Karen Karagulyan is an Armenian-American actor, scriptwriter, producer. He immigrated to New York City at 20 years old, where he first met Sean Baker, who attended New York University at the time. In addition to starring in all of Baker's films, Karagulyan is also credited as a producer on Tangerine (2015). He helped find Armenian actors, wrote Armenian dialogues, translated, or wrote subtitles for the film. In 2024, Karagulyan starred in Baker's film Anora (2024).