Michael A. Goorjian
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
Popularity 3.759
Birthday 1971-02-04
Place of Birth San Francisco, California, USA
Also Known As Michael Gourjian, Michael Andranik Goorjian, Michael Goorjian,
Broken
2007

Broken

SLC Punk
1998

SLC Punk

Amerikana
2001

Amerikana

Around June
2008

Around June

Illusion
2004

Illusion

Here Lies Lonely
1999

Here Lies Lonely

Go for Broke
2002

Go for Broke

The Invisibles
1999

The Invisibles

The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children?
1993

The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children?

David's Mother
1994

David's Mother

Forever Young
1992

Forever Young

Hard Rain
1998

Hard Rain

The Wizard of Lies
2017

The Wizard of Lies

Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2
2016

Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2

Deal of a Lifetime
2000

Deal of a Lifetime

Life in a Day
1999

Life in a Day

Leaving Las Vegas
1995

Leaving Las Vegas

Something More
2000

Something More

Newsies
1992

Newsies

Art House
1998

Art House

Pin-Up
2018

Pin-Up

Land of Dreams
2022

Land of Dreams

Amerikatsi
2022

Amerikatsi

Chaplin
1992

Chaplin

Conversations with God
2006

Conversations with God

Do Not Disturb
1999

Do Not Disturb

The Mesmerist
2002

The Mesmerist

House
2004

House

Party of Five
1994

Party of Five

Growing Pains
1985

Growing Pains

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

CSI: Miami
2002

CSI: Miami

Monk
2002

Monk

Alias
2001

Alias

Without a Trace
2002

Without a Trace

Chicago Hope
1994

Chicago Hope

Lie to Me
2009

Lie to Me

Lucifer
2016

Lucifer

Party of Five
1994

Party of Five

The Lincoln Lawyer
2022

The Lincoln Lawyer

Covert Affairs
2010

Covert Affairs