Zach Braff

Zach Braff
Role	Actor, Director, Executive Producer
Character	J.D.
Date of birth	April 6th, 1975
IMDb profile

Zach Braff is the Emmy-nominated TV and film actor who played Dr. John "J.D." Dorian on Scrubs. He was a member of the main cast for all 9 seasons. He has also directed several episodes, and was an executive producer for the ninth season.

Bio

Zachary Israel Braff was born on April 6, 1975 in South Orange, New Jersey, and grew up there and in neighboring Maplewood. His father, Harold Irwin "Hal" Braff (1934–2018), was a trial attorney, professor and alumnus at Rutgers Law School, a founder of the state's American Inns of Court (AIC) and an elected trustee of the National Inns of Court Foundation. His mother, Anne Brodzinsky (born Anne Hutchinson Maynard), worked as a clinical psychologist. His parents divorced and remarried others during Braff's childhood. Braff's father was born into a Jewish family and Braff's mother, originally a Protestant, converted to Judaism before marrying his father. Braff said that he had a "very strong conservative/orthodox [Jewish] upbringing." He had his bar mitzvah service at Oheb Shalom Congregation. In 2005, he said that he was "not a huge organized religion guy," and in 2013, he said that "the religion (Judaism) doesn't necessarily work for me," although he identifies as Jewish. His older brother is author Joshua Braff. His other brother, Adam Braff, is a writer and producer. His stepsister, Jessica Kirson, is a stand-up comedian.

Braff wanted to be a filmmaker since his early childhood; he has described it as his "life dream." Braff was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder at age ten. During his childhood, Braff was a friend of future Fugees member Lauryn Hill at Columbia High School in Maplewood. At age 11, Braff could be found at a renowned children's acting camp called Stagedoor Manor. After attracting the attention of a well-connected talent scout, Braff acted for an unsold pilot, High, in 1989, alongside Gwyneth Paltrow. His breakthrough on TV was playing a surrogate love interest in a 1990-episode of HBO's The Baby-Sitter's Club. By 1993, Braff was known for his first big role, as the teenaged son of Woody Allen and Diane Keaton in Manhattan Murder Mystery. '

Zach then attended Northwestern University, rather than making an immediate transition to a full-time career. While at Northwestern, Braff wrote and directed several short films. In 2000, while working as a waiter, Braff auditioned for Scrubs; which became his breakout role. During the summer following the shooting of the show's first season, Braff and Donald Faison went to New York together for work. The pair lived as roommates, and this experience cemented their status as best friends. Renowned author Amy Tan lived in the apartment below, and would send the boys strongly worded letters in response to their partying and general noise level. in 2002 Braff, along with a slew of other Scrubs-alumni, contributed voice-work to Clone High, a show being worked on in the same abandoned hospital as Scrubs was being shot in, owing to Bill Lawrence's mentoring relationship to the show's creators. Braff also returned to the Public Theater in 2002, in a part in Twelfth Night, staged in Central Park. in 2004, Braff's Scrubs success helped him get the funding to write, direct, and star in Garden State. In 2005, Braff landed his voice to the animated fowl Chicken Little, for the movie by the same name, as well as Chicken Little: The Video Game and Kingdom Hearts II. Braff also appeared in a Season 3-episode of Arrested Development. Braff was featured on Punk'd in 2005, where he chased and threw a swing at a young supposed vandal who appeared to be spray-painting his brand new Porsche. This went on to cause controversy. In 2006, Braff scored a starring role in The Last Kiss, the American remake of the 2001 Italian romcom L'ultimo bacio, as well as another romcom, The Ex. Braff also had a role in Bill Lawrence's failed pilot for Nobody's Watching the very same year, came back to voice a the staring fowl in Disney's Chicken Little: Ace in Action, and reprised his role on Arrested Development, this time uncredited.

In November 2008, Braff earned his pilot's license flying a Cirrus SR20. Braff opened the Mermaid Oyster Bar in New York City in 2009 with the help of chef and high school friend Laurence Edelman, as well as Danny Abrams.

Braff had one of the starring roles in 2010's The High Cost of Living, and took a lead role in Trust, at the Second Stage Theatre, a contemporary Off-Broadway theater company from July 23 to September 12. In 2011, Braff wrote a play, intitled All New People, which premiered in New York City on June 28. The play was directed by Peter DuBois, who directed Braff in Trust the previous year. In 2012, Braff had a cameo on the Bill Lawrence-show Cougar Town, and also acted in the movie The Color of Time. In 2012, Braff moved All New People on tour to the UK, playing between February and May. Braff lent his voice to an ape in Oz The Great and Powerful in 2013.

In April 2013, Braff announced he was writing a movie with his brother Adam, entitled Wish I Was Here, attempting to raise $2,000,000 to partially finance it via Kickstarter. The film was funded and filmed in 2013, and premiered in January 2014 at Sundance, to generally favorable reviews. It was released in theaters July 2014. On April 10, 2014, Braff opened on Broadway in the musical Bullets Over Broadway The Musical, an adaptation of Woody Allen's 1994 film.

