Michael Goorjian, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, is an
American actor, filmmaker, and writer. As an actor, Michael won the
Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a
Special for
Zu viel Liebe - Davids Mutter (1994)
with Kirstie Alley. He is also well known
for his role as Justin, Neve Campbell's
love interest on the Golden Globe winning series
Party of Five (1994), as well
as Heroin Bob in Punk! (1998). As a
director, Michael achieved widespread recognition for his first major
independent film, Illusion (2004), a
film he wrote, directed and starred in alongside Hollywood-legend
Kirk Douglas
Michael's acting career began at the early age of 14 when he decided to
audition for a local theatre company thinking it was a 'cool way' to
skip class. After landing the lead role in a 'not-so-cool play called
Computer Crazy, Michael 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. Despite this rather humiliating experience, Michael
stuck with acting and eventually trained at UCLA School of Theatre,
Film and Television.
Michael's first big Hollywood break came as a dancer when in 1992 he
was cast as Skittery in the Disney film,
Die Zeitungsjungen (1992), starring
Christian Bale and
Robert Duvall. What followed was starring
roles in numerous films including
Chaplin - Das Leben der unsterblichen Filmlegende (1992) with
Robert Downey Jr.,
Forever Young (1992) with
Mel Gibson, Oscar-winning
Leaving Las Vegas: Liebe bis in den Tod (1995),
Hard Rain (1998) with
Morgan Freeman and
Christian Slater,
Punk! (1998),
The Invisibles (1999) with
Portia de Rossi,
Broken (2006) with
Heather Graham and
Gespräche mit Gott (2006).
Michael also guest starred in countless television series including
Lie to Me (2009),
Dr. House (2004),
Alias: Die Agentin (2001),
Monk (2002),
CSI: Vegas (2000),
CSI: Miami (2002),
Without a Trace - Spurlos verschwunden (2002),
Chicago Hope: Endstation Hoffnung (1994) as well as a
recurring role on
Alles Okay, Corky? (1989) as Ray
Nelson.
Never straying far from the stage, Michael is a founding member of the
Los Angeles based theater group, Buffalo Nights and starred in the West
Coast premiere of Dennis McIntyre's powerful drama, Modigliani, which
won him a L.A. Weekly Theater Award nomination for Best Lead Actor.
With the 'Nights', Michael also received tremendous critical acclaim
for playing title roles in both productions of, The Apollo of Bellac by
Jean Giraudoux, and J.B. by Archibald MacLeish. Michael also won a LA
Critics Choice and a Garland Backstage West awards for his original
choreography for the L.A. production of the musical Refer Madness.
