Michael Goorjian

Biography: Meet Michael Goorjian. As a multi-talented young star with a career that keeps going and going like the Energizer Bunny, Michael would seem like the guy who would be nothing more than just a pretty face. But don't be fooled: This 32 year old is about as talented as they come. One day he'll be pretty in pink flapping and selling newspapers on the streets of Central Park and the next he's roughing it with big Hollywood directors. "All this is not why I do what I do. I don't act because I want to be a celebrity who is seen as a hunk. I just try to keep focused on being an actor", Michael declares.

Unlike many celebrities, Michael Goorjian was not seeking a career for fame and fortune, instead he wanted to chase the footprints of his brainy dad and become a physicist. Michael, an Aquarius, was raised in his artsy parents' loft in Oakland, California. His father was a physicist at NASA and his mother was a nurse, and tiny Eagle Scout Michael himself enjoyed studying quantumMeet Michael Goorjian. As a multi-talented young star with a career that keeps going and going like the Energizer Bunny, Michael would seem like the guy who would be nothing more than just a pretty face. But don't be fooled: This 32 year old is about as talented as they come. One day he'll be pretty in pink flapping and selling newspapers on the streets of Central Park and the next he's roughing it with big Hollywood directors. "All this is not why I do what I do. I don't act because I want to be a celebrity who is seen as a hunk. I just try to keep focused on being an actor", Michael declares.

Unlike many celebrities, Michael Goorjian was not seeking a career for fame and fortune, instead he wanted to chase the footprints of his brainy dad and become a physicist. Michael, an Aquarius, was raised in his artsy parents' loft in Oakland, California. His father was a physicist at NASA and his mother was a nurse, and tiny Eagle Scout Michael himself enjoyed studying quantum physics. However, the acting bug bit him at an early age and he soon became interested in performing arts. (It's a good thing because it's hard to imagine Disney's Newsies, where he had to nail that dreadfully shrill "I might" note, without him. Actually, it's hard to ever imagine Life Goes On, the critically acclaimed FOX drama Party of Five, and SLC Punk! without him either). He first began his acting career doing local theater at the tender age of thirteen mainly as a way to spend less time in class. During that time, he worked with drama director Dennis Kohles in companies such as the Contra Costa Musical Theater Company, the Berkeley Shakespeare and the San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater among other local companies, where he studied acting, singing, and dancing. After he finished high school, he toured all throughout England and starred as Jesus in the production of God Spell. When the tour wrapped up, he returned to California and moved to Los Angeles to attend undergrad at UCLA and study Theater Arts. That probably makes many of you glad Michael missed lectures in study hall and gave Hollywood a chance.

In 1991, Michael and some friends from UCLA decided to form a theater group. Together, they formed the award winning Buffalo Nights Theater Company down in Los Angeles where Michael provides choreography for the Company's productions of Salome, Reefer Madness!, Meat, and The Firebugs. Michael also founded Malador Productions, Inc. for which he works with today on his films.
At age 22, Michael snagged a 1994 Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the dead-on portrayal of David, a young over-protected autistic boy, in the made-for-TV film David's Mother. It placed him in competition with Hollywood heavy-weights such as Alan Alda, Richard Gere, Matthew Broderick, and Sir Ian McKellen. The "Good Morning" after, he was signed to join Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas.
Later, Michael immediately won the role made especially for him as Justin Thompson for the Golden Globe Award Winning Party of Five. He played the "best friend" of opposite Neve Campbell's "Julia". He didn't have to audition for the part! He got cast off of his demo tape because he was out of town. To top it all off, he was scheduled for only six episodes, but fans yearned for more of Justin's Nice-Guy Boyfriend character/ performance and he became a regular on the show. But soon after, he decided to leave the recurring role as the lovable Justin to become a filmmaker.

There are a couple of big things brewing in Michael Goorjian's life right now. Sure, he's working on some new films, but that's not what I'm talking about. Michael is much more motivated these days by outwardly normal stuff like teaching part-time as a drama professor at Loyola Marymount University, trying to work things out with his girlfriend of three years, fiddling with his friends music, and like hmm...playing the accordion-things that are all his-and not the public's (Until, someone like me write about it). It's real stuff. Michael continues his long devotion to theatre by making appearances back at Buffalo Nights. He has just recently finished his feature film debut, Oakland Underground, a mock documentary about an underground cult, set in his hometown, Oakland. He is also still working on two more films, The Illusion and Teen Folio.… Expand