Zach Braff

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Zach Braff

Zach Braff at the Tony Awards, New York, 2007
Born April 6, 1975 (1975-04-06) (age 33)
South Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation Actor, director, screenwriter, and producer
Official website

Zachary Israel Braff (born April 6, 1975) is an Independent Spirit Award-winning American television and film actor, director, screenwriter and producer. During the 2000s, he became known for his role as John "J.D." Dorian on the NBC sitcom Scrubs which earned him his first Emmy nomination. Braff also wrote and directed 2004's Garden State. The soundtrack record, which he selected and produced, earned him a Grammy for Best Soundtrack Album in 2005.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Braff was born in West Orange, New Jersey, to a Jewish family. His parents, Hal Braff, a trial attorney and sociology professor, and Anne Brodzinsky, a clinical psychologist, divorced and re-married others during Braff's childhood.[1][2][3] One of his siblings, Joshua, is an author. Braff has wanted to be a filmmaker since his early childhood and has described it as his "life dream."[4] Braff was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder at age 10.[5] As a teen, Braff attended Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in upstate New York.

He graduated from Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, where he worked in the school's television station. Braff graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in film where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity.

[edit] Career

Zach Braff in July 2006.
Zach Braff in July 2006.

Braff began his career in stage productions of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Macbeth at New York City's Public Theater,[4] and also appeared in Woody Allen's 1993 film Manhattan Murder Mystery. Braff was briefly on the Disney program The Baby-sitters Club in an episode entitled "Dawn Saves the Trees."

Braff has played the role of protagonist John "J.D." Dorian on the sitcom Scrubs since the show's debut in 2001. Braff has been nominated for three Golden Globes and an Emmy for his role as the offbeat doctor. In addition to directing several episodes of Scrubs, Braff wrote, directed, and starred in 2004's Garden State, which was filmed in his home state of New Jersey, in various towns such as South Orange, Maplewood and Tenafly. Producers were initially reluctant to finance the film, which Braff wrote in six months.[6] After its success, he was sent a large number of scripts that he rejected because they were the kinds of films that he "would never go see or have any interest in being in."[7] In February 2005, he won a Grammy Award for "Best Compilation Soundtrack For A Motion Picture" for the Garden State soundtrack,[7] on which he also served as the compilation producer. He has also done voice-acting, having voiced the title character for the Disney animated film Chicken Little (2005) and the video game Kingdom Hearts II. In 2005, Braff was featured on Ashton Kutcher's Punk'd when he was tricked into chasing a supposed vandal who appeared to be spray-painting his brand new Porsche. He then proceeded to hurl expletives at the young boy until Ashton Kutcher showed up. The episode aired March 20, 2005.[8] Braff has also made a couple of guest appearances on the show Arrested Development as Phillip Litt, a filmmaker in the vein of Girls Gone Wild who produces a film series called "Girls with Low Self Esteem".

Braff has directed several music videos: Gavin DeGraw's "Chariot",[9] Joshua Radin's "Closer", Cary Brothers' "Ride",[7] and Lazlo Bane's "Superman", the theme song from Scrubs. Despite winning a Grammy Award, choosing music for Scrubs, and directing three music videos, Braff has said that he "know[s] nothing about music."[10]

In March 2007, Braff signed a one-year deal with NBC for a the seventh season of Scrubs. He will reportedly earn $350,000 per episode, making him one of the most highly paid actors on television,[6] alongside House's Hugh Laurie and Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen. However, Braff claims that these reports "have not been very accurate."[11]

Braff starred in the romantic drama The Last Kiss, which opened on September 15, 2006. Braff, who tweaked several parts of Paul Haggis' script for the film, noted that he could relate to his character,[1] and wanted the script to be as "real as possible" and "really courageous" regarding its subject matter.[12] The film's director, Tony Goldwyn, compared Braff to a younger version of Tim Allen, describing Braff as "incredibly accessible to an audience... a real guy, an everyman."[1] As with Garden State, Braff was involved with the film's soundtrack; he served as executive producer and selected lesser known artists such as Imogen Heap, Joshua Radin, Schuyler Fisk, and Rachael Yamagata, as well as Remy Zero, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Turin Brakes and Aimee Mann,[7] to appear on the track.[12] The Last Kiss grossed approximately $11 million at the North American box office,[13] and was considered a commercial disappointment;[6] However, worldwide box office receipts and DVD rentals added $35 million to the take, bringing in nearly twice the production cost of $20 million for the film.[13]

In 2007, Braff starred in the film The Ex, which he has described as a "silly comedy,"[14] and which was released on May 11, 2007 and also starred Amanda Peet, Charles Grodin and Jason Bateman. Braff said on his blog that the movie didn't do as well as he expected.[citation needed] On May 19, 2007, he hosted the 32nd season finale of Saturday Night Live, where in one sketch, he plays a high schooler who tries to explain to the two snobby heads of the prom committee (Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph) how Garden State is an important film to his peers.

