Michael A. Goorjian

Michael A. Goorjian

Birth : 1971-02-04, Oakland, California, USA

History

Michael Andranik Goorjian (born February 4, 1971) is an Armenian American actor, filmmaker, and writer. 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 Golden Globe-winning 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.

Profile

Michael A. Goorjian

Movies

Land of Dreams
Bartender
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 its citizens, has begun a program to record their dreams. Unaware of this devious plot, Simin is torn between her compassion for those whose dreams she is recording and a truth she must find within.
Amerikatsi
As a young boy, Charlie escaped the Armenian Genocide bound for the United States. His family was not so lucky. Our story begins in 1947, as Charlie repatriates back to Armenia only to begreeted by the harsh reality of Soviet Communism. Almost immediately Charlie is arrested and sentenced to prison. Just as he appears to be succumbing to the terror of his situation, he discovers that the prison wall outside his cell window had been damaged during a recent earthquake. And through a hole he can see into a nearby apartment building... The Armenian couple who live in the apartment, Tigran and Ruzan, become Charlie’s only connection to the outside world, living vicariously through their private life, sharing meals with them, laughing, crying, singing and dancing with them, all the while discovering the Armenian culture he never knew.
Amerikatsi
Director
As a young boy, Charlie escaped the Armenian Genocide bound for the United States. His family was not so lucky. Our story begins in 1947, as Charlie repatriates back to Armenia only to begreeted by the harsh reality of Soviet Communism. Almost immediately Charlie is arrested and sentenced to prison. Just as he appears to be succumbing to the terror of his situation, he discovers that the prison wall outside his cell window had been damaged during a recent earthquake. And through a hole he can see into a nearby apartment building... The Armenian couple who live in the apartment, Tigran and Ruzan, become Charlie’s only connection to the outside world, living vicariously through their private life, sharing meals with them, laughing, crying, singing and dancing with them, all the while discovering the Armenian culture he never knew.
Pin-Up
Guy
Uninspired and in her forties, celebrated photographer, Lana Freeman, searches for the elusive visual "perfect moment." When a young waitress saves her life, Lana believes she's found the perfect muse. But as she becomes more and more obsessed with the young woman Lana pulls away from her husband, her work, and the people who love her, not realizing that the muse could destroy her life.
The Wizard of Lies
Dan Horwitz
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 wake, both for the victims and Madoff's family.
Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2
Bob
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 tribes, embark on a road trip to a huge punk show. Ross, 19, is the love child of Trish and Heroin Bob, who died before Ross was born. During their odyssey, and with the help of a healthy dose of drugs, alcohol and punk music, Ross shreds his darkly Gothic outlook and embraces life. His mother Trish, who raised Ross alone in her steam punk shop, discovers that he is in a crisis. She recruits his 'uncles,' Bob's old SLC gang, to help find him. When all collide at the concert, they are forced to deal with their unresolved relationships with Bob.
Around June
Mr. Lewis
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 father, meets a penniless illegal immigrant, whose love gives her the insight and courage to finally break free and live her own life.
The Shift
Director
From the creators of You Can Heal Your Life: The Movie comes a compelling portrait of three modern lives in need of new direction and new meaning. In his first-ever movie, Wayne Dyer explores the spiritual journey in the second half of life when we long to find the purpose that is our unique contribution to the world. The powerful shift from the ego constructs we are taught early in life by parents and society—which promote an emphasis on achievement and accumulation—are shown in contrast to a life of meaning, focused on serving and giving back. Filmed on coastal California’s spectacular Monterey Peninsula, The Shift captures every person’s mid-life longing for a more purposeful, soul-directed life.
You Can Heal Your Life
Director
In this film, you meet the woman who wakes up every day and proclaims her love for everyone and everything in her path, the woman who popularized “affirmations,” the woman who shakes hands with presidents, dignitaries, celebrities, and who always has an affectionate hug for fans who run up to her at a public appearance or Hay House event to thank her for “saving my life.” And when she embraces them, she’ll insist, “It wasn’t me. It was you.”
Broken
Thomas
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-boyfriend who's determined to win back her love or die trying.
Illusion
Writer
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 the movie of his son's life. At first suspicious, then curious, and ultimately captivated, he watches his son's growth from mid-teens to mid-thirties as the son pursues his life-long love, Isabelle. The two constants through these snippets are his pursuit of Isabelle and the imagined voice of his father, telling him that he is worthless and unwanted. It is not until the story reaches its conclusion, that the old man discovers the surprising truth about his son and himself.
