Zachary Levi
Thanks to playing a computer geek-turned-unwitting government agent on the surprise hit series, "Chuck" (NBC, 2007-12), actor Zachary Levi emerged from relative obscurity to become a rapidly rising star. His portrayal of über-nerd Chuck Bartowski won over both audiences and critics with his over-anxious charm and techno-geek knowledge - some of which mirrored Levi's offscreen persona. Before hitting the big time with "Chuck," Levi landed a role in the made-for-television romantic comedy "See Jane Date" (ABC Family, 2003) and was a regular on the sitcom "Less Than Perfect" (ABC, 2002-06). After a significant supporting role in the comedy sequel, "Big Momma's House 2" (2006), Levi landed his role on "Chuck" and was propelled to stardom, earning accolades from various national critics and adoration from fans who followed the show in an almost cult-like fashion. Because of this sudden popularity, Levi began landing roles more frequently on screens both large and small, becoming in the process an unlikely leading man. Born on Sept. 29, 1980 in Lake Charles, LA, the future actor - who named Tom Hanks as the person he wanted to model his career after - moved around several times with his family while growing up until they finally settled in Ventura, CA. When he was six years old, Levi started acting in school and local community theater productions. After graduating from Buena High School, Levi starred in regional productions of "Grease," "The Outsiders," "Oliver," "The Wizard of Oz," and "Big River." With a struggling actor's salary, Levi took odd jobs to pay the bills, including work as a busboy, as an employee at Blockbuster and at a car wash. "It was character-building," he later said. Levi spent the early 2000s appearing in a couple of made-for-TV movies, including a supporting roles in "Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie" (FX, 2002), which he followed by appearing in the romantic comedy "See Jane Date" (ABC Family, 2003), playing one of Charisma Carpenter's potential boyfriends. Appearances in various shows followed, with an hilarious turn as a bellman in a 2004 episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO, 2000- ) and a short recurring role in the crime drama "The Division" (Lifetime, 2001-04). After spending several years landing minor acting jobs here and there, Levi finally made strides with his career in 2006 when got a "perfect" role, so to speak. For four seasons, Levi made audiences laugh playing Kipp Steadman, a sarcastic, scheming and highly metrosexual magazine staffer who taunts Sara Rue in the brilliant comedy "Less Than Perfect" (ABC, 2002-06). That same year, Levi appeared on the big screen, playing Martin Lawrence's clumsy FBI partner in "Big Momma's House 2." After "Less than Perfect" was cancelled, Levi starred in a handful of indie films in 2007, including "Imperfect Union," "Ctrl Z," and the thriller "Spiral," which he also executive-produced. The success of "Lost" (ABC, 2004-2010) and "Heroes" (NBC, 2006-2010) paved the way for a crop of shows that blended genres of action, comedy, drama and mystery. One such series was the Josh Schwartz-created "Chuck," about an unsuspecting geek who accidentally downloads a database of international secrets into his brain. Levi, who enjoyed playing video games and had a charming average-Joe personality like his television alter ego, believed his show was so successful because of its mixture of procedural and serial. Levi also related to his character's awkwardness around women. "Chuck" established Levi as a small screen hero for the MySpace generation, and also helped the actor transition into more feature film projects. In 2008, Levi starred in "Shades of Ray," a romantic comedy about a Pakistani-American man about to get married when his long lost father shows up at his doorstep. That same year, he co-starred with "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975- ) actor Keenan Thompson in the road trip comedy "Wieners," then starred alongside Brandon Routh in the testosterone-fueled "Stuntmen." The Disney hit "Tangled" (2010) was a higher-profile use of Levi's vocal talents, which he also put to use on the animated series "Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure" (Disney 2017- ) and several short films. After "Chuck" wound down in 2012, Levi appeared in the small role of Fandrol" in the Marvel films "Thor: The Dark World" (2013) and "Thor: Ragnarok" (2017) and co-starred opposite Eva Longoria on the short-lived sitcom "Telenovela" (NBC 2015). After co-starring in the Canadian miniseries "Alias Grace" (CBC/Netflix 2017) and the series "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" (Amazon 2017- ), Levi had his biggest breakout yet in the title role of the superhero comedy "Shazam!" (2019), a major box office and critical success.
