Zachary Knight “Zach” Galifianakis is an American stand-up comedian and actor, known for his television appearance in his own Comedy Central Presents special. His career began on television, playing stoner Bobby in the short-lived sitcom Boston Common and joined Saturday Night Live as a writer but lasted only two weeks. Galifianakis co-starred in the film Out Cold and had small roles in Corky Romano, Below, Bubble Boy, Heartbreakers, Into the Wild, Super High Me, Little Fish Strange Pond and Largo.
Galifianakis was, together with Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn and Maria Bamford, one of the four Comedians of Comedy, a periodic packaged comedy tour in the style of The Original Kings of Comedy and the Blue Collar Comedy Tour.
Galifianakis has a series of videos on the Funny or Die website titled Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis where he conducts interviews with popular celebrities between two potted ferns. He has interviewed Jimmy Kimmel, Michael Cera, Jon Hamm, Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, Bradley Cooper, Carrot Top, Conan O’Brien, Andy Richter, Andy Dick, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Sean Penn, Bruce Willis, Tila Tequila, Jennifer Aniston, Will Ferrell, Samuel L. Jackson, Tobey Maguire, Arcade Fire, Justin Bieber, President Barack Obama and Brad Pitt.
Galifianakis won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program as a producer of the show at the 66th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Galifianakis played Alan Garner in the hit comedy The Hangover and earned the MTV Movie Award for the Best Comedic Performance. He was also prominently advertised in subsequent films that featured him in supporting roles, such as G-Force, Youth in Revolt and the Oscar-nominated film Up in the Air.
He also starred in films, such as The Hangover trilogy (2009-2013), Due Date (2010), The Campaign (2012) and alongside Will Ferrell in Jay Roach‘s 2012 political comedy The Campaign. He received critical praise for his performance in the 2014 film Birdman.
Galifianakis owns a farm in northeastern Alleghany County, North Carolina and splits his time between the farm and his work. Of his farm, he said, “My farm is a place that I get to think clearly and pretend to know what I am doing.”
According to New York magazine article Zach says he likes his Brooklyn home because “in the neighborhood I live in, I don’t have to bathe. And that’s nice.”