Zach Galifianakis

Zachary Knight "Zach" Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969) is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian. Galifianakis 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) as Alan Garner, Due Date (2010), The Campaign (2012), Birdman (2014), from which he received praise from critics, and had a voice role in the animated film Puss in Boots (2011).

He currently hosts the Emmy Award-winning talk show Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis on the Funny or Die website and stars in, executive produces, and writes and stars in the dark comedy series Baskets on FX.

Early life

Galifianakis was born in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. His mother, Mary Frances (née Cashion), is a community arts center owner, and his father, Harry, is a heating oil vendor. 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 Christian Orthodox church. He has a younger sister named Merritt and an older brother named Greg. His cousin is Washington Post cartoonist Nick Galifianakis. 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.