Karren Karagulian

Karren Karagulian (Armenian: Կարէն Կարագուլանն; born 1969) is an Armenian-American actor.

Karren Karagulian
Born	1969 (age 54–55)
Occupation(s)	Actor, producer, screenwriter
Years active	1996–present

He is known primarily for his collaborations with director Sean Baker, with whom he has worked since the early 1990s. In 2024, he was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Performance for his role in Anora.

Career

Karagulian was born in Armenia and immigrated to New York City in the 1990s where he first met Sean Baker, who attended New York University at the time. In addition to starring in all of Baker’s films, Karagulian is also credited as a producer on Tangerine, explaining “for Tangerine, I helped find Armenian actors, wrote Armenian dialogue, translated, or wrote subtitles for the film.”

In 2024, Karagulian starred in Baker’s film Anora. Regarding the history of the film, Karagulian explained “we started actually writing a story together in 2009– it was like a buddy-buddy kind of story happening in Brighton Beach. And we were trying to get it made, but we couldn’t get it financed . . . a few years ago, he called me, and he said that he wrote this script that he wants me to read, and he sent me Anora. I was in awe at how well-written, how sharp a screenplay that was. I fell in love with it. And of course, we’ve been communicating always regarding names of characters, or some locations, or some Armenian dialog, or some Russian dialog.”

While Karagulian considered retirement from acting prior to Anora, the film’s success resulted in increased attention and rejuvenated his career.