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Zachary Levi
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Unbreakable Boy | Unknown (Character) | - | 2025 |
28% |
|
Harold and the Purple Crayon | Harold (Character) | $17.4M | 2024 |
83% |
|
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget | Rocky (Voice) | - | 2023 |
56% |
|
Spy Kids: Armageddon | Terrence Tango (Character) | - | 2023 |
49% |
|
Shazam! Fury of the Gods | Shazam (Character) | $57.6M | 2023 |
No Score Yet |
|
Teddy's Christmas | Teddy (Voice) | - | 2022 |
91% |
|
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood |
Kranz (Voice), Unknown (Character) |
- | 2022 |
75% |
|
American Underdog | Kurt Warner (Character) | $26.5M | 2021 |
75% |
|
The Mauritanian | Neil Buckland (Character) | $832.4K | 2021 |
90% |
|
Shazam! | Shazam (Character) | $140.4M | 2019 |
100% | No Score Yet | United We Fan | Self | - | 2018 |
No Score Yet |
|
Office Uprising | Adam Nusbaum (Character) | - | 2018 |
100% |
|
Psych: The Movie | Thin White Duke (Character) | - | 2017 |
45% |
|
The Star | Joseph (Voice) | $40.4M | 2017 |
No Score Yet |
|
Tangled Before Ever After | Eugene (Voice) | - | 2017 |
No Score Yet |
|
APEX: The Story of the Hypercar | Narrator | - | 2016 |
No Score Yet |
|
Remember Sunday | Gus (Character) | - | 2013 |
67% |
|
Thor: The Dark World | Fandral (Character) | $206.4M | 2013 |
No Score Yet |
|
Tangled Ever After | Flynn Rider (Voice) | - | 2012 |
85% |
|
Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story | Narrator | - | 2010 |
89% |
|
Tangled | Flynn Rider (Voice) | $200.8M | 2010 |
21% |
|
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel | Toby (Character) | - | 2009 |
No Score Yet |
|
Stuntmen | Troy Ratowski (Character) | - | 2009 |
No Score Yet |
|
Shades of Ray | Ray Rehman (Character) | - | 2008 |
No Score Yet |
|
Wieners | Ben (Character) | - | 2008 |
50% |
|
Spiral |
Berkeley (Character), Executive Producer |
- | 2007 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Tiffany Problem | Zac (Character) | - | 2007 |
5% |
|
Big Momma's House 2 | Kevin (Character) | $70.2M | 2006 |
No Score Yet |
|
See Jane Date | Grant Asher (Character) | - | 2003 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | 42% | Jimmy Kimmel Live! | Guest | 2024 |
No Score Yet | 54% | The Kelly Clarkson Show |
Music Performer, Guest |
2021 2023 |
No Score Yet | 44% | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | Guest | 2023 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Who Do You Think You Are? | Guest | 2022 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Talk | Guest | 2013 2018 2022 |
No Score Yet | 64% | Family Guy |
Seymour/ |
2022 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Ellen DeGeneres Show | Guest | 2015 2021 |
No Score Yet | 18% | The Late Late Show With James Corden | Guest | 2015 2018-2019 2021 |
No Score Yet | 81% | Tangled: The Series | Eugene (Voice) | 2017-2020 |
No Score Yet | 11% | The View | Guest | 2019 |
No Score Yet | 48% | The Late Show With Stephen Colbert | Guest | 2019 |
90% | 84% | The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel | Benjamin (Guest Star) | 2018 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tangled the Series: Inside the Journal | Unknown (Character) | 2018 |
99% | 88% | Alias Grace | Unknown (Character) | 2017 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Great Performances | Unknown (Character) | 2017 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Conan | Guest | 2010 2015 2017 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sesame Street | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2017 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The $100,000 Pyramid | Guest | 2016 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Wendy Williams Show | Guest | 2013 2016 |
No Score Yet | 55% | Late Night With Seth Meyers | Guest | 2016 |
64% | 61% | Telenovela | James McMahon (Guest Star) | 2015-2016 |
42% | 56% | Heroes Reborn | Luke (Character) | 2015-2016 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Geeks Who Drink |
Executive Producer, Host |
2015 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hollywood Game Night | Guest | 2014-2015 |
No Score Yet | 84% | Robot Chicken |
Ryu / Unknown (Voice) |
2012 2014 |
No Score Yet | 92% | The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson | Guest | 2014 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Soup | Guest | 2014 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Chew | Guest | 2013 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Larry King Now | Guest | 2013 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen | Guest | 2013 |
90% | 92% | Chuck |
Chuck Bartowski (Character), Director |
2007-2012 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Vietnam in HD | Unknown (Voice) | 2011 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Lopez Tonight | Guest | 2010-2011 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Rachael Ray | Guest | 2010 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Late Night With Jimmy Fallon | Guest | 2010 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Bonnie Hunt Show | Guest | 2008 2010 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Less Than Perfect | Kipp Steadman (Character) | 2002-2006 2009 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Free Radio | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2009 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Late Night With Conan O'Brien | Guest | 2007-2008 |