Harris Doran
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Harris Doran is a Sundance, Berlin, and GLAAD Award winning filmmaker based in NYC. He was nominated for the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Award for producing the film "Kokomo City" which won the 2023 Sundance Film Festival NEXT Innovator and Audience Awards and the Berlinale Panorama Audience Award. He wrote and directed the film "F^¢k 'Em R!ght B@¢k" which premiered in the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. He was shortlisted for the Film Independent Spirit Awards' "Someone To Watch Award" for his work on the feature film "Beauty Mark" which he wrote and directed.
A native New Yorker, Harris trained as an actor at The Juilliard School (Group 29) before going on to receive rave reviews for his work in film, theatre, and television, playing a wide variety of roles. In 2000 he received an LA Ovation Award Nomination for playing "The Artful Dodger" in "Oliver at the DeafWest Theatre in Los Angeles. While in LA he shot guest spots on the television shows "Any Day Know" and "Malcolm In The Middle." Then in 2004, he starred in the film "Two Plus One," which was shot entirely on location in Paris, France, as well as starring as "Claude" in the Broadway concert of "Hair," alongside Jennifer Hudson, Laura Benanti, and Billy Porter. In 2006 he shot the rockumentary "Exposing The Order Of The Serpentine" for Spike TV as well as a guest spot on NBC's "The Black Donnellys." After receiving praise for his role as "The Emcee" in "Cabaret" at the Pittsburgh Public Theater (2007), Harris was asked back to play "Mozart" in their production of "Amadeus," earning him notice from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette as one of the best performances of the year. After this he starred as "Jerry" in "Love Jerry" (2008), for which he won both a NYMF Award for Best Actor and the Talkin' Broadway Award for Best Actor. In 2009, Harris played the role of "Freddy" in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," opposite Joe Piscopo at the Gateway Playhouse in Long Island, NY. The following year he received glowing reviews for playing "Myles" in "It Must Be Him" (2010), which was written by the Emmy Award winning writer Kenny Solms, and starred three-time Emmy Award nominee Peter Scolari. In 2011, he starred as "Marc" alongside Jerry Adler and Joyce DeWitt in the world premiere of "I'm Connecticut," written by "The Simpsons" writer/producer Mike Reiss. He reprised his role along with Adler in the 2013 production. Harris is a regular on the web series "Real Actors Read" and "Montauk Boys" and shot spots on CBS' "Person Of Interest" (2013), CBS' "Elementary" (2014), and one of the leads of the pilot episode of the new Lifetime series "I Love You, But I Lied" (2014). Harris was named by Backstage Magazine as one of the "Backstage 30 - actors on the verge of breaking out" (2014).
Harris' film projects include starring as "Eugene" in the feature film "My Best Day," which premiered at The Sundance Film Festival (2012), for which he won a Jury award for Best Acting Ensemble at the Ashland Independent Film Festival. The film had its theatrical release (2013) and is now available on iTunes and Netflix; as well as "Spot" in the feature film "Junction," along with Michael O'Keefe, Anthony Rapp and David Zayas for which Harris won the Best Supporting Actor award at The Long Island International Film Expo and Best Ensemble Cast at the ReelHeART International Film Festival - "Junction" is available for purchase on Amazon and rental on Redbox. He shot the starring role of "Jack Wright" in the feature film "Coach Of The Year" (2012) as well as supporting roles in the feature films "A Cry From Within" (2013) and "'79 Parts" starring Eric Roberts (2013). Harris shot the lead roles of Djuna Wahlrab's feature "We're Doing Fine" (2013) and John Jaquish's feature "The Mutineer" (2014).
