Zach Braff

Birthday: 6 April 1975, South Orange, New Jersey, USA

Birth Name: Zachary Israel Braff

Height: 182 cm

Zach Braff was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, to Anne Hutchinson (Maynard), a clinical psychologist, and Harold Irwin Braff, a trial attorney. His father is from a Jewish family (from Russia and Austria), while Zach's mother, who is from a Yankee family with deep roots in New England, converted to Judaism. Zach attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, and also graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in film. Zach is known for playing Dr. John 'J.D.' Dorian on the television series Scrubs (2001), for writing, directing, and starring in the films Garden State (2004) and Wish I Was Here (2014), and for starring in the movies Chicken Little (2005), The Last Kiss (2006), and The Ex (1996).He just completed directing the New Line/ Warner Bros. feature "Going In Style" starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin. Show less «

[on working with Woody Allen] That was a very surreal experience: I had studied the script right dow...Show more »

[on working with Woody Allen] That was a very surreal experience: I had studied the script right down to the punctuation marks, and then he would say, "We're not going to say what's on the page, and you don't really have to, either. Try to keep up". Show less «

My mother's a psychologist, my stepfather's a psychologist, my stepmother is a therapist and my dad'...Show more »

My mother's a psychologist, my stepfather's a psychologist, my stepmother is a therapist and my dad's a lawyer. So it was all prominent in my life. I don't know anyone who doesn't know someone on some form of prescription medicine. Show less «

I think - not to push this on anyone - that this is the life we have. There is no afterlife and ther...Show more »

I think - not to push this on anyone - that this is the life we have. There is no afterlife and there's no cloud that we get to sit on and read the paper. When I fold that into the search for my own spirituality, I want to seize the day. I want to live each moment. I want to make the most of it, because this is it. Show less «

I love The Office (2001). I think it's the funniest thing - Ricky Gervais is possibly the funniest p...Show more »

I love The Office (2001). I think it's the funniest thing - Ricky Gervais is possibly the funniest person I've seen in my entire life. Show less «

I was kosher until I had my Bar Mitzvah, and I parlayed officially becoming a man into telling my fa...Show more »

I was kosher until I had my Bar Mitzvah, and I parlayed officially becoming a man into telling my father I wanted to eat cheeseburgers. Show less «

Everyone has an idea that they think would be a great movie. Everyone has a cousin who they think yo...Show more »

Everyone has an idea that they think would be a great movie. Everyone has a cousin who they think you should work with. Everyone has a warped vision of Hollywood and what success in Hollywood is like. That you love cocaine and that you spend every night in orgies with models. If only it were true. Show less «

[Responding to E! Ted Casablanca, when asked what he thinks of studio heads] They put all this money...Show more »

[Responding to E! Ted Casablanca, when asked what he thinks of studio heads] They put all this money into these huge movies, and then no one goes to see them . . . That sort of shows that they're out of touch. Then, everyone in town passes on my little movie, and it does really well. Show less «

[6/25/07, on his MySpace.com Blog] I'm not sure when or why the tabloid angle on me was decided that...Show more »

[6/25/07, on his MySpace.com Blog] I'm not sure when or why the tabloid angle on me was decided that I am a cad. I would have much rather it had been that I am secretly a dentist or that I love soup. I am, in fact, merely doing what every other single 32-year-old man in NYC is doing this summer. I am dating. If you must read that stuff, please don't digest it as fact. It is probably one of the only real shitty things one has to get used to when living in the public eye, but I suppose one of the benefits of this blog is that you can hear it directly from me. [on his MySpace.com Blog] [25 June 2007] Show less «

[on his mother's conversion to Judaism] Well, my mom converted - she was Protestant - so she doesn't...Show more »

[on his mother's conversion to Judaism] Well, my mom converted - she was Protestant - so she doesn't have any of the stereotypical attributes of a Jewish mother. But she's amazing. I got all the benefits of having an amazing Jewish mom without having any of the annoying things. I'm a total momma's boy. Show less «

[on Hollywood's initial response to his Garden State (2004) script] Everyone said no. Everyone with ...Show more »

[on Hollywood's initial response to his Garden State (2004) script] Everyone said no. Everyone with a date book and a phone in Los Angeles said no. Show less «

[on casting Natalie Portman in Garden State (2004)] When you are writing a script, you can't help bu...Show more »

[on casting Natalie Portman in Garden State (2004)] When you are writing a script, you can't help but stop and daydream about which actors are going to play the parts, and I kind of imagined Natalie Portman. Not just because she is beautiful, because obviously she is, but she is a wonderful actress who hasn't had a chance in a long time to show the world how talented she is. Show less «

I love Scrubs (2001). It's the best day job in the world.