Zach Galifianakis is an American comedian, actor, and writer best known as Alan Garner in “The Hangover” films and as the host of the cult web series “Between Two Ferns.” He turned 57 on October 1, 2026, and he’s having one of the busiest years of his career, with a new Netflix gardening show, a Silicon Valley drama on AMC, and a Mel Brooks-backed comedy series on the way.
| Date of Birth | October 1, 1969 |
|---|---|
| Age | 57 years |
| Nationality | American |
| Zodiac Sign | Libra |
| Occupation | Actor, Comedian |
| Full Name | Zachary Knight Galifianakis |
| Spouse | Quinn Lundberg (married 2012) |
| Children | Two sons, including Rufus Emmanuel Lundberg |
| Known For | "The Hangover" trilogy (Alan Garner), "Baskets" |
Lyanna KeaIn April 2026, he joined AMC’s dark comedy “The Audacity” as Carl Bardolph, a billionaire investor, and AMC renewed the show for a second season before it even premiered. That same month, Netflix released “This Is a Gardening Show with Zach Galifianakis.” In May 2026, FX and Hulu gave a full series order to “Very Young Frankenstein,” which he’ll star in, with Taika Waititi directing the pilot.
Biography
Zachary Knight Galifianakis was born on October 1, 1969, in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. His paternal grandparents, Emmanuel “Mike” Galifianakis and Sophia Kastrinakis, came to America from Heraklion, Crete, and the family kept its Greek Orthodox traditions in the American South. His mother, Mary Frances (née Cashion), has Scots-Irish, English, Welsh, and French Huguenot roots.
His father, Harry, sold heating oil, and his mother ran a community arts centre, which helped spark young Zach’s creative side. He grew up with an older brother, Greg (who later appeared in “Between Two Ferns: The Movie”), and a younger sister, Merritt.
Politics and creativity run in the family. His late uncle, Nick Galifianakis, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1973 and ran for the Senate against Jesse Helms in 1972. His cousin, also named Nick Galifianakis, is a cartoonist for The Washington Post.
Galifianakis studied communications at North Carolina State University while working at a public-access TV station. He left one credit short of graduating and moved to New York City in the mid-1990s, where comedian Lisa de Larios pushed him to try stand-up.
His first set was at Hamburger Harry’s in Times Square around 1995. After about a year of playing clubs, laundromats, and coffee shops in New York, he drove to Los Angeles. Speaking on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in April 2026, he said he arrived with a mattress, a globe, and a poster of Gorbachev, slept in a rental van for two weeks, and then moved into the Hollywood Youth Hostel.
Career
The road to fame was long. Galifianakis made his TV debut on “Boston Common” in 1996, followed by a famous two-week stint as a writer on “Saturday Night Live.” His 2002 VH1 talk show “Late World with Zach” lasted just nine weeks.
Steady work in “Tru Calling” (2003 to 2005), “Reno 911!” and Adult Swim’s “Tim and Eric Awesome Show” built him a cult following. His 2006 stand-up special “Live at the Purple Onion” became one of Netflix’s early original titles.
In 2008, he co-created “Between Two Ferns” with Scott Aukerman. The low-budget web series featured deliberately awkward celebrity interviews held between two potted ferns.
Everything changed with “The Hangover” in 2009. His role as the childlike, socially clueless Alan Garner became an instant hit and won him the MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance.
The film’s success led to “The Hangover Part II” (2011) and “Part III” (2013). He reportedly earned just under $1 million for the first film, about $5 million upfront plus a share of profits for Part II, and $15 million upfront for Part III.
After the Hangover years, he mixed comedy hits like “Due Date” and “The Campaign” with acclaimed work. His role in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (2014) earned him a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast alongside Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, and Emma Stone. He also voiced Humpty Dumpty in “Puss in Boots” (2011), The Joker in “The Lego Batman Movie” (2017), and Mr. Link in “Missing Link” (2019).
President Barack Obama in Between Two Ferns
“Between Two Ferns” hit its peak on March 11, 2014, when President Barack Obama appeared as a guest to promote Healthcare.gov sign-ups. The episode drew tens of millions of views, and Funny or Die became the top referrer to Healthcare.gov that day.
The best-known moment came when Obama shot back, “Where’s your birth certificate?” after Galifianakis joked about Kenya. The series won Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program in 2014 and 2015.
The 2019 Netflix film “Between Two Ferns: The Movie” stretched the format to feature length. In a September 2024 Newsweek interview, he said the show won’t return: “We’re living in meaner times and I’m not sure that show would be as appreciated nowadays.”
Baskets
From 2016 to 2019, Galifianakis co-created, produced, and starred in FX’s “Baskets.” He played twin brothers Chip and Dale Baskets, with Chip being a failed clown working at a rodeo in Bakersfield. The role earned him a 2017 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, while co-star Louie Anderson won an Emmy for playing their mother.
