Raffi Boghosian

Early life

Raffi Boghosian was born to a large, well-known Iraqi business family of Armenian heritage. The family moved to Syria when Boghosian was a child, and later to Amman, Jordan.

Boghosian earned his high-school diploma from the Oxford Schools. After moving to the United States in 2010, he began his bachelor’s in cinematography and film/video production at Woodbury University.

Jordan

Raffi Boghosian began his broadcast career in 2007 – at 16 years old – as the presenter for the "Shakw Makw" talkshow, broadcast by the Aghanina Channel. He hosted "Shakw Makw" from 2007-2009 and "Exhaust," a car show also broadcast by the Aghanina Channel, from 2009-2010.

Also in 2009, he wrote a monthly, four-page article for Al-Ereda magazine. In the same year, while working with Aghanina Channel, Boghosian was a news presenter for Arab Radio and Television Network (ART).

Al-Sharqiya Channel

Raffi Boghosian moved to Hollywood, California, in 2010. In March 2011, he became a news correspondent for the Dubai-based Al-Sharqiya channel, hosting his own show, "Hollywood," which covered celebrity, entertainment and sports news. He left Al-Sharqiya in November 2011.

American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

From June 2011 to February 2012, Boghosian also was an intern for American Broadcasting Company (ABC) "Eyewitness News," working on an SNG satellite truck.

Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC)

In November 2011, Boghosian became a news correspondent for Dubai-based satellite-television network Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC), which broadcasts his stories and interviews to a worldwide, Arabic-speaking audience.

For MBC, Boghosian primarily covers celebrity, entertainment and sports news, although he sometimes covers politics. He has interviewed such notable people as sports stars Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham and media stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emma Stone, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Al Pacino, Larry King, Tony Kushner and John Gatins. He did the only Arabic-language interview to date of South Korean pop star PSY, creator of the song, "Gangnam Style." Boghosian has covered many large Hollywood premiers, such as "The Amazing Spider Man," "Twilight" and "The Dark Knight Rises." In May 2012, he was invited by Larry King to do an exclusive interview at King’s house.

MBC assigned him to cover the 2012 election, for which he mainly did celebrity interviews.

In 2013, Bhogosian covered the Academy Award ceremony (The Oscars), including doing pre-Oscar interviews with "Life of Pi (film)" Director Ang Lee and stars Al Pacino, Larry King, Tony Kushner and John Gatins.

In 2012, Boghosian did two broadcasts of "Good Morning Arabs" with notable Arab television journalist Lojain Onran, including coverage of the 2013 New Year’s Eve from Las Vegas, Nevada.

Notable incidents

Raffi Boghosian inspired controversy in the 2009 Arab news when, as a panelist on Mazin Deibe’s radio show, "Nas w Nas," on Sawtelghad FM, Bogdosian asked Iraqi singer Ayman Debbe how he felt about stealing Iraqi singer Hatham Youssef’s songs and passing them off as his own. This incident became a lightning rod for discussion about weak Iraqi copyright laws.

During a 2011 interview with the Jackson family and designer Marc Laurent, he was honored when they presented him with a limited-edition copy of Michael Jackson's Thriller jacket (number 288 of 500). The jacket was signed by the Lawrence and the Jackson family.

Awards

In 2009, former Miss Lebanon Sawsan Al-Sayid presented Raffi Boghosian with Youngest TV Host in the Middle East at the Middle Eastern Oscar Awards. In 2009, he was named by the Iraqi News Network as the Most Popular TV Host in Iraq.