Biography for
Zach Braff More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

6 April 1975, South Orange, New Jersey, USA

Birth Name

Zachary Israel Braff

Height

6' (1.83 m)

Mini Biography

Born and raised in New Jersey. Attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey. Graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in film.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Trivia

Attended the same high school and graduated the same year (1993) as R&B singer and hip-hop MC Lauryn Hill.

Member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at Northwestern.

He has gained praise at film festivals for his directorial debut, Garden State (2004).

Attended the same high school as Elisabeth Shue and Andrew Shue. In fact, he grew up around the corner from the Shue family.

Brother, novelist Josh Braff, wrote "The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green."

Father is an attorney, who also does stage work.

Also attending Columbia High School at the same time was Ahmed Best, better known as the voice of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)'s Jar Jar Binks.

Is best friends in real life with "Scrubs" (2001) co-star Donald Faison, who plays Turk.

The youngest of four children: Adam J. Braff, Joshua Braff (wife, Jill; children, Henry and Ella), and Shoshanna Braff.

Middle brother, Joshua Braff, and oldest brother, Adam J. Braff have collaborated on screenplays for TV. Sister is a fashion designer.

Parents are divorced, each is remarried, and all get along with one another. Zach's "four parents" are all at Thanksgiving dinner together every year, with the four children, and the grandchildren.

Won a Grammy in February of 2005 for "Best Compilation Soundtrack For A Motion Picture" for Garden State (2004), on which he served as the compilation producer.

According to an article in The Chicago Sun-Times, when Braff won his Best First Feature Independent Spirit Award for Garden State (2004), his father jumped up from a back table in the room and yelled, "That's my kid!".

Attended the same high school as producer Joel Silver (Road House (1989), Die Hard (1988) and Lethal Weapon (1987)) and drummer Max Weinberg (E Street Band, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (1993)).

Auditioned for the role of Drue Valentine on "Dawson's Creek" (1998), which eventually went to Mark Matkevich.

Per his request that she contribute a song to the soundtrack of Garden State (2004), his ex-girlfriend Bonnie Somerville recorded the song "Winding Road" for the film.

Graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in film

Named among Fade In Magazine's "100 People in Hollywood You Need to Know" in 2005.

Is a die-hard fan of the show "Lost" (2004).

Mandy Moore accompanied him to the Golden Globes in 2006.

His father is of Russian heritage.

On "Scrubs" (2001), Braff's character is often called by various girl's names. Ironically, his first TV role was in an after school special called "CBS Schoolbreak Special" (1984) (Episode: My Summer as a Girl), in which he poses as a girl to get a summer job.

Directed the music video "Chariot" for singer Gavin DeGraw. Zach Braff's real-life friend and "Scrubs" (2001) cast mate, Donald Faison, also made a cameo in the video.

Ended relationship with Mandy Moore [June 14, 2006].

His right leg is an eighth of an inch longer than his left, which led to a herniated disk in late 2006.

Some of the events in Garden State (2004) (which Braff wrote and directed) are quirky, exaggerated derivatives of occurrences in his real life.

The actor has cut a one-year deal with "Scrubs" (2001) producer ABC TV Studio that will pay him about $350,000 per episode for the 2007-08 season.

His alma mater, Columbia High School, is in a town (Maplewood, NJ) adjacent to (and is a de facto rival of) Millburn, where Zach's "Scrubs" (2001) co-star John C. McGinley grew up and attended high school. Actress Anne Hathaway also attended Millburn High.

When he sent the script for Garden State (2004) to people, he would also send them a copy of the songs (which he handpicked) that would eventually be the soundtrack. This was in the order in which they appeared.

Close friend with "Scrubs" (2001) co-star Sarah Chalke.

Went to film school with Janae Bakken; they now work together on "Scrubs" (2001).

Had a small uncredited cameo as a worker in the homeless shelter in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). That film was directed by Gabriele Muccino, who worked with Zach on The Last Kiss (2006).

Personal Quotes

"I love "Scrubs" (2001). It's the best day job in the world".

"I love "The Office" (2001). I think it's the funniest thing - Ricky Gervais is possibly the funniest person I've seen in my entire life".

"That was a very surreal experience: I had studied the script right down to the punctuation marks, and then he would say 'we're not going to say what's on the page, and you don't really have to either, try to keep up.'" - On working with Woody Allen.

"Everyone said no. Everyone with a date book and a phone in Los Angeles said no. "[On Hollywood's initial response to his Garden State (2004) script].

"When you are writing a script, you can't help but stop and daydream about which actors are going to play the parts, and I kind of imagined Natalie Portman. Not just because she is beautiful, because obviously she is, but she is a wonderful actress who hasn't had a chance in a long time to show the world how talented she is".

Everyone has an idea that they think would be a great movie. Everyone has a cousin who they think you should work with. Everyone has a warped vision of Hollywood and what success in Hollywood is like. That you love cocaine and that you spend every night in orgies with models. If only it were true.

"They put all this money into these huge movies, and then no one goes to see them... That sort of shows that they're out of touch. Then, everyone in town passes on my little movie, and it does really well." - Responding to E!'s Ted Casablanca, when asked what he thinks of studio heads.

My mother's a psychologist, my stepfather's a psychologist, my stepmother is a therapist and my dad's a lawyer. So it was all prominent in my life. I don't know anyone who doesn't know someone on some form of prescription medicine.

I was kosher until I had my Bar Mitzvah, and I parlayed officially becoming a man into telling my father I wanted to eat cheeseburgers.

I'm not sure when or why the tabloid angle on me was decided that I am a cad. I would have much rather it had been that I am secretly a dentist or that I love soup. I am in fact, merely doing what every other single 32 year old man in NYC is doing this summer. I am dating. If you must read that stuff, please don't digest it as fact. It is probably one of the only real shitty things one has to get used to when living in the public eye, but I suppose one of the benefits of this blog is that you can hear it directly from me. [On his MySpace.com Blog] [25 June 2007]

Where Are They Now

(April 2005) Playing J.D. in NBC's hit comedy show, "Scrubs" (2001).

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