Michael A. Goorjian

Michael A. Goorjian

  • Birthday: 1971-02-04
  • Place of birth: San Francisco, California, USA
  • Also know as: Michael Gourjian

Biography

Michael A. Goorjian (born February 4, 1971; San Francisco) is an American filmmaker, writer and actor. Goorjian won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special for his role as David Goodson in the television film David's Mother (1994). He is also known for his role as Justin, Neve Campbell’s love interest on the series Party of Five (1994–2000), as well as Heroin Bob in the film SLC Punk! (1998) and its sequel, Punk's Dead (2016). As a director, Goorjian achieved recognition for his first major independent film, Illusion (2004), which he wrote, directed and starred in alongside Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas. Goorjian was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. His father, Peter, is Armenian, with his paternal grandparents being survivors of the Armenian genocide; his mother, Sarah, is of Scottish-American descent. Goorjian grew up in Oakland, California, and attended Bishop O'Dowd High School, which had a strong drama program. At the age of 14, he decided to audition for a local theatre company, thinking it was a ‘cool way’ to skip class; after successfully landing the lead role in a 'not-so-cool' play called Computer Crazy, Goorjian soon found out that the rest of the cast were all senior citizens and that he would have to perform the play at his own junior high school. Despite this seemingly rather humiliating experience, Goorjian stuck with acting, eventually training at UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television. Goorjian’s first big Hollywood break came as a dancer when, in 1992, he was cast as ‘Skittery’ in the Disney film Newsies (starring Christian Bale and Robert Duvall). What followed were roles in numerous subsequent films, including Chaplin (with Robert Downey Jr.), Forever Young (with Mel Gibson), the Oscar-nominated Leaving Las Vegas, Hard Rain (with Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater), SLC Punk! (with Devon Sawa), The Invisibles (with Portia de Rossi), Broken (with Heather Graham) and Conversations with God. Goorjian made his first real foray into directing with the mock-documentary Oakland Underground, a comedy about an underground occult music scene in Oakland, CA. From there, Goorjian made Illusion with Kirk Douglas, which was released theatrically in 2006 after racking up over a dozen festival awards, including Best Screenplay at The Hampton’s International Film Festival, Best Feature at the Lake Tahoe International Film Festival and The Audience Award at the Sonoma International Film Festival. With Illusion Goorjian was critically lauded for his ability to blend great filmmaking with philosophical depth. Soon after Illusion, Goorjian began collaborating with the publishing company Hay House to produce and direct a number of films including the documentary You Can Heal Your Life (2007), starring metaphysical author and teacher, Louise L. Hay and The Shift, starring author Dr. Wayne Dyer, along with Michael DeLuise and Portia de Rossi. His most recent work with Hay House is an original film anthology called Tales of Everyday Magic, which explores meaningful philosophical ideas through intimate character-driven stories.

Filmography

Here Lies Lonely

1999

As Sid

The Invisibles

1999

As Jude

Life in a Day

1999

As Dr. Peter Hamilton

Something More

2000

As Sam

Amerikatsi

2022

As Charlie

SLC Punk

1998

As Bob

Amerikana

2001

As Peter

Illusion

2004

As Christopher

Deal of a Lifetime

2000

As Henry

David's Mother

1994

As David Goodson

Broken

2007

As Thomas

Around June

2008

As Mr. Lewis

Pin-Up

2018

As Guy

Do Not Disturb

1999

As Billy Boy Manson

The Mesmerist

2002

As Coroner #1

Go for Broke

2002

As Rome / Romie

Hard Rain

1998

As Kenny

Forever Young

1992

As Steven

The Wizard of Lies

2017

As Dan Horwitz

Art House

1998

As Danny Farthing

Newsies

1992

As Skittery

Land of Dreams

2022

As Bartender

Leaving Las Vegas

1995

As College Boy 1

Chaplin

1992

As Charles Chaplin Jr

Production

The War Prayer

2007

As Technical Supervisor

The Shift

2009

As Director

You Can Heal Your Life

2007

As Director

Illusion

2004

As Director

Amerikatsi

2022

As Director

Oakland Underground

1997

As Director

Call Waiting

1998

As Director

Players' Club

2006

As Director

The War Prayer

2007

As Director

Tales of Everyday Magic

2012

As Director

Painting the Future

2012

As Director

The Magic Hand of Chance

2012

As Director

My Greatest Teacher

2012

As Director

Entanglement

2012

As Director

Amerikatsi

2022

As Editor

The War Prayer

2007

As Editor

The Invisibles

1999

As Producer

Amerikatsi

2022

As Producer

Oakland Underground

1997

As Producer

Part Time Fabulous

2011

As Associate Producer

Illusion

2004

As Writer

Amerikana

2001

As Writer

The Mesmerist

2002

As Screenplay

Amerikatsi

2022

As Writer

Oakland Underground

1997

As Writer

Painting the Future

2012

As Writer

My Greatest Teacher

2012

As Writer

Entanglement

2012

As Writer

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