Jim Michaels is an American television producer. He is the son of Anna Mae and Robert Michaels and was raised in the Chicago suburbs of Des Plaines and Arlington Heights, Illinois. Michaels graduated from John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights and attended the University of Evansville, graduating with a degree in business. Michaels started and ran the in-house computer graphics department at MCA/Universal Studios.

John Hersey High School is a four-year public high school located in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago in the United States. It enrolls students from Arlington Heights as well as parts of Prospect Heights and Mount Prospect. The attendance zone also includes small portions of Des Plaines and Glenview which lack residents. Named after American writer John Hersey, it is part of Township High School District 214 which also includes Buffalo Grove High School, Elk Grove High School, Prospect High School, Rolling Meadows High School, and Wheeling High School.