Michael A. Goorjian
Michael A. Goorjian
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.
Known For
Personal Info
Known For
Directing
Known Credits
75
Gender
Male
Birthday
1971-02-04 (54 years old)
Place of Birth
San Francisco, California, USA
Acting

2022

The Lincoln Lawyer as Alex Grant

2022

Amerikatsi as Charlie

2022

Land of Dreams as Bartender

2018

Pin-Up as Guy

2017

The Wizard of Lies as Dan Horwitz

2016

Lucifer as Elliot Richards

2010

Covert Affairs as Borz Altan

2009

Lie to Me as Not available

2008

Around June as Mr. Lewis

2007

Broken as Thomas

2004

House as Sean Randolph

2004

Illusion as Christopher

2002

CSI: Miami as John Stockman

2002

Monk as Jacob Carlyle

2002

Without a Trace as Ricky Wilson

2002

Go for Broke as Rome / Romie

2002

The Mesmerist as Coroner #1

2001

Alias as Andre Sterescu

2001

Amerikana as Peter

2000

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as Aaron Pratt

2000

Deal of a Lifetime as Henry

2000

Something More as Sam

1999

Do Not Disturb as Billy Boy Manson

1999

Life in a Day as Dr. Peter Hamilton

1999

The Invisibles as Jude

1999

Here Lies Lonely as Sid

1998

Hard Rain as Kenny

1998

SLC Punk as Bob

1998

Art House as Danny Farthing

1995

Leaving Las Vegas as College Boy 1

1994

Chicago Hope as Not available

1994

Touched by an Angel as Budd Glaser

1994

Party of Five as Not available

1994

Party of Five as Justin Thompson

1994

Blind Justice as Soldier #1

1994

David's Mother as David Goodson

1992

Chaplin as Charles Chaplin Jr

1992

Forever Young as Steven

1992

Newsies as Skittery

1985

Growing Pains as Hank Miller
Crew

2022

Amerikatsi Director

2022

Amerikatsi Editor

2022

Amerikatsi Writer

2022

Amerikatsi Producer

2012

Painting the Future Director

2012

Entanglement Director

2012

My Greatest Teacher Director

2012

Entanglement Writer

2011

Part Time Fabulous Associate Producer

2009

The Shift Director

2007

The War Prayer Director

2007

The War Prayer Editor

2007

The War Prayer Technical Supervisor

2006

Players' Club Director

2004

Illusion Writer

2004

Illusion Director

2002

The Mesmerist Screenplay

2001

Amerikana Writer

1999

The Invisibles Producer

1998

Call Waiting Director

1997

Oakland Underground Director

1997

Oakland Underground Producer