In 2020, Braff directed the short film In The Time It Takes To Get There, starring Alicia Silverstone and Florence Pugh. The film was based on a poster created by Sam West, the winner of an Adobe contest in 2018. In 2021, Braff was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award for directing the Apple TV+ Bill Lawrence-comedy show Ted Lasso. He also received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for the Ted Lasso episode "Biscuits".

In March 2020, Braff and Scrubs co-star Donald Faison launched a Scrubs rewatch podcast titled Fake Doctors, Real Friends. Distributed by iHeartRadio, the duo also shares stories and experiences of their time on set. Guests on the podcast include their co-stars Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, Neil Flynn, John C. McGinley, Christa Miller, and Ken Jenkins as well as the show's creator, Bill Lawrence and director Michael Spiller.

Braff wrote, directed, and produced the drama film A Good Person starring Morgan Freeman and Florence Pugh, it was released on March 24, 2023.

Filmography

Year	Title	Media	Role	Character
1989	High	TV	Actor	Unknown
1990	The Baby-Sitters Club	TV	Actor	David Cummings (1 episode)
1993	Manhattan Murder Mystery	Film	Actor	Nick Lipton
1994	CBS Schoolbreak Special	TV	Actor	Tom/Tammy (1 episode)
1997	Lionel on a Sunday	Film	Writer/Director
1998	Macbeth (Off-Broadway)	Theater	Actor	Fleance/Young Siward
1999	Getting to Know You	Film	Actor	Wesley
2000	Endsville	Film	Actor	Dean
	Blue Moon	Film	Actor	Fred
	The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy	Film	Actor	Benji
2001-2009	Scrubs	TV	Actor/Director/Exec. Producer	J.D.
2002	Clone High	TV	Voice	X-Stream Mike / Paul Revere (2 episodes)
	Lazlo Bane - Superman	Music video	Director
	Twelth Night (Off-Broadway)	Theater	Actor	Sebastian
	It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie	TV Movie	Actor	J.D.
2004	Garden State	Film	Writer/Director/Actor	Andrew Largeman
2005	Chicken Little	Film	Voice	Chicken Little
	Chicken Little: The Video Game	Video Game	Voice	Chicken Little
	Kingdom Hearts II	Video Game	Voice	Chicken Little
	Arrested Development	TV	Actor	Phillip Litt
	Gavin DeGraw - Chariot	Music video	Director
2006	The Last Kiss	Film	Actor	Michael
	Arrested Development	TV	Actor	Uncredited (Phillip Litt)
	Chicken Little: Ace in Action	Video Game	Voice	Chicken Little
	Nobody's Watching	TV Pilot	Actor	Zach Braff
	The Ex	Film	Actor	Tom Reilly
2008	Night Life	TV Movie	Director/Producer
	Joshua Radin - I'd Rather Be With You (First Version)	Music-short	Director
2009	Scrubs: Interns	TV	Actor(Executive Producer	J.D. (1 episode)
2010	The High Cost of Living	Film	Actor	Henry Welles
	Positive Comment	Film	Executive Producer
	Trust (Second Stage Theatre Production)	Theater	Actor	Performer
2011	All New People (Second Stage Theatre Production)	Theater	Actor	Charlie
2012	Cougar Town	TV	Actor	Pizza Guy (1 episode)
	The Exes	TV	Actor	Chuck Feeney (1 episode)
	The Color Of Time (originally titled Tar)	Film	Actor	Albert
	All New People (West-End)	Theater	Actor	Charlie
2013	Oz The Great and Powerful	Film	Actor	Frank / Finley
2014	Wish I Was Here	Film	Director/Writer/Actor	Aidan Bloom
	Effed!	Short	Actor	Richie Keys
	Community	TV	Voice	Uncredited (J.D.)
	Inside Amy Schumer	TV	Actor	Rob (1 episode)
	Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical (Broadway)	Theater	Actor	David Shayne
	Video Games: The Movie	Documentary	Executive Producer
	The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz	Documentary	Executive Producer
2015	Undateable	TV	Actor	Zach (2 episodes)
	The Sixth Lead	TV	Actor	Zach Braff
	Self Promotion	TV Pilot	Director
2016	In Dobious Battle	Film	Actor	Connor
2017	The Disaster Artist	Film	Actor	Zach Braff
	Bill Nye Saves The World	TV	Guest	Self - Special Guest
	Bojack Horseman	TV	Voice	Famous Actor Zach Braff
	Going In Style	Film	Director
2018	Alex Inc.	TV	Actor/Director/Executive Producer	Alex Schuman
2019	In The Time It Takes To Get There	Short film	Writer/Director
2020	Bojack Horseman	TV	Voice	Famous Actor Zach Braff
	Percy Vs. Goliath	Film	Actor	Jackson Weaver
	The Comeback Trail	Film	Actor	Walter Creason
	Ted Lasso	TV	Director (1 episode)
2021	Solos	TV	Director (1 episode)
2022	Cheaper By The Dozen	TV	Actor	Paul Baker
	Moonshot	Film	Actor	Leon Kovi
	Obi-Wan Kenobi	TV	Voice	Freck (1 episode)
2023	A Little White Lie	Film	Actor	Real Shriver
	A Good Person	Film	Writer/Director/Executive Producer
	Shrinking	TV	Director (1 episode)
	The Mattachine Family	Film	Producer
2024	French Girl	Film	Actor	Gordon Kinski