Recent Projects (2024 to 2026)
In 2024, he voiced a character in Netflix’s animated “Thelma the Unicorn” and joined Season 4 of “Only Murders in the Building” alongside Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. The show’s cast won the SAG Award for Best Comedy Ensemble in 2025.
In May 2025, Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” hit theaters with Galifianakis as the alien scientist Jumba Jookiba. The film grossed over $1 billion worldwide.
“The Audacity” premiered on AMC and AMC+ on April 12, 2026. Speaking to Jimmy Kimmel, he called his character “immoral” and said the show matters because “we never stopped to really talk about what all this means and who’s designing all this stuff.” He also admitted, “the billionaire class, I just don’t trust them.”
“This Is a Gardening Show with Zach Galifianakis” landed on Netflix on Earth Day, April 22, 2026. The six short episodes cover topics like apples, tomatoes, and compost, with experts and kids doing much of the teaching. On the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast in May 2026, he said gardening has been his hobby for over 20 years and that he had about a hundred pumpkin seedlings in his greenhouse waiting to be planted.
He also plays Dalton Hardberry, an art influencer, in “The Gallerist” with Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2026 and is set for a theatrical release on December 4, 2026.
Personal Life
Galifianakis keeps his private life very private. In August 2012, he married Quinn Lundberg, a Canadian charity worker who co-founded the nonprofit Growing Voices and later the Los Angeles parenting centre LOOM. The couple sent fake wedding invitations to the media to protect their small ceremony in Vancouver.
They have two sons. The first was born in September 2013, and his name has never been made public. Their second son, Rufus Emmanuel Lundberg, was born in November 2016.
For years, his sons thought he was “a librarian.” That has changed. He told Jimmy Kimmel in 2026 that his preteen kids now know what he does for a living, and they charge him a fee every time he talks about them on TV.
The family now lives on a small island in British Columbia, Canada, with about a thousand residents. He used to own a farm in Sparta, North Carolina, where he shot Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” video in 2007. He told Kimmel he moved everything from North Carolina to Canada except his tractor, which he gave to a friend.
Net Worth
Zach Galifianakis’s net worth is estimated at $50 million to $55 million. The biggest share came from “The Hangover” trilogy, which paid him tens of millions of dollars across three films.
He has added steady income from “Baskets,” “Between Two Ferns: The Movie,” voice roles in hits like “Puss in Boots” and “Lilo & Stitch,” and his 2026 TV work on AMC, Netflix, and FX. With two new series running and another in production, his earnings are likely to keep growing.
Despite the money, he lives simply. He avoids social media, and he has said that “celebrity worship is bad for our culture.”
Awards
Galifianakis has won two Primetime Emmy Awards for “Between Two Ferns” (2014 and 2015) and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, for the “Birdman” cast in 2015 and the “Only Murders in the Building” cast in 2025. He also won an MTV Movie Award for “The Hangover.”
Quiet Philanthropy
One story says a lot about him. In the 1990s, he befriended Marie “Mimi” Haist, a homeless woman who lived and worked at a Santa Monica laundromat. When he later learned she was still homeless, he paid rent for an apartment across from the laundromat.
He took Mimi as his date to premieres for “The Hangover Part II,” “The Hangover Part III,” and “The Campaign.” Their friendship was the subject of the 2015 documentary “Queen Mimi,” and they stayed close until she died in 2021. He never publicised his help. People only learned about it through the film.
Trivia
Weight loss: After he quit drinking, he lost a lot of weight and looked very different at the 2015 SAG Awards. Director Todd Phillips had him wear a fat suit for “The Hangover Part III.”
Hangover regrets: He later said, “I wished we had just done one. I think leave well enough alone sometimes.” He joked to Conan O’Brien that “The Hangover 3” should just be the three leads “playing Parcheesi, and nothing happens.”
Off the grid: He has no social media and is famously stubborn about technology. He told Kimmel that his kids’ impression of him goes, “I hate technology and all I like is feta cheese.”
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Zach Galifianakis?
Zach Galifianakis is 57 years old. He was born on October 1, 1969, in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
Who is Zach Galifianakis’s wife?
His wife is Quinn Lundberg, a Canadian charity worker. They married in August 2012 and have two sons.
Where does Zach Galifianakis live now?
He lives with his family on a small island in British Columbia, Canada. He moved there from his former farm in North Carolina.
What is Zach Galifianakis’s new show?
In 2026, he appears in AMC’s “The Audacity” and hosts Netflix’s “This Is a Gardening Show with Zach Galifianakis.” He’s also set to star in FX and Hulu’s “Very Young Frankenstein.”
Will there be a Hangover 4?
There are no plans for a fourth film. Galifianakis has said he wishes they had only made one.
What is Zach Galifianakis’s net worth?
Zach Galifianakis’s net worth is estimated at $50 million to $55 million, mostly from “The Hangover” films, TV work, and voice acting.
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