Karren Karagulian

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

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 Soviet Armenia. He left the Armenian SSR at 18 and served in the Soviet Army in Saint Petersburg. He later immigrated to New York City at 20, 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."

His first film for Sean Baker was Four Letter Words in 2000, where he played the gas station clerk. In 2024, Karagulian starred in Baker's 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."

Though Karagulian considered retirement from acting prior to Anora, the film's success resulted in increased attention and rejuvenated his career. He is set to star in the upcoming Christmas action film The Man with the Bag, alongside Alan Ritchson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, a sequel to Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, alongside Brad Pitt.

Selected filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes Four Letter Words Gas station clerk Take Out Chicken or beef Prince of Broadway Levon Starlet Also co-producer Tangerine Razmik Narek Red Rocket Arash Anora Toros Nominated for Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Performance Post-production Post-production