Zach Braff’s success as an actor began with the 2001 beloved television series Scrubs. The half-hour show received numerous Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and Comedy Writing during its nine-year run. Braff earned an Emmy nomination and three consecutive Golden Globe nominations while transitioning to work behind the camera, where he soon found equal footing as a director, writer and producer.
After earning his film degree from Northwestern University, Braff worked at the renowned Public Theatre in New York. He starred in the 1998 staging of Shakespeare’s Macbeth as well as the 2002 New York Shakespeare Festival production at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre of Twelfth Night. He went on to star in Paul Weitz’s off-Broadway original drama, Trust, in 2010, and then made his West End debut in 2012, starring in his own original play, All New People. In March 2014, Braff made his Broadway debut as the l
Zach Braff’s success as an actor began with the 2001 beloved television series Scrubs. The half-hour show received numerous Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and Comedy Writing during its nine-year run. Braff earned an Emmy nomination and three consecutive Golden Globe nominations while transitioning to work behind the camera, where he soon found equal footing as a director, writer and producer.
After earning his film degree from Northwestern University, Braff worked at the renowned Public Theatre in New York. He starred in the 1998 staging of Shakespeare’s Macbeth as well as the 2002 New York Shakespeare Festival production at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre of Twelfth Night. He went on to star in Paul Weitz’s off-Broadway original drama, Trust, in 2010, and then made his West End debut in 2012, starring in his own original play, All New People. In March 2014, Braff made his Broadway debut as the lead in Bullets Over Broadway, based on the screenplay of the 1994 film.
After directing seven episodes of Scrubs (including the show’s landmark 100th episode), Braff made his feature film debut as a director and writer on the 2004 comedy-drama Garden State, in which he also starred. Shot in Braff’s home state of New Jersey for a budget of $2.5 million, the film sold for a then-unprecedented $5 million to Fox Searchlight at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Garden State grossed more than $35 million at the box office, received accolades from film critics across the board, and garnered over three dozen award nominations. Braff won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and was nominated for Best First Screenplay. He also earned a Writers Guild nomination for Best Original Screenplay and picked up a Best Director nod from the National Board of Review (plus a second special recognition prize). The film’s soundtrack sold more than one million copies and earned Braff a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album. Other Garden State” honors include Breakthrough Director from the Hollywood Film Festival and a Grand Jury Prize nomination at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2020 Braff re-teamed with Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence to direct an episode of the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso which earned him a 2021 DGA nomination.
Braff made history in 2013 when he funded his second feature film, Wish I Was Here, via an online crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter. The project surpassed its $2 million goal in just four days and ultimately collected $3.1 million. The success made headlines and helped launch crowdsourcing as a viable model for financing films. Co-written with his brother, Adam, Wish I Was Here began production immediately following the Kickstarter campaign and was shot in Los Angeles. The film starred Kate Hudson, Mandy Patinkin and Josh Gad and was released theatrically in June 2014.
Braff can next be seen alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Robert De Niro and Morgan Freeman in The Comeback Trail, slated for 2021. The action-comedy follows a movie producer in debt to a mob boss, who creates an insurance fraud by casting a washed-up, suicidal cowboy/movie star in a poorly written Western with the intention of killing him during the first days of filming. He is also currently shooting the Disney+ feature Cheaper by the Dozen, a remake of the 1950 and 2003 hit films. The 2021 version, written by Kenya Barris, centers on a multiracial blended family of 12, navigating a hectic home life and their family business. Behind the lens, he is part of the Amazon Original series Solos, which premieres on May 21st. Created by David Weil, Solos is a thought-provoking seven-part anthology series that explores the deeper meaning of human connection, as explored through the lens of the individual.
In Summer 2021, Braff re-teams with Garden State producer Pam Abdy for A Good Person, which he writes and directs. The film stars Florence Pugh and reunites Braff with Morgan Freeman in a story that follows a woman whose life falls apart following her involvement in a fatal accident. In the following years, the unlikely relationship she forms with her would-be father-in-law (played by Freeman) helps her live a life worth living.
Braff returned to TV in 2018, directing, producing and starring in the ABC/Sony series Alex, Inc. with Scrubs writer/producer Matt Tarses and based on Alex Blumberg’s popular podcast. Prior, he directed a remake of the hit 1979 Martin Brest caper comedy Going in Style for Warner Bros. in 2017. Academy Award winners Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin, reprised the roles originally played by George Burns, Lee Strasberg, Art Carney.
In March 2020, Braff and Scrubs castmate Donald Faison launched the iHeart podcast Fake Doctor, Real Friends, where they discuss their 20 years of friendship and re-watch and discuss past Scrubs episodes. The podcast has had over 25 million downloads and spent weeks on the podcast top 10 chart.
In 2019 Braff teamed with Adobe to create the short film #MoviePosterMovie In The Time It Takes to Get There, which he wrote and directed. The short film was based on a contest to design a movie poster using Adobe Student, which would be adapted by Braff. The short film went on to win a 2020 Webby Award for Writing as well as the prestigious D&AD Award in the UK for Entertainment Fiction Film and Writing for a Fiction Film.
His additional film acting credits include Greg Berlanti’s poignant comedy, The Broken Hearts Club, Tony Goldwyn’s romantic comedy, The Last Kiss, The High Cost of Living, The Ex, opposite Amanda Peet and Jason Bateman, Getting to Know You, adapted from works by Joyce Carol Oates, the Walt Disney fantasy adventure Oz: The Great and Powerful, directed by Sam Raimi, and he also voiced the title character of Disney’s 2005 animated hit, Chicken Little.
A licensed pilot, Braff currently splits his time between New York and Los Angeles.
