Michael de Adder was born in Moncton, New Brunswick. He studied art at Mount Allison University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and painting. He began his career working for The Coast, a Halifax-based alternative weekly, drawing a popular comic strip called Walterworldwhich lampooned the then-current mayor of Halifax, Walter Fitzgerald. This led to freelance jobs at The Chronicle-Heraldand The Hill Timesin Ottawa, Ontario. After freelancing for a few years, he landed his first full time cartooning job at the Halifax Daily News. After the Daily News folded in 2008, de Adder became the full-time freelance cartoonist at New Brunswick Publishing. He was let go in 2019 for his political views with one of these being his cartoons depicting U.S. President Donald Trump’s boarder policies. He now freelances for the Halifax Chronicle Herald, the Toronto Star, Ottawa Hill Times and Counterpoint in the USA.  He has over a million readers per day and is considered the most read cartoonist in Canada. He is a past president of the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists and is on the board of the Cartoonists Rights Network, International.