Zach Galifianakis

Infobox actor


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birthdate = birth date and age|1969|10|1
birthplace = Wilkesboro, North Carolinaintro-tooshort

Zacharius Knight Galifianakis [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/51/Zach-Galifianakis.html Zach Galifianakis Biography (1969-) ] ] (pronounced [IPA|ˈzæk ˌgælɨfəˈnækɨs] ; born October 1, 1969) is an American comedian, actor, and writer.

Biography

Early life

Galifianakis was born in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. His cousin Nicholas Galifianakis is a newspaper cartoonist, and his uncle Nick Galifianakis is a former Democractic U.S. Congressman who also lost a race for an open Senate seat in 1972 against Jesse Helms, launching Helms's career in the Senate. He was raised Greek Orthodox, [http://www.brianmpalmer.com/galifianakis.htm Brian M. Palmer | Zach Galifianakis interview ] ] [ [http://thatotherpaper.com/austin/zach_galifianakis_bible_full_of_typos Zach Galifianakis: Bible full of typos | That Other Paper | Austin’s ONLY Paper ] ] but now says he "isn't sure" on the subject of religion. He attended North Carolina State University, pursuing a degree in Communication and Film. He failed a course before graduation and left for New York City in 1992. His original goal was to pursue acting, although he eventually became a stand-up comic.

Career

Galifianakis got his start on television in 1996, when he played the recurring role of a stoner named Bobby in the short-lived sitcom "Boston Common". In 2001, Galifianakis co-starred in the film "Out Cold". He has had small roles in "Corky Romano", "Below", "Bubble Boy" and "Heartbreakers", and has parts in "Into the Wild". In 2007 he appeared as himself in "Super High Me". He has several films coming out in 2008: "G-Force", "What Happens in Vegas", "Visioneers", "Little Fish Strange Pond" and "The Largo Movie".

Zach performed in episode 15 of season 5 of Comedy Central Presents, first aired 17 September 2001, including a stand-up jokes, a segment with a piano, and concluding with an a cappella group (The Night Owls, introduced as his "12 ex-girlfriends") singing Eternal Flame by The Bangles while he made jokes with flip-charts and pranced around in tights. In 2002, he was the host of his own talk show called "Late World with Zach". His next television role was as a coroner named Davis in the FOX drama "Tru Calling", which lasted from 2003 to 2005. He has also appeared many times on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and has made three appearances on "Reno 911!" as "Frisbee".

Galifianakis starred as Alan Finger on the Comedy Central show "Dog Bites Man", a fake news program that caught people during candid moments as they acted under the impression that they are being interviewed by a real news crew. In addition, he was on an episode of the Comedy Central show "The Sarah Silverman Program" as Fred the Homeless Guy. He also had a recurring guest role as a doctor on the animated Adult Swim show "Tom Goes to the Mayor" and appeared in its "follow up" show "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" in the "Gravy Robbers" sketches as Tairy Greene, a deranged gravy-robber mentor, who later appears to be an actor, playing "The Snuggler" in the episode "Forest".

In 2006, Galifianakis was featured in Fiona Apple's music video for the song "Not About Love". In the video, he is seen lip-synching the lyrics to the song. A year later Kanye West employed Galifianakis and indie rock musician Will Oldham for similar purposes in the second version of the video for his song "Can't Tell Me Nothin'". In June 2006 Galifianakis released the single "Come Over and Get It (Up in 'Dem Guts)", a comedic rap/hip-hop/dance song which features Apple's vocals. More recently, Galifianakis performed on a tour called the "Comedians of Comedy" with Brian Posehn, Patton Oswalt, and Maria Bamford. They chose to perform at live rock clubs as opposed to comedy clubs to try to reach a different audience. Much of the tour was taped, and has been featured in both a short-lived TV series on Comedy Central and a full length movie that has appeared at SXSW and on Showtime. A DVD featuring Galifianakis's work, "Live at the Purple Onion", was released on March 6th, 2007. He also took part in the Be Funny or Die Tour with fellow comedians Demetri Martin, Nick Swardson, Andrea Savage and Will Ferrell.

Galifianakis divides his time between two residences, one in Venice Beach, CA, and the other in the foothills of North Carolina, the latter of which is a 60 acre farm that he hopes to turn into a "writer's retreat".

On February 22/23, 2008, he made an appearance on the . He interviewed various members of the Jackass cast. He will be in the upcoming films "G-Force (film)" and the dark comedy "Visioneers".

In 2008, Zach appeared in a web video series of advertisements for Absolut vodka, along with Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, playing a character with anger management issues. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p0QtJMKt1s YouTube - A Vodka Movie by Zach Galifianakis, Tim and Eric ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.zachgalifianakis.com/ Official web site, with biography and photos]
* [http://www.myspace.com/galifianakis Zach Galifianakis] on MySpace
*imdb name|id=0302108|name=Zach Galifianakis
* [http://www.comedycentral.com/comedians/browse/g/zach_galifianakis.jhtml Zach Galifianakis] at Comedy Central
* [http://www.brianmpalmer.com/galifianakis.htm Interview] from Brian M. Palmer
* [http://www.superdeluxe.com/sd/contentDetail.do?id=D81F2344BF5AC7BB1B796DDC830C81A0B6FB13B2950539E1 Zach's Interview Challenge Part 1 (Video)]
* [http://www.superdeluxe.com/sd/contentDetail.do?id=D81F2344BF5AC7BB1B796DDC830C81A093F31C84CD876ADD Zach's Interview Challenge Part 2 (Video)]