Harris made his writer/director debut short film "The Story of Milo & Annie" (2014) starring Academy Award Nominee Cathy Moriarty which won Best Narrative Short in the Indie Memphis Film Festival. He has written the musicals "Salvage," "Wasp Woman," and "Bleeding Love" which had its world premiere production (2015) in Denmark. His screenplay "Atticus Brown Is Still Here" was a Sundance, Tribeca and Hamptons Sloan finalist (2014), his screenplay "In The Wake" was a semifinalist for the Austin Film Festival (2014) and his screenplay "COG" was named the winner of the Write Movies Screenwriting Competition (2014) and was a quarterfinalist for the Oscars® Academy Nicholl Fellowship (2014). Harris is a writer on the tv show "I Love You, But I Lied" (2015) for Lifetime and is the sole writer of the sit-com "Reenact" for the new online network TWST (2016). He wrote and directed the film "This Movie Will Get Into Sundance" (2016) and his multi-award winning feature film "Beauty Mark" (2017) premiered as a US competition film in the LA Film Festival to rave reviews and for which Harris was shortlisted for the Film Independent Spirit Awards' "Someone To Watch Award."
Harris wrote, conceived and produced the political concert "Broadway Blue Wave for New York" (2018) directed by Rachel Chavkin, musical directed by Mary-Mitchell Campbell, produced along with Kristy Cates, starring Ashlie Atkinson, Laura Benanti, Steven Boyer, Kathleen Chalfant, Edie Falco, Annie Golden, Javier Muñoz, MJ Rodriguez, Daphne Rubin-Vega.
Harris's feature film "Atticus Brown Is Still Here," a sci-fi, coming of age story was developed at the Screenwriters Colony on Nantucket (2018) under the mentorship of Mary Harron, John C. Walsh, Jon Silk and Josephine Decker.
Harris produced and directed the "Know Your Rights" educational video series for New York Transgender Advocacy Group (2019).
Harris directed and edited the musical podcast "Bleeding Love" (2020) for which he also wrote lyrics, starring Annie Golden, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Marc Kudisch, Sarah Stiles, Taylor Trensch and Tony Vincent, which was released on the Broadway Podcast Network and became one of the top performing arts podcasts in the U.S., directed the staged reading of "Wasp Woman" (2020), for which he write book and lyrics, music by Arthur Lafrentz Bacon, presented by the Professional Conservatory of Musical Theatre at NYFA, and wrote and directed the satirical webseries "The Ivanka Diaries" (2020) starring Paten Hughes.
He wrote, directed and adapted the film/theatre hybrid film "I See You and You See Me" (2021) for the Queens Theatre which premiered on PBS/WNET. He edited the Podcast Movie "Ghostwriter" (2021) starring Kate Mara and Adam Scott for C13Features and Best Case Studios (#1 Fiction Podcast on Apple Podcasts), and directed Michael Mitnik's play "Fidelity" for the 24 Hour Plays (2021).
He production designed Seth Green's pilot "White Horse Tavern" (2022), and directed Niloufar Nourbakhsh's new opera "We, the Innumerable" (2022) presented by National Sawdust and Center for Contemporary Opera.
Harris wrote/directed the film "F^¢k 'Em R!ght B@¢k" (2022) which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival (Grand Jury Prize nomination) and which won the Audience Award for "Narrative Short" at Indie Memphis Film Festival, the Jury Award for "Comedic Storytelling" at the Florida Film Festival, "Best Ensemble Cast" at Tallgrass Film Festival, "Best Pride Short" at deadCenter Film Festival, a Special Jury Mention at the Milwaukee Film Festival, Jury Award for "Best Narrative Short" at Over-the-Rhine Film Festival and "Best Comedy" at Aspen Shortsfest making the film Oscar-qualifying.
Harris directed the new play "Betrothed" (2022) by Mario Correa starring Tim Daly, Amy Hargreaves, David Hull, and Louisa Jacobson as part of the 24 Hour Plays on Broadway.
He produced the short film "Brenda and Billy (and the Pothos Plant) (2023) which is premiering in the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival.
Harris is featured as a performer on "Sondheim Unplugged: The NYC Sessions Volume III" (2023) for which he was nominated for the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
Harris produced the film "Kokomo City" (2023) which won the Sundance Film Festival NEXT Innovator and Audience Awards, the Berlinale Panorama Audience Award, and for which he was nominated for the Film Independent Spirit Award.
