Zach Galifianakis

Zachary Knight Galifianakis (; born October 1, 1969 ) is an American comedian, actor and writer.

Galifianakis is best known for his role as Alan in The Hangover trilogy (2009–2013). On television, he starred in the FX series Baskets (2016–2019), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2017. He also hosted the Funny or Die talk show Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis (2008–2018) and starred in the HBO series Bored to Death (2009–2011).

Galifianakis's other film credits include Due Date (2010), It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010), The Campaign (2012), Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), Between Two Ferns: The Movie (2019), and Lilo & Stitch (2025). He has also voiced characters in animated films such as Puss in Boots (2011), The Lego Batman Movie (2017), Missing Link (2019), Ron's Gone Wrong (2021), The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022), and Thelma the Unicorn (2024).

Early life Zachary Knight Galifianakis was born on October 1, 1969, in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, to community arts center director Mary Frances (née Cashion) and heating oil vendor Harry Galifianakis. His mother is of Scots-Irish descent, while his paternal grandparents were Greek immigrants from Crete. He was baptized in his father's Greek Orthodox faith.

He has a younger sister, Merritt, and an older brother, Greg. Their cousin is Washington Post cartoonist Nick Galifianakis, while their late uncle, also named Nick Galifianakis, was a Durham attorney and politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1973.

He attended Wilkes Central High School, Wilkes Community College and subsequently attended North Carolina State University, where he majored in communications.

Career Early work After his television debut on Boston Common, Galifianakis joined Saturday Night Live for two weeks. He has stated "I worked on Saturday Night Live for two weeks, and Britney Spears was the host one week when I was doing it. Wrote a sketch, Will Ferrell was going to play a bodyguard to her belly-button, and we were going to shrink Will down to fit into a belly-button. ...she just stared at me after I explained it to her. And then, she finally goes 'Yeah, that's funny.'" Galifianakis co-starred in the film Out Cold, and had small roles in Corky Romano, Below, Bubble Boy, Heartbreakers, Into the Wild, Super High Me, Little Fish Strange Pond and Largo.

In September 2001, he appeared in an episode of Comedy Central Presents. It included a stand-up routine, a segment with a piano, and a cappella group The Night Owls (introduced as his "12 ex-girlfriends") singing "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles while he made jokes. In 2002, he hosted his own VH1 talk show called Late World with Zach. It featured many of his friends and regular performers from the Los Angeles comedy and music venue Largo where he appeared frequently during this time period. He played Davis in the Fox drama series Tru Calling. a comedic hip-hop dance song which features Apple's vocals.

Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn and Maria Bamford, are the four Comedians of Comedy, a periodic packaged comedy tour in the style of The Original Kings of Comedy and the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. 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 film that has appeared at SXSW and on Showtime. On February 22, 2008, he made an appearance on the Jackassworld.com: 24 Hour Takeover. He interviewed various members of the Jackass cast. Galifianakis starred in first leading role in the independent film Visioneers which premiered in 2008. The film was released on direct-to-DVD. That same year, Galifianakis appeared in a web video series of advertisements for Absolut vodka, along with Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, creating a parody of the Golden Girls in which one has a deep anger issue, breaking the fourth wall in exasperation and outright violence on the set. He also completed the pilot Speed Freaks for Comedy Central.

His 2006 stand-up concert film Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion was one of the first original programs from Netflix.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis

Zach Galifianakis interviewing Barack Obama for Between Two Ferns. Galifianakis has a series of videos on the Funny or Die website titled Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis where he conducts interviews with popular celebrities between two potted ferns. He has interviewed Jimmy Kimmel, Michael Cera, Jon Hamm, Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, Bradley Cooper, Carrot Top, Conan O'Brien, Andy Richter, Andy Dick, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Sean Penn, Bruce Willis, Tila Tequila, Jennifer Aniston, Will Ferrell, Samuel L. Jackson, Tobey Maguire, Arcade Fire, Justin Bieber, Brie Larson, David Letterman, former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Brad Pitt, and Keanu Reeves. His interview style consists of typical interview questions, bizarre non sequiturs, awkward product endorsements, and sometimes inappropriate sexual questions and comments. Galifianakis won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program as a producer of the show at the 66th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Mainstream performances Galifianakis played Alan Garner in the hit comedy The Hangover and earned the MTV Movie Award for the Best Comedic Performance. He was also prominently advertised in subsequent films that featured him in supporting roles, such as G-Force, Youth in Revolt, and Up in the Air.

Galifianakis starred in the HBO series Bored to Death and hosted Saturday Night Live on March 6, 2010 during the show's 35th season, during which he shaved his beard mid-show for a sketch, and closed the show wearing a fake one. He hosted again on March 12, 2011, and shaved his head this time, in a Mr. T-like hairstyle, which was allegedly supposed to be used for a sketch that never aired due to time constraints.

In 2010, he starred in several films, including Dinner for Schmucks, It's Kind of a Funny Story, and Due Date. In October 2010, during a discussion of California's Proposition 19 on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Galifianakis lit and puffed what looked like a marijuana cigarette; days later, Maher said on CNN that it was not cannabis but “cloves or something.” In 2011, he reprised his role for The Hangover Part II, which was set in Thailand, and voiced Humpty Dumpty in Puss in Boots. Galifianakis starred alongside Will Ferrell in Jay Roach's 2012 political comedy The Campaign. He received critical praise for his performance in the 2014 film Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), in which he starred with Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, and Edward Norton. In 2017, Galifianakis voiced the Joker in The Lego Batman Movie. In February 2023, Galifianakis joined the live-action film adaptation of Lilo & Stitch as Dr. Jumba Jookiba.

