Eric Esrailian

Dr. Eric Esrailian is also a physician, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. At one point, Dr. Esrailian served on the Medical Board of California from 2010-2011 after being appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In November 2021, Pope Francis awarded Esrailian with the Benemerenti Medal in Vatican City for his humanitarian efforts. He became the first person of Armenian descent to receive the honor.

[on The Promise (2016)] It became clear that the government of Turkey was going to have an influence on this movie. One of the most insidious realities of our existence in the United States is that foreign governments can control art. I would say at the highest levels from different studios, we were just basically told that no matter how good the film would be, it was never going to be released by certain companies. I think that that's truly shameful, but it's just a reality that we had to deal with. [2017]