Harris wrote and directed the short film "8 Minutes 20 Seconds" (2024).
Harris is an adjunct professor at Columbia University where he teaches "Directing the Actor" in the Film MFA program.
A native New Yorker, Harris trained as an actor at The Juilliard School (Group 29) before going on to receive rave reviews for his work in film, theatre, and television, playing a wide variety of roles. In 2000 he received an LA Ovation Award Nomination for playing "The Artful Dodger" in "Oliver at the DeafWest Theatre in Los Angeles. While in LA he shot guest spots on the television shows "Any Day Know" and "Malcolm In The Middle." Then in 2004, he starred in the film "Two Plus One," which was shot entirely on location in Paris, France, as well as starring as "Claude" in the Broadway concert of "Hair," alongside Jennifer Hudson, Laura Benanti, and Billy Porter. In 2006 he shot the rockumentary "Exposing The Order Of The Serpentine" for Spike TV as well as a guest spot on NBC's "The Black Donnellys." After receiving praise for his role as "The Emcee" in "Cabaret" at the Pittsburgh Public Theater (2007), Harris was asked back to play "Mozart" in their production of "Amadeus," earning him notice from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette as one of the best performances of the year. After this he starred as "Jerry" in "Love Jerry" (2008), for which he won both a NYMF Award for Best Actor and the Talkin' Broadway Award for Best Actor. In 2009, Harris played the role of "Freddy" in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," opposite Joe Piscopo at the Gateway Playhouse in Long Island, NY. The following year he received glowing reviews for playing "Myles" in "It Must Be Him" (2010), which was written by the Emmy Award winning writer Kenny Solms, and starred three-time Emmy Award nominee Peter Scolari. In 2011, he starred as "Marc" alongside Jerry Adler and Joyce DeWitt in the world premiere of "I'm Connecticut," written by "The Simpsons" writer/producer Mike Reiss. He reprised his role along with Adler in the 2013 production. Harris is a regular on the web series "Real Actors Read" and "Montauk Boys" and shot spots on CBS' "Person Of Interest" (2013), CBS' "Elementary" (2014), and one of the leads of the pilot episode of the new Lifetime series "I Love You, But I Lied" (2014). Harris was named by Backstage Magazine as one of the "Backstage 30 - actors on the verge of breaking out" (2014).
Harris' film projects include starring as "Eugene" in the feature film "My Best Day," which premiered at The Sundance Film Festival (2012), for which he won a Jury award for Best Acting Ensemble at the Ashland Independent Film Festival. The film had its theatrical release (2013) and is now available on iTunes and Netflix; as well as "Spot" in the feature film "Junction," along with Michael O'Keefe, Anthony Rapp and David Zayas for which Harris won the Best Supporting Actor award at The Long Island International Film Expo and Best Ensemble Cast at the ReelHeART International Film Festival - "Junction" is available for purchase on Amazon and rental on Redbox. He shot the starring role of "Jack Wright" in the feature film "Coach Of The Year" (2012) as well as supporting roles in the feature films "A Cry From Within" (2013) and "'79 Parts" starring Eric Roberts (2013). Harris shot the lead roles of Djuna Wahlrab's feature "We're Doing Fine" (2013) and John Jaquish's feature "The Mutineer" (2014).
Harris made his writer/director debut short film "The Story of Milo & Annie" (2014) starring Academy Award Nominee Cathy Moriarty which won Best Narrative Short in the Indie Memphis Film Festival. He has written the musicals "Salvage," "Wasp Woman," and "Bleeding Love" which had its world premiere production (2015) in Denmark. His screenplay "Atticus Brown Is Still Here" was a Sundance, Tribeca and Hamptons Sloan finalist (2014), his screenplay "In The Wake" was a semifinalist for the Austin Film Festival (2014) and his screenplay "COG" was named the winner of the Write Movies Screenwriting Competition (2014) and was a quarterfinalist for the Oscars® Academy Nicholl Fellowship (2014). Harris is a writer on the tv show "I Love You, But I Lied" (2015) for Lifetime and is the sole writer of the sit-com "Reenact" for the new online network TWST (2016). He wrote and directed the film "This Movie Will Get Into Sundance" (2016) and his multi-award winning feature film "Beauty Mark" (2017) premiered as a US competition film in the LA Film Festival to rave reviews and for which Harris was shortlisted for the Film Independent Spirit Awards' "Someone To Watch Award."
