Steve Zahn

Steven James Zahn is an American actor and comedian known for his roles across film, television, and theater. He first gained widespread attention with his breakout performance in Reality Bites and went on to appear in prominent films such as That Thing You Do!, Happy, Texas, and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise. His television work includes main roles in series such as Treme and The White Lotus.

Zahn was born in Marshall, Minnesota, to a Lutheran minister and a bookstore clerk who later worked as a YMCA administrator. Raised partly in Mankato and later near Minneapolis, he participated in school theater and became a two-time state speech champion before graduating high school in 1986. Though he initially intended to enlist in the United States Marine Corps, he briefly attended Gustavus Adolphus College before leaving to pursue acting. He later earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.

Zahn began his professional stage career in 1991 with a Minnesota production of Biloxi Blues, followed by a national tour of Bye Bye Birdie and Off-Broadway roles. That same year, he co-founded the Malaparte theater company alongside fellow actors. Following his feature debut in Reality Bites, Zahn was frequently cast as easygoing sidekicks and slackers in late 1990s films such as Out of Sight and You've Got Mail. In 1999, he took on his first leading film role in the independent comedy Happy, Texas.

Over the following decades, Zahn transitioned into a wide array of comedic and dramatic feature roles. His film credits include Riding in Cars with Boys, Shattered Glass, Rescue Dawn—for which he lost significant weight—Sahara, Sunshine Cleaning, Dallas Buyers Club, Captain Fantastic, and War for the Planet of the Apes. He also played Frank Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series and provided voice work for animated features such as Chicken Little and The Good Dinosaur. His later film work includes Cowboys, LaRoy, Texas, and Anaconda.

In television, Zahn starred as Davis McAlary in the HBO drama series Treme and held primary roles in Mad Dogs, The Crossing, and the second season of Silo. His portrayal of Mark Mossbacher in the first season of the HBO anthology series The White Lotus earned him critical acclaim, including a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Throughout his career, Zahn has received an Independent Spirit Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Special Jury Award from the Sundance Film Festival.

Zahn married author and theater artist Robyn Peterman in 1994, with whom he has two children. The couple resides on a horse farm near Lexington, Kentucky, where they operate a local community theater. An avid military history enthusiast, Zahn was awarded an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Northern Kentucky University in 2007.