Michael A. Goorjian
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.
Known For | Directing |
---|---|
Most Rating | 16.137 |
Birthday | 1971-02-04 |
Place of Birth | San Francisco, California, USA |
Also Known As | Michael Gourjian, Michael Andranik Goorjian, Michael Goorjian, |
1998
SLC Punk
7.066/354
Two former geeks become 1980s punks, then party and go to concerts while deciding what to do with their lives.
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SLC Punk
2007
Broken
5.6/33
A waitress confronts all the wrong turns she has made in her short life and ultimately ends up facing the biggest wrong turn of all: her dangerous ex-...
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Broken
2001
Amerikana
6/6
Peter and Chris, two young American friends in their late 20s, go from South Dakota to California on a scooter, and as they travel across the American...
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Amerikana
1992
Chaplin
7.4/1053
An aged Charlie Chaplin narrates his life to his autobiography's editor, including his rise to wealth and comedic fame from poverty, his turbulent per...
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Chaplin
2008
Around June
2.5/2
A love story set in the shadow of the shipyards of San Francisco. A young woman living with her much adored uncle Henry and domineering, abusive fathe...
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Around June
2004
Illusion
8.2/4
A once-powerful, but now ailing movie director nears the end of his life. As he awaits death, he slips into a "dream" and is shown three "snippets" of...
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Illusion
1999
Here Lies Lonely
0/0
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Here Lies Lonely
2002
Go for Broke
4.8/4
Two men (Pras, Michael Goorjian) in drag purposely get arrested in order to recover their winning lottery-ticket from an inmate at a women's prison.
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Go for Broke
1999
The Invisibles
0/0
Jude and Joy escape to her Parisian flat for a private detox. A dark comedy of word games, sex, fantasy and pop tarts.
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The Invisibles
1999
Life in a Day
6/4
A scientific experiment in rapid-cell growth goes awry when a lab assistant steals the developed serum and injects it into his pregnant girl friend. T...
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Life in a Day
1993
The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children?
6.2/33
In rural Comfort, Texas, the strict protestant Horizon Bible church community holds its annual, pretty strictly supervised summer camp, with mandatory...
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The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children?
2006
Conversations with God
6.845/55
"Conversations with God" is the true story of Neale Donald Walsch that inspired and changed the lives of millions. The journey begins after he unexpec...
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Conversations with God
1994
David's Mother
8.5/4
Sally Goodson has been raising her autistic son David alone since her husband left many years ago. Now a social worker discovers that Sally has been d...
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David's Mother
1999
Do Not Disturb
5.1/37
Combining a family vacation with business, Walter Richmond takes his wife and their 10-year-old, mute daughter, Melissa , to the Netherlands -- where...
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Do Not Disturb
2002
The Mesmerist
4/1
Based on an Edgar Allan Poe story, this film tells the grimly comic tale of a bad-tempered old man (Howard Hesseman) who cheats death, only to go on t...
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The Mesmerist
2022
Amerikatsi
7.7/14
In 1948, decades after fleeing Armenia to the US as a child, Charlie returns in the hopes of finding a connection to his roots, but what he finds inst...
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Amerikatsi
1992
Forever Young
6.483/876
A 1939 test pilot asks his best friend to use him as a guinea pig for a cryogenics experiment. Daniel McCormick wants to be frozen for a year so that...
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Forever Young
1998
Hard Rain
5.809/695
An armored car driver tries to elude a gang of thieves while a flood ravages the countryside.
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Hard Rain
2017
The Wizard of Lies
6.644/559
A look behind the scenes at Bernie Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme, how it was perpetrated on the public and the trail of destruction it left in its wak...
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The Wizard of Lies
2016
Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2
4.9/21
Punk's Dead, the sequel to 1999 cult hit SLC Punk, is a punk romp through the Utah hinterlands. Ross, Penny and Crash, young outsiders from different...
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Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2
2000
Deal of a Lifetime
6.7/3
The agent for the Devil takes the soul of a high school sophomore in exchange for a date with the most popular girl on campus.
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Deal of a Lifetime
1995
Leaving Las Vegas
7.273/1396
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There,...
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Leaving Las Vegas
2000
Something More
4.7/3
When Sam and his friend fall for the same woman, their friendship is put at risk.
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Something More
1992
Newsies
6.791/265
A week in the life of the exploited, child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century New York. When their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, tries to squeeze...
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Newsies
1998
Art House
6/1
Ray McMichael is a part time coffee shop employee and part time filmmaker who teams up with film festival darling Weston Craig to make the greatest in...
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Art House
2018
Pin-Up
0/0
Uninspired and in her forties, celebrated photographer, Lana Freeman, searches for the elusive visual "perfect moment." When a young waitress saves he...
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Pin-Up
2022
Land of Dreams
4.6/8
Simin is an Iranian woman on a journey to discover what it means to be a free American. She works for the Census Bureau which, in an effort to control...
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