Harris wrote, conceived and produced the political concert "Broadway Blue Wave for New York" (2018) directed by Rachel Chavkin, musical directed by Mary-Mitchell Campbell, produced along with Kristy Cates, starring Ashlie Atkinson, Laura Benanti, Steven Boyer, Kathleen Chalfant, Edie Falco, Annie Golden, Javier Muñoz, MJ Rodriguez, Daphne Rubin-Vega.
Harris's feature film "Atticus Brown Is Still Here," a sci-fi, coming of age story was developed at the Screenwriters Colony on Nantucket (2018) under the mentorship of Mary Harron, John C. Walsh, Jon Silk and Josephine Decker.
Harris produced and directed the "Know Your Rights" educational video series for New York Transgender Advocacy Group (2019).
Harris directed and edited the musical podcast "Bleeding Love" (2020) for which he also wrote lyrics, starring Annie Golden, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Marc Kudisch, Sarah Stiles, Taylor Trensch and Tony Vincent, which was released on the Broadway Podcast Network and became one of the top performing arts podcasts in the U.S., directed the staged reading of "Wasp Woman" (2020), for which he write book and lyrics, music by Arthur Lafrentz Bacon, presented by the Professional Conservatory of Musical Theatre at NYFA, and wrote and directed the satirical webseries "The Ivanka Diaries" (2020) starring Paten Hughes.
He wrote, directed and adapted the film/theatre hybrid film "I See You and You See Me" (2021) for the Queens Theatre which premiered on PBS/WNET. He edited the Podcast Movie "Ghostwriter" (2021) starring Kate Mara and Adam Scott for C13Features and Best Case Studios (#1 Fiction Podcast on Apple Podcasts), and directed Michael Mitnik's play "Fidelity" for the 24 Hour Plays (2021).
He production designed Seth Green's pilot "White Horse Tavern" (2022), and directed Niloufar Nourbakhsh's new opera "We, the Innumerable" (2022) presented by National Sawdust and Center for Contemporary Opera.
Harris wrote/directed the film "F^¢k 'Em R!ght B@¢k" (2022) which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival (Grand Jury Prize nomination) and which won the Audience Award for "Narrative Short" at Indie Memphis Film Festival, the Jury Award for "Comedic Storytelling" at the Florida Film Festival, "Best Ensemble Cast" at Tallgrass Film Festival, "Best Pride Short" at deadCenter Film Festival, a Special Jury Mention at the Milwaukee Film Festival, Jury Award for "Best Narrative Short" at Over-the-Rhine Film Festival and "Best Comedy" at Aspen Shortsfest making the film Oscar-qualifying.
Harris directed the new play "Betrothed" (2022) by Mario Correa starring Tim Daly, Amy Hargreaves, David Hull, and Louisa Jacobson as part of the 24 Hour Plays on Broadway.
He produced the short film "Brenda and Billy (and the Pothos Plant) (2023) which is premiering in the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival.
Harris is featured as a performer on "Sondheim Unplugged: The NYC Sessions Volume III" (2023) for which he was nominated for the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
Harris produced the film "Kokomo City" (2023) which won the Sundance Film Festival NEXT Innovator and Audience Awards, the Berlinale Panorama Audience Award, and for which he was nominated for the Film Independent Spirit Award.
Harris wrote and directed the short film "8 Minutes 20 Seconds" (2024).
Harris is an adjunct professor at Columbia University where he teaches "Directing the Actor" in the Film MFA program.
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