Zach Galifianakis is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian. He came to prominence with his Comedy Central Presents special in 2001 and presented his own show called Late World with Zach on VH1 the following year. He has also starred in films, such as The Hangover trilogy (2009–2013), Due Date (2010), The Campaign (2012), Birdman (2014) and had a voice role in the animated film Puss in Boots (2011).
Find out interesting facts about him here!
1. Zacharius Joy “Zach” Galifianakis was born October 1, 1969, in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
2.His mother, Mary Frances, is a community arts center owner, and his father, Harry, is a heating oil vendor.
3. His mother has Scottish ancestry, while his paternal grandparents, Mike Galifianakis and Sophia Kastrinakis, were immigrants from Crete, Greece, and Galifianakis was baptized in his father’s Greek Orthodox church.
4. He has a younger sister named Merritt and an older brother named Greg.
5. His cousin is Washington Post cartoonist Nick Galifianakis.
6. His uncle, a politician, is also named Nick Galifianakis. Galifianakis attended Wilkes Central High School, and subsequently attended but did not graduate from North Carolina State University, where he was a communication major.
7. After failing his last class at North Carolina State by one point in 1992, he moved to New York to pursue standup and perform in Times Square hamburger joints. We can only assume he was paid in hamburgers.
8. He began acting on television, guest-starring in Boston Common and joined Saturday Night Live as a writer but lasted only two weeks.
9. 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.
10. In September 2001, he appeared in one episode of Comedy Central Presents. It included a stand-up routine and a segment with a piano, and concluded with an a cappella group (The Night Owls, introduced as his “12 ex-girlfriends”), singing “Eternal Flame” by The Bangles while he made jokes.
11. 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 LA comedy and music venue Largo where he appeared frequently during this time period.
12. One episode featured Largo regulars Jon Brion and Rhett Miller as musical guests.
13. He played Davis in the Fox drama series, Tru Calling.
14. He appeared many times on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and played Frisbee in four episodes of Reno 911!.
15. Zach Galifianakis blew up thanks to his role as Alan in 2009’s “The Hangover.” Since then, he’s been continuing to make us laugh with “Between Two Ferns,” “The Muppets,” and “Baskets.” He returned in playing the lovable idiot alongside Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson in “Masterminds.”
16. According to his official site, he enjoys tractors and red wine, and dreams of Iceland.
17. Before ‘The Hangover,’ his last high-profile role came alongside Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz in another Sin City-set comedy, ‘What Happens in Vegas.’
18. His beard is called Shelley.
19. He has appeared in Sesame street.
20. Galifianakis spends his off time at his house in the mountains of North Carolina — his home state.
21. The first R-rated movie Galifianakis saw was 1984’s “Hot Dog… The Movie.” He lied and told his mother he was seeing “Yentl.”
22. Galifianakis was acting onscreen for over 13 years before rising to fame with “The Hangover.”
23. Galifianakis wrote for “Saturday Night Live” for a whole two weeks in 1997.
24. He is claustrophobic.
25. Galifianakis was once contacted by Nike to do promos for them, but it didn’t move forward. During a conference call with the brand, he asked if seven-year-olds were still making their shoes, and that was that.
26. In August 2012, Galifianakis married Quinn Lundberg, co-founder of the Growing Voices charity, at the UBC Farm in Vancouver, British Columbia.
27. On September 7, 2013, Lundberg gave birth to their first child, a boy, and Galifianakis missed the premiere of his film Are You Here to attend the birth.
28. In January 2014, Galifianakis and “A 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.
29. 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.
30. Galifianakis owns a farm in northeastern Alleghany County, North Carolina, and splits his time between the farm and his work.
31. Galifianakis befriended an octogenarian homeless woman who was living in a Santa Monica laundromat for 18 years.
32. Galifianakis got her an apartment across the street from the laundromat.
33. The story was revealed in the 2015 documentary Queen Mimi.
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