Comedic style and persona Commentators have described Galifianakis's stage and screen persona as deliberately awkward, deadpan, and confrontational, aligning him with alternative comedy traditions. A 2016 review connected his Between Two Ferns interviews to “uproariously uncomfortable” anti-talk-show satire, while a 2018 profile emphasized how he negotiated mainstream fame without abandoning the off-kilter sensibility of his stand-up and sketch work. The tone of his FX series Baskets was likewise noted for its bleak humor and working-class focus.

Charity work In January 2014, Galifianakis and his Night of a Thousand Vaginas co-star Sarah Silverman announced their intention to raise $20,000 to help fund the Texas Abortion Fund, part of a nationwide network of funds set up to assist women in obtaining abortions in states whose legislatures had placed restrictions on the practice. The fundraiser was set up in response to the passage of Texas H.B. 2, which established several restrictions that forced a majority of the state's abortion clinics to close.

Galifianakis befriended Marie "Mimi" Haist, a homeless woman in her 80s who was living in a Santa Monica laundromat for 18 years, and bought her an apartment across the street from the laundromat. The story was revealed in the 2015 documentary Queen Mimi.

Personal life In August 2012, Zach Galifianakis married Canadian charity worker Quinn Lundberg at the UBC Farm in Vancouver. They have two sons together: one born on September 7, 2013 (Galifianakis skipped the premiere of his film Are You Here for the birth) and another born on November 7, 2016.

Galifianakis has a house in Venice, Los Angeles, and previously lived in Brooklyn. Galifianakis also owns a farm in Sparta, North Carolina and splits his time between the farm and his work: "My farm is a place that I get to think clearly and pretend to know what I am doing."

For almost ten years, Galifianakis and his family have lived on-and-off in a small town in British Columbia.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes 1999 Flushed Pathetic Guy 2001 Heartbreakers Bill Bubble Boy Bus Stop Man Corky Romano Dexter Out Cold Luke 2002 Below Weird Wally Stella shorts Santa Short films 2005 The Comedians of Comedy Himself Stand-up tour documentary Zach Galifianakis: Look Who It Isn't Self-released stand-up DVD 2006 Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion Stand-up special 2007 The Comedians of Comedy: Live at The Troubadour Stand-up tour concert video Into the Wild Kevin Wallis 2008 What Happens in Vegas Dave the Bear Visioneers George 2009 The Ballad of G.I. Joe Snow Job Short film Gigantic Homeless Guy The Hangover Alan Garner also sung "Three Best Friends" as part of the film's soundtrack G-Force Ben Kendell Up in the Air Steve Sewa Operation: Endgame Hermit Little Fish, Strange Pond Bucky Youth in Revolt Jerry 2010Dinner for Schmucks Therman Murch It's Kind of a Funny Story Bobby Due Date Ethan Tremblay/Ethan Chase/Stu 2011 The Hangover Part II Alan Garner Puss in Boots Humpty Dumpty (voice) The Muppets Hobo Joe 2012 Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie Jim Joe Kelly The Campaign Marty Huggins Also producer 2013 The Hangover Part III Alan Garner 2014 Are You Here Ben Baker Muppets Most Wanted Hobo Joe Cameo Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Jake 2016 Masterminds David Ghantt Keeping Up with the Joneses Jeff Gaffney 2017 The Lego Batman Movie The Joker (voice) Thelma the Unicorn Crusty Trucker (voice) 2025 Lilo & Stitch Dr. Jumba Jookiba / "Marcus" 2026 The Gallerist Dalton Hardberry

Television Year Title Role Notes 1996–1997 Boston Common Bobby 5 episodes 1997 Apartment 2F Zach 2002 Late World with Zach Himself (host) 36 episodes 2002 Next! Various characters Pilot, also writer 2003–2005 Tru Calling Davis 27 episodes 2005–2007 Reno 911! Frisbee 4 episodes 2006 Dog Bites Man Alan Finger 9 episodes; also writer and producer 2006 Tom Goes to the Mayor Dr. Vickerson Voice, 2 episodes 2006 Wonder Showzen Uncle Daddy Voice, episode: "Horse Apples" 2007 The Sarah Silverman Program Fred Blorth Episode: "Humanitarian of the Year" 2007–2010 Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Tairy Greene / Various characters 7 episodes 2008–2018 Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis Himself (host) 22 episodes 2008 Jackassworld.com: 24 Hour Takeover Himself (uncredited) Television special; "Hour 12, 13 & 14" 2009–2010 American Dad! Heavyset Man, Norman, Juror Voice, 2 episodes 2009–2011 Bored to Death Ray Hueston 24 episodes 2010 Funny or Die Presents Cast (Just 3 Boyz) Episode #1.10 2010–2013 Saturday Night Live Himself (host) 3 episodes 2012–present Bob's Burgers Chet, Felix Voice, 15 episodes 2018 The Lego Batman Movie Critics' Choice Movie Awards 2015 Best Acting Ensemble Birdman MTV Movie & TV Awards 2010 Best Breakout Star The Hangover 2013 Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis 2014 2015 2017 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Baskets 2020 Outstanding Short Form Variety Series Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: The Movie, Sorta Uncut Interviews Satellite Awards 2018 Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Baskets 2025Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy SeriesOnly Murders in the Building Streamy Awards 2010 Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis 2014 Best Collaboration (shared with Barack Obama)