Mikael Sharafyan

Mikael Sharafyan was born and raised in Yerevan, Armenia. Both sides of his family include several generations of artists, writers, musicians, and actors. One of them was legendary American costume designer Irene Sharaff, who won five Academy Awards for An American in Paris, The King and I, West Side Story, Cleopatra, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? .Mikael's father is a theatre and movie actor, and his mother is a pianist-accompanist for ballet. He has two brothers and one sister, who all have families and children. When Mikael was three, he started to draw. Later, he went to an art school in his hometown for seven years. There he learned how to paint and sculpt. Because his parents used to take him to the theatre all the time, it inspired him to become a costume designer for movies and theatre; he used to visit the dressing rooms of artists to see their costumes and makeup. In 2000, his father got their Green Cards, and year later they moved to United States, the land of opportunities. Mikael attended Glendale High School. Since he spoke only Armenian and Russian, he had a little problem learning English. In high school, he participated in many art competitions and was awarded several prizes. He received an Honorable mention in Coca Cola Presents Art of Harmony: An Art Competition, Ruth Jansen Art Award, Spotlight Award-Music Center Performing Arts LA County, Congressional Recognition- "An Artistic Discovery" by Representative Adam Schiff, and last but not least Gold Medal-"Egypt in the Eyes of Children of the World" by Arab Republic of Egypt Ministry and Culture. He became a member of National Art Honor Society. Mikael also started to work as a volunteer usher at the Glendale's historical Alex Theatre and later designed the vests for the ushers. He also worked as a paid extra in movies and television shows, where he has had the opportunity to work with such talents such as Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Samuel L. Jackson, to name a few. Mikael also became a member of Marilyn (Monroe) Remembered Fan Club, where he meets the actors, actresses, and other artists who worked with and knew Marilyn. Mikael started to collect her memorabilia when he was ten. He feels that all these interests in different types of arts will help him to be more successful. For several years he was trying to find a good school to attend after graduation. He was thinking about becoming a costume designer like his great aunt Irene Sharaff, so after graduating, he got accepted to Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in 2004. While attending FIDM, he worked as an intern at Ali Rahimi's Mon Atelier as an assistant of a designer. In April 2006 he started to work at Silvia's Costumes, Inc. in Hollywood as a cutter/digitizer. Silvia Tchakmakjian, a successful business woman, took not much experienced Mikael under her wings because she saw a potential in him. Silvia sent him to study computerized embroidery at the Tajima Company. At Silvia's he worked with such successful designers such as Academy Award winning designer Colleen Atwood and Emmy award winning designer Peter Menefee. Mikael also worked on the embroideries for Cher's Las Vegas show designed by Emmy Award winning designer Hugh Durrant. They gave him lot of advisees how to succeed in the business. At the same time he had an internship at Center Theatre Group. After completing his degree in Fashion, he got accepted to the Advanced Study Program for Theatre Costume Design at FIDM and received a Warnaco Scholarship. In May 2008 he participated at FIDM Debut 2008. He designed the costume of "The Mistress of Moulin Rouge" two additional costumes for can-can dancers. He chose this career because he considers the work of the costume designer to be same as the work of a sculptor. Sculptor carves his creations out of stone; costume designer uses fabrics as his primary material to create his creations. Because Mikael is a painter as well, he wants to make his paintings to be more like a 3D painting by making his costumes from his paintings come to life.