“Twilight” actor Michael Welch is taking a break from bloodsucking vampires to help quench a more urgent kind of thirst.

Welch, who plays Bella’s high school bud Mike Newton, in the “Twilight” films, recently contributed a PSA in support of The Thirst Project, a non-profit organization seeking to answer the urgent need for clean drinking water and proper sanitation in Africa – and one charitable Twi-hard may help him provide hands-on help.

“I will be taking a trip to Africa, preferably Swaziland, but we have to raise enough funds in order to do that,” Welch tells PopcornBiz. “If enough people donate, we made a deal with the fans that I’m going to bring one of them with me and they’ll get to see firsthand as well.”

Welch recently had his own awareness raised on the issue. “When I take a particularly delicious sip of cold water or take a shower that feels really good, I have said to myself, ‘It’s unbelievable to me that not everybody has access to this.’ So when [Thirst Project founder] Seth Maxwell introduced this cause to me it immediately struck me as something that I wanted to be a part of. It turns out that this crisis is drastically severe: one out of every six people who don’t have clean water in the world. I just thought about myself and five people that I care about, thinking that one of them doesn’t have water. It’s inconceivable. And the effectiveness of the organization as well has been astonishing. In two and a half years they’ve been able to provide clean drinking water to 35,000 people.”

The actor appreciates the opportunity to use the fame and following he’s amassed via “Twilight” to make a difference. “This is one of the things that I really do like about being in this position – what some might call a celebrity, at least within the ‘Twilight’ world: the fact that I can reach people and I have the opportunity to make an impact.”

Meanwhile, he’ll back for the next film, “Breaking Dawn.”

“I will be in at least the first of the last two films, and I’m not sure about the second film yet,” he says. “It’s going to be a little strange when it’s finally over, when we take the last shot or when we have the last premiere and then that’s going to be it and there’s going to be no more ‘Twilight.’ This has been going on for I guess a little over two and a half years now, and shoot, it’s going to be really interesting to see where we all go from here.”

I really really love this guy. Mike, you are a class act.

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Via The Lex

I don’t know if you all know this but I love Mike Welch. No really. I fan girl over him more than anyone else. When I saw this on the Lex I just had to share!

Mike Welch entertained Twilight fans on the first ever Twilight Cruise. At the crowd’s request he reenacted the infamous “butt shake dance”. It’s a good thing that he didn’t reenact the volleyball at the head sequence…ouch.

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Mike went on his first USO tour on July 9, visiting 10 youth and teen centers in Germany over 6 days, where he saw more than 600 military kids. As part of his USO experience, Mike posed for photos, signed autographs, answered questions and participated in workshop activities and skits. You can see more photos from his tour on USO.org.

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Charlie Bewley, Michael Welch, Alex Meraz and Kiowa Gordon!

Seventeen

Who doesn’t love Michael Welch after the outstanding performance he gave in Twilight as Mike Newton? Our affiliate, Touched By Twilight, had the opportunity to interview Mike recently, here is a sample:

The scene in the diner, with Mike dancing outside the window… improv or scripted? Were you encouraged to improve or did you have to stick straight to the script?

There was a lot of improve in this film for the humans (Eric, Tyler, Angela, Jessica, and Me). Catherine didn’t really care whether dialogue or actions were improvised or scripted, or whether ideas came from her or the cast. Her priority was to create something real, empathetic, and entertaining for the audience. She always had respect for OUR role in the overall story, and our purpose in Bella’s life. And having made several movies on the subject, Catherine has a lot of experience in trying to capture the essence of teenagers.

In the case of the diner, the process went like this… The script said something like, “Mike waves and calls out, trying to get Bella’s attention.” Catherine showed me where this will take place, suggested a couple of ideas, and ultimately left it up to me to come up with something that works. I thought of that dance (for whatever reason), showed her, and she approved. Later in post-production, she had me come into a sound studio to record some various, “Bow chicka WOW wow. WOO WOOO!” whacky noises. She picks one of three choices, and there you have it. Mike Newton in all his goofy glory, dancing for the affections of Bella.

You can read their full interview here.

~Kim C

Monsters & Critics posted these photos from Creation Entertainment’s Twi/Tour 2009 Salute to Twilight Convention in San Fransisco this past weekend.

Jackson & his Band 100 Monkeys performed, Kellan was there sporting a beanie & doing hilarious impressions of Rob (see the goat run video below), & I’ve posted this pic of Mike Welsh because even though we are CBA, we have some Mike Welsh lusters too.

See who else was there HERE.

~Kim C