Michael Federico was born in 1975 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the age of four, he moved with his family to a suburb of Dallas, Texas. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater from Southern Methodist University and a Master of Arts in Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas. The majority of his career has been spent working in theater as both an actor and a playwright, in addition to appearing in various commercials. In 2018, Federico was the recipient of both the National Endowment for the Arts Art Works Award and the Drama Guild Foundation Writers Alliance Grant.

In the field of anime voice acting, Federico is best known for his work in the English-language dub of the Psycho-Pass series. He provides the voice for the character Jouji Saiga, also known as Joji Saiga. He first voiced this role in the television series Psycho-Pass 2. He reprised the character in the 2023 film Psycho-Pass: Providence, as well as in Psycho-Pass: The Movie. Saiga is a former professor of clinical psychology and a sharp-witted analyst with extraordinary powers of observation.

Aside from his work on Psycho-Pass, Federico has also been credited with providing additional voices for other English-dubbed anime shows.