A	The Neal Morse Band/The Flower Kings: 19 Days in Europe 2013-07-01 Movie
	N/A	Neal Morse: Live Momentum 2013-02-19 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy: The Drumming Dog 2013-01-01 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy: Live Momentum 2013-01-01 Movie
2012	Himself	Neal Morse: The Making of Momentum 2012-09-11 Movie
	Himself	Mike Portnoy - Drumerta 2012-06-01 Movie
	Himself	Mike Portnoy - Drumming Colors 2012-06-01 Movie
	N/A	Morse Portnoy George: The Making of Cover 2 Cover 2012-05-20 Movie
	Himself	The Making of Flying Colors 2012-03-26 Movie
	N/A	Neal Morse: One Under Construction 2012-03-01 Movie
	Himself	Mike Portnoy: Testimony 2: Live in Los Angeles 2012-01-01 Movie
	N/A	PSMS Portnoy, Sheehan, MacAlpine & Sherinian: InstruMENTAL Inspirations 2012-01-01 Movie
2011	Himself	Transatlantic: More Never Is Enough 2011-10-25 Movie
	Himself - Drums	Stone Sour: Rock In Rio 2011 2011-09-24 Movie
	Himself	Neal Morse: Testimony Two - Live in Los Angeles 2011-09-12 Movie
	N/A	Neal Morse: The Making of Testimony Two 2011-05-23 Movie
	Himself	Dream Theater: The Spirit Carries On 2011-04-28 Movie
	N/A	Transatlantic: The Official Bootleg DVD 2011-03-01 Movie
	Himself - Drums	Yellow Matter Custard: One More Night in New York City 2011-02-28 Movie
2010	N/A	Transatlantic: Whirld Tour 2010: Live from Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London 2010-10-24 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy on the “Art Of Drumming” with Terry Bozzio 2010-08-25 Movie
	Self	Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage 2010-06-29 Movie
	Himself	Mike Portnoy - Whirlwind Drumming 2010-06-01 Movie
2009	N/A	Transatlantic: The Making of the Whirlwind 2009-10-23 Movie
	Himself	Dream Theater - Santiago, Chile 12/6/05 2009-07-23 Movie
	Himself	Mike Portnoy - Black Clouds and Silver Drumming 2009-07-01 Movie
	Himself - Drums	Liquid Tension Experiment: Live In LA 2009-01-01 Movie
	N/A	Liquid Tension Experiment - Live In NYC 2009-01-01 Movie
2008	N/A	Mike Portnoy - Score 2008-12-20 Movie
	N/A	That Metal Show 2008-11-15 TV Show
	Himself - Drums	Dream Theater: Chaos in Motion 2008-09-30 Movie
	N/A	Neal Morse: Live at 3RP 2008-09-01 Movie
2007	N/A	Neal Morse: The Making of Testimony 2007-09-01 Movie
	Drums / Vocals	Dream Theater: Chaos in Progress: The Making of Systematic Chaos 2007-06-05 Movie
	Himself	Mike Portnoy - sysDRUMatic Chaos 2007-06-01 Movie
	Himself - Drums	Mike Portnoy - In Constant Motion 2007-03-23 Movie
	Himself	Dream Theater: Bucharest, Romania 2007-01-01 Movie
2006	Himself - Drums	Dream Theater: Score - 20th Anniversary World Tour 2006-08-29 Movie
	Himself	Dream Theater: The Score So Far... 2006-08-29 Movie
	Himself - Drums	Amazing Journey: One Night in New York City 2006-05-31 Movie
	N/A	Transatlantic - Building the Bridge / Live in America 2006-05-02 Movie
	Self - Drums	Dream Theater: Romavarium 2006-03-31 Movie
	Himself - Drums	Hammer of the Gods: Two Nights in North America 2006-01-01 Movie
2005	Drums	G3: Live in Tokyo 2005-10-25 Movie
	Himself - Drums	Cygnus and the Sea Monsters: One Night in Chicago 2005-09-18 Movie
	Himself	Mike Portnoy - Live at Budokan 2005-06-01 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy - Drumavarium 2005-01-01 Movie
	Drums and Vcoals	Dream Theater: Dark Side Of The Moon 2005-01-01 Movie
	Himself - Drums	Dream Theater: A Walk Beside the Band 2005-01-01 Movie
2004	Self	Dream Theater: Riding the Train of Thought 2004-10-05 Movie
	Himself - Drums	Dream Theater: Live at Budokan 2004-10-05 Movie
	N/A	Mike Portnoy: Progressive Drum Concepts 2004-09-21 Movie
	Drums	Dream Theater: When Dream and Day Reunite 2004-08-01 Movie
	N/A	Neal Morse: Testimony Live 2004-07-27 Movie
	Himself	Mike Portnoy - Drums of Thought 2004-06-01 Movie
2003	Himself - Drums	Yellow Matter Custard: One Night in New York City 2003-05-18 Movie
	N/A	Modern Drummer Festival Weekend 2003 2003-03-05 Movie
	Himself - Drums, Backing Vocals	Transatlantic - Live in Europe 2003-01-08 Movie
2002	N/A	Dream Theater: [2002] Rotterdamned 2002-11-03 Movie
	Himself	Mike Portnoy - Ten Degrees of Turbulent Drumming 2002-07-01 Movie
	Himself	Mike Portnoy - Drums Across Forever 2002-06-01 Movie
2001	Himself - Drums	Mike Portnoy - Liquid Drum Theater 2001-10-01 Movie
	Himself - Drums	Dream Theater: Metropolis 2000 - Scenes From New York 2001-04-21 Movie
2000	N/A	Transatlantic: The Making of SMPTe 2000-03-21 Movie
1994	Himself - Drums	Dream Theater: [1994] The Rudess Experiment 1994-09-04 Movie
1993	Himself - Drums	Dream Theater: Images And Words - Live In Tokyo 1993-08-01 Movie
	N/A	Dream Theater – Live At Tokyo Sun Plaza Movie
Year	Character	Movie/Tv

Art

Year	Role	Movie/Tv
2021	Creative Director	Mike Portnoy - LTE3 2021-04-17 Movie
2006	Creative Director	Dream Theater: The Score So Far... 2006-08-29 Movie
2004	Creative Director	Dream Theater: Riding the Train of Thought 2004-10-05 Movie
Year	Role	Movie/Tv

Directing

Year	Role	Movie/Tv
2019	Director	Sons of Apollo - Live with the Plovdiv Psychotic Symphony - Documentary 2019-08-30 Movie
2007	Director	Dream Theater: Chaos in Progress: The Making of Systematic Chaos 2007-06-05 Movie
2006	Director	Dream Theater: Score - 20th Anniversary World Tour 2006-08-29 Movie
2004	Director	Dream Theater: Live at Budokan 2004-10-05 Movie
2001	Director	Dream Theater: Metropolis 2000 - Scenes From New York 2001-04-21 Movie
Year	Role	Movie/Tv

Editing

Year	Role	Movie/Tv
2019	Editor	Sons of Apollo - Live with the Plovdiv Psychotic Symphony - Documentary 2019-08-30 Movie
2007	Editor	Dream Theater: Chaos in Progress: The Making of Systematic Chaos 2007-06-05 Movie
Year	Role	Movie/Tv

Sound

Year	Role	Movie/Tv
2019	Musician	Sons of Apollo: Live With The Plovdiv Psychotic Symphony 2019-08-30 Movie
Year	Role	Movie/Tv

Writing

Year	Role	Movie/Tv
2006	Writer	Dream Theater: Score - 20th Anniversary World Tour 2006-08-29 Movie
Year	Role	Movie/Tv