Braff was in talks to star in the film Fletch Won and had signed on to play the role eventually played by Dane Cook in Mr. Brooks,[15] but dropped out of both roles to work on Open Hearts, which he will direct and adapt based on a Danish film. He has also co-written a film version of Andrew Henry's Meadow, a children's book, with his brother, and is scheduled to direct one of the segments for the film New York, Je T'Aime.[16]

[edit] Personal life

Braff dated Bonnie Somerville around the same time he worked on Garden State. He specifically requested a song from her for the film's soundtrack. Braff started dating pop singer and actress Mandy Moore in the summer of 2004. One of their first public sightings as a couple was when they arrived together at a fundraising event for the Democratic Party prior to the November 2004 election. In early 2006, unnamed sources told In Touch Weekly magazine that the couple were engaged.[17] Braff called this a "total Internet rumor." Moore's representative denied the engagement.[18] Mandy Moore's song "Looking Forward to Looking Back" is rumored to be about Braff. In response to tabloids now linking him to singer Jessica Simpson, he joked: "I wish I was leading a fraction of the life that the tabloids have me leading!"[1] In June 2007, he began dating actress Shiri Appleby.

Braff is friends with singer Lauryn Hill, who graduated from Columbia High School in 1993, the same year as Braff. Braff mentions being great childhood friends with Hill, who went to his Bar Mitzvah in 1988 (as he stated in the commentary of deleted scenes from the Garden State DVD, his Bar Mitzvah was Broadway musical-themed.) Braff is also a close friend of Scrubs co-star Donald Faison, having called Faison "one of my best friends in the world" on the special features of the Scrubs DVD. Braff has also done charitable work such as autism fund-raisers to help find a cure for the condition. He is also a Patron for the American Red Cross, along with other famous personalities as part of their Celebrity Cabinet.

[edit] Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1993 Manhattan Murder Mystery Nick Lipton
2000 Broken Hearts Club Benji
Blue Moon Fred
2004 Garden State Andrew Largeman also writer/director/soundtrack producer
2005 Chicken Little Chicken Little (voice actor)
2006 The Last Kiss Michael
2007 The Ex Tom Reilly
2008 Open Hearts also director/writer/producer; pre-production
New York, I Love You as director/writer
TBA Saint of Circumstance

[edit] Episodes of Scrubs Directed

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Dawson, Angela. "Braff's 'Kiss'", AZ Central, 2006-09-06. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. 
  2. ^ Bloom, Steven M.. "Back in the ‘The Ex’", NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS, 2004-07-15. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. 
  3. ^ Zach Braff Biography (1975-)
  4. ^ a b "Life After `Garden State'", CTNow.com, 2006-09-09. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. 
  5. ^ The next Woody Allen? - Film - www.smh.com.au
  6. ^ a b c "60 SECONDS: Zach Braff", Metro.co.uk, 2006-10-19. Retrieved on 2007-05-09. 
  7. ^ a b c d Erstein, Hap. "Goodbye, Scrubs?", The Oxford Press, 2006-09-10. Retrieved on 2007-05-09. 
  8. ^ "Punk'd" Episode #4.3 (2005). IMDB.com (2005-03-20). Retrieved on 2007-04-15.
  9. ^ Braff, Zach. "Warning: Not Funny!", Zach Braff's Garden State Blog, 2005-03-21. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. 
  10. ^ As stated on Last Call with Carson Daly.
  11. ^ Braff, Zach. "Blog. Cog. Snog. Frog. Oh my Gog!", Zach Braff.com, 2007-03-30. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. 
  12. ^ a b Adler, Shawn (2007-09-07). Can This Love "Last"?. MTV Movies. Retrieved on 2007-04-15.
  13. ^ a b THE LAST KISS. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-05-23.
  14. ^ Murray, Rebecca (2007-09-08). Zach Braff Discusses Fletch Won. About.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-15.
  15. ^ Kepnes, Caroline. "Dane Cook: Employee of the Month. I'm Serious", E! Online, 2007-05-23. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. 
  16. ^ Leffler, Rebecca. "Directors sign on for New York 'Love' affair", The Hollywood Reporter, 2007-05-20. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. 
  17. ^ "ZACH + MANDY TO WED?", Contact Music, 2006-02-01. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. 
  18. ^ "Correction: Braff and Moore Not Engaged", IMDB.com, 2007-02-09. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. 

[edit] External links

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v • d • e
Scrubs
Main characters
Other characters
Setting
Music
Crew
Notable episodes


Persondata
NAME Braff, Zachary Israel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American actor
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH South Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH