Steven James Zahn ( ; born November 13, 1967) is an American actor and comedian.
In film, Zahn is best known for his lead roles in That Thing You Do! (1996), Happy, Texas (1999), Joy Ride (2001), National Security (2003), A Perfect Getaway (2009), the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series (2010–2012), Cowboys (2020), and LaRoy, Texas (2023). His notable supporting roles in films include Reality Bites (1994), Out of Sight (1998), Forces of Nature (1999), Employee of the Month (2004), the Stuart Little film series (1999–2002), Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), Chicken Little (2005), Sahara (2005), Rescue Dawn (2006), Dallas Buyers Club (2013), The Good Dinosaur (2015), Captain Fantastic (2016) and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017).
In television, Zahn is best known for his main cast credits as Davis McAlary in the HBO series Treme (2010–2013), Cobi in the Amazon Prime Video series Mad Dogs (2015–2016), Jude Ellis in the ABC science fiction series The Crossing (2018), and Mark Mossbacher in season 1 of the HBO anthology series The White Lotus (2021).
Zahn received an Independent Spirit Award, a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for The White Lotus, as well as two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Early life and education
Steven James Zahn was born on November 13, 1967,
Zahn spent part of his childhood in Mankato, Minnesota, attending Kennedy Elementary School, and moved to the suburbs of Minneapolis for high school, where he acted in school plays and became a two-time Minnesota state speech champion. Zahn graduated from Robbinsdale Cooper High School in New Hope in 1986, planning to eventually join the United States Marine Corps. Zahn later enrolled in the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University, earning a Master of Fine Arts.
Career
In 1991, Zahn made his professional stage debut in a Minnesota production of Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues after falsely claiming to be a member of Actors' Equity. At A.R.T., Zahn worked with the stage director Andrei Șerban.
In 1991, Zahn formed the Malaparte theater company with a group of actor friends, including Ethan Hawke and Robert Sean Leonard. From 1991 to 1992, Zahn played Hugo Peabody in a national tour of Bye Bye Birdie starring Tommy Tune. He subsequently appeared in two Off-Broadway plays, Sophistry and Eric Bogosian's Suburbia.
After his breakout film role in 1994's Reality Bites, Zahn quickly gained a reputation for playing amiable stoners, slackers, and sidekicks in films such as That Thing You Do! (1996), You've Got Mail (1998), and Out of Sight (1998). In the 1990s, Zahn was often approached by fans who assumed he was an archetypal Generation X slacker, which was not the case. Zahn has said, "I'm the guy who gets up at six without an alarm clock. I was always that guy." After that, he began playing darker, more nuanced characters. He received Oscar buzz for his role as Drew Barrymore's deadbeat ex in Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), and played investigative journalist Adam Penenberg in Shattered Glass (2003), which starred Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, and Chloë Sevigny. A longtime Werner Herzog fan, Zahn campaigned for the role of Vietnam prisoner of war Duane W. Martin in Herzog's 2007 film Rescue Dawn; to prepare for the role, he lost by eating mostly raw food.
In 2024, Zahn portrayed Jimmy Conroy / "Solo" in the second season of the Apple TV+ series Silo.
Awards
{| class="wikitable"
!Award
!Year
!Category
!Work
!Result
|-
|Blockbuster Entertainment Award
|2008
|Favorite Supporting Actor – Comedy/Romance
|Forces of Nature
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |Independent Spirit Awards
|1999
| rowspan="2" |Best Supporting Male
|Happy, Texas
|
|-
|2007
|Rescue Dawn
|
|-
|Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival
|2026
| colspan="2" |Maverick Spirit Awards
|
|-
|Primetime Emmy Awards
|2022
|Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
|The White Lotus
|
|-
|Satellite Award
|2000
|Best Actor
|Happy, Texas
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |Screen Actors Guild Awards
|2013
| rowspan="2" |Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
|Dallas Buyers Club
|
|-
|2016
|Captain Fantastic
|
|-
|Sundance Film Festival
|1999
|Special Dramatic Jury Prize for Best Comedic Performance
|Happy, Texas
|
|-
|Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association
|2017
|Best Motion Capture Performance
|War for the Planet of the Apes
|
|}
Personal life
Zahn met author and theater artist Robyn Peterman, the daughter of clothier J. Peterman, while they were performing in a national tour of Bye Bye Birdie in 1991. In the 1990s, they bought a cabin in Pennsylvania and then a farm in New Jersey, near the Delaware Water Gap. They next moved to a 36-acre horse farm outside Lexington, Kentucky, where Zahn gardens and raises horses, goats, and sheep. He and his wife also run a local community theater, in which Zahn occasionally performs. where he enjoys tubing and fishing with his children. Zahn is a Lutheran.
Zahn is a lifelong military history buff and has said that one of his biggest regrets was having turned down a role in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. In 2007, he was awarded an honorary Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Northern Kentucky University. A University of Kentucky sports fan, Zahn is often seen at games and events.
Filmography
{| class="wikitable"
|+Key
| style="background:#FFFFCC;"|
|Denotes works that have not yet been released
|}
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! Ref.
|-
| 1992
| Rain Without Thunder
| Jeremy Tanner
|
|
|-
| 1994
| Reality Bites
| Sammy Gray
|
|
|-
| 1995
| Crimson Tide
| William Barnes
|
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1996
| Race the Sun
| Hans Kooiman
|
|
|-
| SubUrbia
| Buff
|
|
|-
| That Thing You Do!
| Lenny Haise
|
|
|-
|1997
|Subway Stories
|Tucker
|Segment: "The 5:24"
|
|-
|rowspan=4|1998
|The Object of My Affection
|Frank Hanson
|
|
|-
|Out of Sight
|Glenn Michaels
|
|
|-
|Safe Men
|Eddie
|
|
|-
|You've Got Mail
|George Pappas
|
|
|-
|rowspan=4|1999
|Forces of Nature
|Alan
|
|
|-
|Freak Talks About Sex
|Freak
|
|
|-
|Happy, Texas
|Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr., aka David
|
|
|-
|Stuart Little
|Monty
|Voice role
|
|-
|rowspan=2|2000
|Chain of Fools
|Thomas Kresk
|
|
|-
|Hamlet
|Rosencrantz
|
|
|-
|rowspan=5|2001
|Chelsea Walls
|Ross
|
|
|-
|Dr. Dolittle 2
|Archie
|Voice role
|
|-
|rowspan="1"|2018
|Blaze
|Oilman #2
|
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2019
| Where'd You Go, Bernadette
| David Walker
|
|
|-
| Tall Girl
| Richie Kreyman
|
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2020
| Uncle Frank
| Mike Bledsoe
|
|
|-
| Cowboys
| Troy
|
|
|-
| 2021
| 8-Bit Christmas
| John Doyle
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2022
|Tall Girl 2
| Richie Kreyman
|
|
|-
| Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again
| Jedediah
| Voice
|
|-
| LaRoy, Texas
| Skip
|
|
|-
| Gringa
| Jackson
|
|
|-
| Wildcat
| Tom T. Shiftlet
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2025
| She Dances
| Jason
| Also screenwriter and producer
|
|-
| Eenie Meanie
| Dad Meaney
|
|
|-
| Anaconda
| Kenny Trent
|
|
|-
| rowspan=2|TBA
| Time Out
|
| Filming
|
|-
| Hello & Paris
|
| Filming
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
!Ref.
|-
|1990
|All My Children
|Spence
|Episode #5303; Uncredited
|
|-
|1993
|South Beach
|Lane Bailey
|Episode: "Pirates of the Caribbean"
|
|-
|rowspan=3|1995
|Friends
|Duncan
|Episode: "The One with Phoebe's Husband"
|
|-
|Mike & Spike
|Nick Pickles
|Voice, episode: "Person to Clothes"
|
|-
|Picture Windows
|Crook
|Episode: "Armed Response"
|
|-
|1997
|Liberty! The American Revolution
|American Sergeant
|4 episodes
|
|-
|1998
|From the Earth to the Moon
|Astronaut Elliot See
|Miniseries; Episode: "Can We Do This?"
|
|-
|2008
|Comanche Moon
|Augustus "Gus" McCrae
|3 episodes
|
|-
|2008–2012
|Phineas and Ferb
|Sherman
|Voice, 2 episodes
|
|-
|The Good Lord Bird
|Chase
|2 episodes
|
|-
|2021
|The White Lotus
|Mark Mossbacher
|Main role
|
|-
|2022
|The Last Movie Stars
|Donald "Duck" Dobbins
|Voice, 3 episodes
|
|-
|2022–2023
|George & Tammy
|George Richey
|6 episodes
|
|-
|2023
|The Righteous Gemstones
|Peter Montgomery
|Recurring
|
|-
|2024–present
|Silo
|Solo
|Main role (season 2–present)
|
|-
|2025
|Chad Powers
|Jake Hudson
|Main role
|
|}
Video games
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 2005
| Chicken Little
| Runt of the Litter
|
|}
Theatre
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1990
| Bye Bye Birdie
| Hugo Peabody
|
|-
| 1991
| Biloxi Blues
| Performer
|
|}