Zachary Levi

Levi was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the son of Susan Marie (née Hoctor; 1950–2015) and Darrell Alton Pugh (1946–2023).

He is of English, Welsh, and German descent.

When he was a child, his family moved across several states before returning to their home in Ventura, California, where he attended Buena High School for four years.

He began acting on stage at the age of six, performing lead roles in regional productions such as Grease, The Outsiders, Oklahoma!, Oliver!, The Wizard of Oz, and Big River at the Ojai Art Center.

Levi first appeared in the FX television movie Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie.

He played Kipp Steadman on the ABC sitcom Less than Perfect.

Zachary Levi Pugh (born September 29, 1980) is an American actor.

He starred as Chuck Bartowski in the series Chuck, and as the title character in Shazam! and its 2023 sequel.

He also portrayed a potential boyfriend of Charisma Carpenter's character, Jane, in the then-ABC Family television movie See Jane Date. Levi was slated to be a lead in an ABC pilot called Three for the 2004/2005 television season, but the show was not picked up.

He landed the starring role in Chuck in 2007.

In the summer of 2008, Levi was named one of Entertainment Weekly's Top Thirty People Under Thirty.

He later starred in the film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel in the lead role as Dave's cousin Toby Seville.

He voiced Flynn Rider in the 2010 Disney animated musical fantasy film Tangled, where he performed "I See the Light" with Mandy Moore; the song won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media.

Levi and his Chuck co-star Yvonne Strahovski were both nominated for Best Action Actor and Actress Choice TV Series for the Teen Choice Awards 2010 where they both won and presented.

He starred in the 2010 Disney-animated feature film Tangled, which is based on the popular fairy tale Rapunzel.

He voices Flynn Rider, a bandit who finds refuge in Rapunzel's tower.

The series is based on the 2010 film Tangled and features the returning voices of Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi.

He provided narration in the 2011 film Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story, a documentary about the game of Monopoly.

Levi hosted the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards.

BuddyTV ranked him #97 on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011".

He reprised the voice role in the 2012 short film Tangled Ever After and in the 2017 television series Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, based on the film.

He appeared in the films Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok as Fandral.

Levi landed the male lead in the 2012 TV pilot Let It Go, which would have aired on Fox, but was not picked up.

Levi hosted the web documentaries Tomb Raider The Final Hours, going behind the scenes of the new Tomb Raider game.

He was originally to portray Fandral in Thor, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with Chuck.

He did play the role in the sequels, Thor: The Dark World (2013), after original actor Josh Dallas had scheduling conflicts of his own, and briefly in Thor: Ragnarok (2017).

Levi made his Broadway debut in a production of the musical comedy First Date in August 2013.

In January 2015, it was announced that Levi would be a lead member of the cast of NBC's 13-episode miniseries Heroes Reborn as Luke Collins.

The show was not picked up for a second season.

He also guest-starred as Abraham Lincoln in the Hulu original series Deadbeat.

Levi joined the cast of the Broadway revival of She Loves Me in the lead role of Georg, alongside Laura Benanti as Amalia.

Levi starred as Georg Nowack in the 2016 Broadway revival of She Loves Me opposite Laura Benanti, for which he received a Tony Award nomination.

In 2022, Levi published a memoir/self-help book titled Radical Love: Learning to Accept Yourself and Others.

It opened at Studio 54 on March 17, 2016, after previews on February 19, 2016, for a limited engagement through June 12.

The run was later extended through July 10, when it closed.

The production received high critical praise, receiving 5 Stars from The Guardian and was selected as a Critics' Pick for The New York Times.

Levi was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his performance.

Critics praised Levi's performance of Georg, noting that his portrayal is "suave and handsome at times, disarmingly nebbishy at others," and that he "[exudes] sweet modesty and just a pinch of hauteur."

The production had a historic livestreamed performance on June 30, 2016, with Levi and the cast participating in the first livestreamed show in Broadway history.

In 2017, Levi reprised his role as Flynn Rider in a Disney Channel Original Movie titled Tangled: Before Ever After. This movie continued the story as a regular series titled Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, which lasted for 3 seasons, premiering on March 24, 2017, and concluding March 1, 2020.