by Larry Richman
July 25, 2008 4:35 PM

We've been following the exploding career of young actor Michael Welch for several years on this blog. He turns 21 today and we'd like to wish him a very Happy Birthday! Michael has an official MySpace at myspace.com/officialmichaelwelch. He'd like all his fans and friends to stop by his birthday blog and post their greetings.

Also, in honor of his birthday, Twilight fan site BellaAndEdward.com has posted a new interview. He also has an official site at michaelwelchonline.com/ where regular updates are posted. Fan site http://michael-welch.com/ had a server crash from all the attention he's been getting. They hope to be back up soon.

It's been an amazing year for the (now) 21-year-old. In February, PROnetworks was the first online to announce that he had been cast in the role of Mike Newton in Twilight, the highly anticipated Summit Pictures release of the film based on Stephenie Meyer's popular novel. Twilight is due in theaters on December 12.

In addition, Michael has seven films just released or coming out before the end of the year, as well as a number of television and even theater projects. He starred in several of my favorite films of 2006 and 2007: All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (scheduled to be released within a few months), An American Crime (currently airing on Showtime), and Lost Dream (in post-production). He has also completed Remember the Daze and Day of the Dead (both recently released on DVD), The Thacker Case, American Son (soon to debut on Starz), and four episodes of the FX series The Riches. This fall he will be appearing onstage in Los Angeles...details to be announced.