Harris Doran
Harris Doran (pronounced like Duran Duran) is a Sundance and Berlin Award-winning filmmaker based in NYC. He was nominated for the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Award for producing KOKOMO CITY, executive produced by Lena Waithe, which won both the NEXT Innovator Award and the Audience Award at Sundance, followed by the Panorama Audience Award at Berlin. The film was theatrically distributed by Magnolia Pictures and is now streaming on Showtime/Paramount+.
As a writer-director, Harris’s work includes the Sundance-premiering F^¢K ’€M R!GHT B@¢K, which won Best Comedy at Aspen Shortsfest, making it Oscar-qualifying, 8 MINUTES 20 SECONDS now streaming on Omeleto, and THE STORY OF MILO & ANNIE featuring Academy Award nominee Cathy Moriarty. He was shortlisted for Film Independent’s “Someone to Watch” Award for his feature film BEAUTY MARK, which won multiple festival awards and was released by The Orchard.
On Broadway, Harris directed the play BETROTHED starring Tim Day & Louisa Jacobson for the 24 Hour Plays.
Harris directed and is a co-writer on the short film PORELESS which will having its NY premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival June 2025.
He is currently in development on multiple projects.
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| full bio below |
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| WRITER . DIRECTOR . PRODUCER |
Harris made his writer/director debut short film THE STORY OF MILO & ANNIE (2014) starring Academy Award Nominee Cathy Moriarty (RAGING BULL) 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 was 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 his writer/director debut feature 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 Independent Spirit Awards' Someone To Watch Award and was released by The Orchard.
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, Dequina Moore, Javier Muñoz, Julia Murney, Cynthia Nixon, MJ Rodriguez, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Caesar Samayoa, Lianah Sta Ana, Tony Yazbek.
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 joined the alumni advisory committee of the Nantucket Screenwriters Colony.
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 social distance filmed theatre piece 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 which was the #1 Fiction Podcast on Apple Podcasts and #10 of all podcasts on Apple Podcasts. Harris directed the play FIDELITY (2021) written by Michael Mitnick and starring Julia Chan, Amy Hargreaves and Russell G. Jones as part of the 24 Hour Plays.
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's short film F^¢K '€M R!GHT B@¢K (2022) starring DDm, Tony Award winner Kara Young and Catherine Curtin, premiered in the Sundance Film Festival 2022 (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, Jury Prize for "Best Ensemble Cast" at Tallgrass Film Festival, Jury Prize for “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 the Jury Prize for “Best Comedy” at Aspen Shortsfest making the film Oscar qualifying. The film was acquired by and is showing on Showtime.
On Broadway, 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.
He produced the short film BRENDA AND BILLY (AND THE POTHOS PLANT) (2023) which premiered in the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival.
Harris produced D. Smith's feature documentary KOKOMO CITY (2023), executive produced by Lena Waithe, which premiered in the 2023 Sundance Film Festival where it won both the NEXT Innovator Award and the Audience Award. The film had its International premiere in the Berlin International Film Festival | Berlinale Panorama where it won the Audience Award. The film was distributed theatrically by Magnolia Pictures and is now streaming on Showtime/Paramount+. He was nominated for Best Documentary in the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards.
Harris wrote and directed the short film 8 MINUTES 20 SECONDS (2024) which is had a successful festival run and is now streaming on Omeleto. The film will be exhibited at MoPOP (Museum Of Pop Culture) for a year beginning June 2025. Harris was commissioned to write the screenplay ASHES TO IRON (2024) based on J.E. Laufer's novel "Choices."
Harris directed and is a co-writer on the short film PORELESS (2025) which premiered at Aspen ShortsFest and will have its NY premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. He directed and edited the short film RAVEL (2025) for the 4th year Juilliard Drama class, which will premiere later this year.
Harris is the film curator of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center (2025)
Harris has been an acting teacher and coach for many years and was an adjunct professor at Columbia University where he taught "Directing the Actor" in the Film MFA program.
| PERFORMING |
A native New Yorker, born and raised in Flushing, Queens, Harris Doran was an acting major at The High School of Performing Arts (The FAME School) before being accepted to The Juilliard School.
Harris went on to receive rave reviews for his work in theatre, 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 NOW 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, Bill Porter, Laura Benanti, and Ana Gasteyer. In 2006 he shot the mockumentary 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. Harris went back to the Pittsburgh Public Playhouse where he played "Puck" in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (2010). 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 spent many summers as an actor developing new works at The Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center. tHarris is a regular on the webseries 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); 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 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.