ZACH BRAFF

'Zachary Israel Braff' (born April 6, 1975) is an American television and film actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. During the 2000s, he became known for his role as J.D. on the NBC sitcom ''Scrubs'' as well as starred in several films. 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

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Filmography

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Braff was born in South Orange, New Jersey, to a Jewish family. His parents, Hal Braff, a trial attorney and 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]
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.

Career

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''. Zach 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.^[5] 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."^[6]
In February 2005, he won a Grammy Award for "Best Compilation Soundtrack For A Motion Picture" for the ''Garden State'' soundtrack,⁶ 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. The episode aired March 20 2005. Braff received criticism for his response on the show. His easy going, Bohemian persona was questioned after the incident, as Porsches and criticism of rambunctous youth are not typically associated with Bohemian culture.^[7] Braff has directed several music videos: Gavin DeGraw's "Chariot",^[8] Joshua Radin's "Closer", Cary Brothers' "Ride",⁶ 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."^[9]
In March 2007, Braff signed a one-year deal with NBC for a seventh and last season of ''Scrubs''. He will reportedly earn $350,000 per episode, making him one of the most highly paid actors on television,⁵ alongside ''Two and a Half Men'' star Charlie Sheen. However, Braff claims that these reports "have not been very accurate."^[10]
Braff recently starred in the romantic drama ''The Last Kiss'', which opened on September 15, 2006. Just as certain teen-age movies deal with their protagonists' quest to lose their virginity, ''The Last Kiss'' is part of the next age-related genre: in this case dealing with angst triggered by a pending 30th birthday and the meaning of adulthood. In this case, Braff's architect is in a relationship with a wonderful, beautiful woman, (Jacinda Barrett), but somehow feels unfulfilled. 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.^[11] The film's director, Tony Goldwyn, compared Braff to a younger version of Tom Hanks, 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,⁶ to appear on the track. ''The Last Kiss'' grossed approximately $11 million at the North American box office,^[12] and was considered a commercial disappointment,⁵ 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.
In 2007, Braff starred in the film ''The Ex'', which he has described as a "silly comedy,"^[13] and which was released on May 11, 2007 and also starred Amanda Peet, Charles Grodin and Jason Bateman. Zach said on his blog that the movie didn't do as well as he expected. On May 19, 2007, he hosted the 31st 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'',^[14] 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''.^[15]

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.^[16] Braff called this a "total Internet rumor." Moore's representative denied the engagement.^[17] 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
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 disease.
Braff is the current voiceover for Wendy's with their new slogan "That's Right."

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

References

1. Braff's 'Kiss' Angela Dawson
2. Back in the ‘The Ex’ Steven M. Bloom
3. Zach Braff Biography (1975-)
4. Life After `Garden State'
5. 60 SECONDS: Zach Braff
6. Goodbye, Scrubs? Hap Erstein
7. "Punk'd" Episode #4.3 (2005)
8. Warning: Not Funny! Zach Braff
9. As stated on ''Last Call with Carson Daly''.
10. Blog. Cog. Snog. Frog. Oh my Gog! Zach Braff
11. Can This Love "Last"?
12. THE LAST KISS
13. Zach Braff Discusses Fletch Won
14. Dane Cook: Employee of the Month. I'm Serious Caroline Kepnes
15. Directors sign on for New York 'Love' affair Rebecca Leffler
16. ZACH + MANDY TO WED?
17. Correction: Braff and Moore Not Engaged

External links

★ Official website

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