Personal life

Van Zandt was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, to Mary H. Lento and William Brewster Van Zandt. He is of Italian and Dutch descent He grew up in Middletown Township, New Jersey.

Van Zandt is the half-brother of musician/actor Steven Van Zandt and brother-in-law of Steven's wife, actress Maureen Van Zandt. Billy married actress Adrienne Barbeau on December 31, 1992. The couple met in 1991 during the West Coast premiere of Billy's play Drop Dead! They have twin sons, William and Walker (born March 17, 1997).

Career

Van Zandt is the co-author and star of the Off-Broadway plays You've Got Hate Mail, Silent Laughter, Drop Dead!, and 20 other theatrical plays written with Jane Milmore, including A Night at the Nutcracker, Wrong Window, and summer stock perennial Love, Sex, and the I.R.S. He also wrote The Property Known as Garland for wife Adrienne Barbeau, which ran Off-Broadway at the Actor's Playhouse in 2006.

Van Zandt was nominated for an Emmy Award for his television special I Love Lucy: The Very First Show, and won People's Choice and NAACP Image Awards for his work on the Martin Lawrence comedy Martin and a Prism Multi-Cultural Award for his work on TV's The Hughleys.

Along with partner Jane Milmore, he created and/or developed television's The Wayans Bros. for Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans, Suddenly Susan for Brooke Shields, Bless This House for Andrew Dice Clay, and Daddy Dearest for Don Rickles and Richard Lewis.

In addition to starring in his own plays, he has had roles as an alien Starfleet ensign in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a military school cadet in the 1981 movie Taps, teenage shark-bait in Jaws 2, and a mobster wannabe in the 1999 film A Wake in Providence, which he also co-wrote.

On television, Billy was a regular cast member on the second season of ABC's Anything but Love and usually does small cameo roles within his own writing-producing television work, notably acting as writer, creative consultant and guest star on the 1990 Valerie Bertinelli series Sydney.

He is currently starring Off-Broadway in You've Got Hate Mail at Stage 72 (formerly the Triad Theater) on W. 72nd Street, now in its fourth year.

Full-length plays

• Love, Sex, and the I.R.S.
• Suitehearts
• Lie, Cheat, and Genuflect
• Having a Wonderful Time, Wish You Were Her
• Playing Doctor
• A Little Quickie
• Drop Dead!
• Bathroom Humor
• Infidelities
• The Senator Wore Pantyhose
• Till Death Do Us Part
• Do Not Disturb
• What the Bellhop Saw
• Merrily We Dance and Sing
• What the Rabbi Saw
• Confessions of a Dirty Blonde
• Silent Laughter
• The Pennies
• The Property Known as Garland
• A Night at the Nutcracker
• You've Got Hate Mail
• Wrong Window
• High School Reunion: The Musical

The plays are published with Samuel French, Inc. and performed worldwide.

World premieres of the Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore comedies take place every May and June in New Jersey.

Television

• Newhart
• Anything But Love
• Nurses
• I Love Lucy: The Very First Show (Emmy nomination)
• Sydney
• Martin (People's Choice Award, NAACP Image Award)
• Daddy Dearest (created by)
• The Wayans Bros. (developed by)
• Bless This House
• Suddenly Susan (developed original pilot)
• Yes Dear
• The Hughleys (Multi-Cultural Image Award, NAACP Image Award nomination)
• Center of the Universe
• Jack and Janet Save the Planet (created by)

Film

• A Wake in Providence (co-author, role of Louie)
• Taps (as actor only, role of Bug)
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (as actor only, role of the Alien Ensign)
• Jaws 2 (as actor only, role of Bob Burnsides)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]