Zach Galifianakis
Zach Galifianakis |
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Zacharius Knight Galifianakis[1] (Template:PronEng; 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 U.S. Congressman. He was raised Greek Orthodox[2][3], though now says he "isn't sure" on the subject of religion[4]. 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. He has several films coming out in 2008: G Force, What Happens in Vegas, Visioneers, Big Fish Strange Pond and The Largo Movie.
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. 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 Funny or Die Tour with fellow comedians Demetri Martin, Nick Swardson, Andrea Savage and Will Ferrell.
Kanye West commissioned him to be in one of the hip hop artist's videos called "Can't Tell Me Nothing" along with Will Oldham and Phil Kollin.
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". It was on this farm that he filmed the music video for Kanye West's song, "Can't Tell Me Nothing".
On February 22/23, 2008, he made an appearance on the Jackassworld.com: 24 Hour Takeover. He interviewed various members of the Jackass cast.
References