Illusion
Director
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 the movie of his son's life. At first suspicious, then curious, and ultimately captivated, he watches his son's growth from mid-teens to mid-thirties as the son pursues his life-long love, Isabelle. The two constants through these snippets are his pursuit of Isabelle and the imagined voice of his father, telling him that he is worthless and unwanted. It is not until the story reaches its conclusion, that the old man discovers the surprising truth about his son and himself.
Illusion
Christopher
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 the movie of his son's life. At first suspicious, then curious, and ultimately captivated, he watches his son's growth from mid-teens to mid-thirties as the son pursues his life-long love, Isabelle. The two constants through these snippets are his pursuit of Isabelle and the imagined voice of his father, telling him that he is worthless and unwanted. It is not until the story reaches its conclusion, that the old man discovers the surprising truth about his son and himself.
Go for Broke
Rome / Romie
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.
The Mesmerist
Screenplay
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 tormenting the living. When a medical experiment leaves the grouch hovering between life and death (and able to describe the world beyond), things get tricky for his daughter (Jessica Capshaw) and her beau (Neil Patrick Harris, of "Doogie Howser, M.D." fame), who can't get their hands on his estate.
Amerikana
Writer
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 landscape they see their country through different eyes, ranging from Peter's cynically nihilistic point of view, to Chris' high expectations and romantic notions of the United States.
Amerikana
Peter
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 landscape they see their country through different eyes, ranging from Peter's cynically nihilistic point of view, to Chris' high expectations and romantic notions of the United States.
Something More
Sam
When Sam and his friend fall for the same woman, their friendship is put at risk.
Deal of a Lifetime
Henry
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.
Here Lies Lonely
Sid
Life in a Day
Dr. Peter Hamilton
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. The result is a child that grows through adulthood and will die within days, if a cure cannot be found.
The Invisibles
Producer
Jude and Joy escape to her Parisian flat for a private detox. A dark comedy of word games, sex, fantasy and pop tarts.
The Invisibles
Jude
Jude and Joy escape to her Parisian flat for a private detox. A dark comedy of word games, sex, fantasy and pop tarts.
SLC Punk
Bob
Two former geeks become 1980s punks, then party and go to concerts while deciding what to do with their lives.
Hard Rain
Kenny
An armored car driver tries to elude a gang of thieves while a flood ravages the countryside.
Art House
Danny Farthing
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 independent film ever. Through their struggles, they encounter agents, starlets, lesbians, porn stars, extraterrestrials and an enigmatic auteur named Dagmar Geech.
Leaving Las Vegas
College Boy 1
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
David's Mother
David Goodson
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 dodging 'The System' to keep her son with her, instead of putting him in an institution. Each feels they know what's best for David. But their opinions are not the same. Sally's developing relationship with John Nils is caught in the middle.
The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children?
Scott Chapman
In rural Comfort, Texas, the strict protestant Horizon Bible church community holds its annual, pretty strictly supervised summer camp, with mandatory prayer sessions, for fraternizing teens from all over the States. The day before their departure, storm weather is announced, the busses even ride early to keep ahead, but the wind makes a river rise too fast: the busses are caught, everybody must run on foot. As TV reporters see from their helicopter, the rising water is too fast for one bus after choosing the wrong way, children and staff must climb in trees but can't cling on very long.
Forever Young
Steven
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 he doesn't have to watch his love lying in a coma. The next thing Daniel knows is that he's been awoken in 1992.
Newsies
Skittery
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 a little more profit out of their labours, they organize a strike, only to be confronted with the Pulitzer's hard-ball tactics.
Blood Drips Heavily on Newsie Square
Director
Washed up actor Don Knotts shows up on the back lot of Universal Studios in Hollywood, California in hopes of landing a role in the new Disney movie, Newsies. Unfortunately director Kenny Ortega quickly dismisses Mr. Knotts and has him thrown off the lot. Mr. Knotts is quite upset by the turn of events, so decides to go on a killing spree, believing that if he can't have a role in the movie no one can. He knocks off one newsie after the next, each in a different and unique way.