Born in Leningrad, in the Soviet Union to a Ukrainian father & Russian Jewish mother, and raised in the belly of Brooklyn, Irina Gorovaia (also known as Irene Gorovaia) has been on the path of metamorphosis from a young age.
After being discovered at a young age to play Young Margo in The Royal Tenenbaums, Irina went on to be in several more feature films including It Runs in The Family and The Butterfly Effect. She attended the School of American Ballet, LaGuardia High School for Drama, and then CUNY Hunter where she earned her BA in the highly lucrative field of Philosophy.
Irina has since gone on to study at The Upright Citizens Brigade, the Barrow Group under Seth Barrish and Lee Brock, and with international Meisner teacher Andrea Dantas.
Most recently Irina has been producing and staring in critically acclaimed short films (Sun on Your Elbows, A Magnificent Gray), and performing in both Russian & English in Anna Lublina’s Бабушка | BAb(oo)shka at St. Ann’s Warehouse.
During the fall of 2020 Irina produced her first feature film, Hungry Dog Blues, that she also starred in, set to release on April 25, 2023. In January of 2021 Irina directed her first short, that she also co-wrote and produced called Yasha’s Tapochki. She is a part of the 2020 Blueprint Fellowship by COJECO, an organization that supports the Russian-speaking Jewish (RSJ) community. Irina speaks Russian and Hebrew fluently.
Irina currently resides in Los Angeles and can be spotted weaving through traffic on her bicycle. She wears her helmet proudly and can usually be heard laughing at her own jokes.