Michael A. Goorjian

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 _David's Mother (1994)_ (qv) with 'Kirstie Alley' (qv). He is also well known for his role as Justin, 'Neve Campbell' (qv)'s love interest on the Golden Globe winning series _Party of Five (1994)_ (qv), as well as Heroin Bob in _SLC Punk! (1998)_ (qv). As a director, Michael achieved widespread recognition for his first major independent film, _Illusion (2004)_ (qv), a film he wrote, directed and starred in alongside Hollywood-legend 'Kirk Douglas' (qv)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, 'News' (qv)ies (1992), starring 'Christian Bale' (qv) and 'Robert Duvall' (qv). What followed was starring roles in numerous films including _Chaplin (1992)_ (qv) with 'Robert Downey Jr.' (qv), _Forever Young (1992)_ (qv) with 'Mel Gibson' (qv), Oscar-winning _Leaving Las Vegas (1995)_ (qv), _Hard Rain (1998)_ (qv) with 'Morgan Freeman' (qv) and 'Christian Slater' (qv), _SLC Punk! (1998)_ (qv), _The Invisibles (1999)_ (qv) with 'Portia de Rossi' (qv), _Broken (2006)_ (qv) with 'Heather Graham' (qv) and _Conversations with God (2006)_ (qv).Michael also guest starred in countless television series including _Lie to Me (2009)_ (qv), _House (2004)_ (qv), _Alias (2001)_ (qv), _Monk (2002)_ (qv), _CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000)_ (qv), _CSI: Miami (2002)_ (qv), _Without a Trace (2002)_ (qv), _Chicago Hope (1994)_ (qv) as well as a recurring role on _Life Goes On (1989)_ (qv) 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.::'Michael A. Goorjian' (qv)