Awards

Year	Ceremony	Award	Result	For	Title
2002	Teen Choice Awards	Teen Choice Award	Nominated	TV - Choice Actor, Comedy	Scrubs
2003	Teen Choice Awards	Teen Choice Award	Nominated	Choice TV Actor, Comedy	Scrubs
2004	Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	CFCA Award	Won	Best New Director	Garden State
	Florida Film Critics Circle Awards	FFCC Award	Won	Pauline Kael Breakout Award	Garden State
	Hollywood Film Festival	Hollywood Breakthrough Award	Won	Breakthrough Directing	Garden State
	Humanitas Prize	Humanitas Prize	Nominated	Sundance Film Category	Garden State
	National Board of Review, USA	NBR Award	Won	Best Debut Director	Garden State
	Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards	PFCS Award	Won	Breakout of the Year - Behind the Camera	Garden State
	Sundance Film Festival	Grand Jury Prize	Nominated	Dramatic	Garden State
	Teen Choice Awards	Teen Choice Award	Nominated	Choice TV Actor, Comedy	Scrubs
2005	Central Ohio Film Critics Association	COFCA Award	Won	Breakthrough Film Artist	Garden State
	Emmy Awards	Emmy	Nominated	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series	Scrubs
	Empire Awards, UK	Empire Award	Nominated	Best Newcomer	Garden State
	Golden Globes, USA	Golden Globe	Nominated	Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy	Scrubs
	Grammy Awards	Grammy	Won	Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media	Garden State
	Independent Spirit Awards	Independent Spirit Award	Won	Best First Feature	Garden State
			Nominated	Best First Screenplay	Garden State
	MTV Movie Awards	MTV Movie Award	Nominated	Best Kiss	Garden State
				Breakthrough Male	Garden State
	Online Film Critics Society Awards	OFCS Award	Won	Best Breakthrough Filmmaker	Garden State
			Nominated	Best Breakthrough Performance	Garden State
				Best Screenplay, Original	Garden State
	People's Choice Awards	People's Choice Award	Nominated	Favorite Leading Man	n/a
	People's Choice Awards	People's Choice Award	Nominated	Favorite Leading Man	n/a
	Satellite Awards	Golden Satellite Award	Nominated	Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical	Scrubs
	Teen Choice Awards	Teen Choice Award	Nominated	Choice Movie Actor: Drama	Garden State
				Choice Movie Blush Scene	Garden State
				Choice Movie Breakout Performance - Male	Garden State
				Choice Movie Liplock	Garden State
				Choice Movie Love Scene	Garden State
				Choice TV Actor: Comedy	Scrubs
	Writers Guild of America	WGA Award (Screen)	Nominated	Best Original Screenplay	Garden State
2006	Golden Globes	Golden Globe	Nominated	Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy	Scrubs
	Online Film & Television Association	OFTA Television Award	Nominated	Best Actor in A Comedy Series	Scrubs
	Online Film & Television Association	OFTA Television Award	Nominated	Best Guest Actor in A Comedy Series	Arrested Development
	Teen Choice Awards	Teen Choice Award	Nominated	TV - Choice Actor: Comedy	Scrubs
2007	Golden Globes	Golden Globe	Nominated	Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy	Scrubs
	Online Film & Television Association	OFTA Television Award	Nominated	Best Actor in A Comedy Series	Scrubs
	Gold Derby	Gold Derby TV Award	Nominated	Comedy Lead Actor	Scrubs
2010	Gold Derby	Gold Derby TV Award	Nominated	Comedy Lead Actor of The Decade	Scrubs

External Links

• ZachBraff.com -- Official website
• Zach Braff's Myspace -- Zach Braff's Myspace.com page
• Zach Braff's Facebook -- Zach Braff's Facebook.com page
• Zach Braff's Twitter -- Zach Braff's Twitter.com page
• Zach Braff's Instagram -- Zach Braff's Instagram.com page

Episodes Directed

• Season Four
  • "My Last Chance"
  • "My Best Laid Plans"
• Season Five
  • "My Way Home"
• Season Six
  • "My No Good Reason"
• Season Seven
  • "My Growing Pains"
  • "My Princess"
• Season Eight
  • "My Chief Concern"