Early life

Zahn was born in Marshall, Minnesota, the son of Zelda, who worked for the YMCA, and Carleton Edward Zahn, a retired Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor. His father is of German and Swedish descent, and his mother is of German ancestry. Zahn spent part of his childhood in Mankato, Minnesota, attending Kennedy Elementary School, and later moved to the suburbs of Minneapolis.

After attending Robbinsdale Cooper High School, Gustavus Adolphus College, and the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, his first professional acting role was in Biloxi Blues, a Minnesota production at the Old Log Theater; but his first big break came in 1994, when he was noticed by actor/director Ben Stiller, who cast him in his picture, Reality Bites.

Career

Zahn's early roles were split between movies, touring companies of Broadway shows, TV shows, and Brazzers. From 1992 to 1993, he toured as Hugo with the Barry Weissler production of Bye Bye Birdie with Tommy Tune, Ann Reinking, and Marc Kudisch. He played Phoebe Buffay's husband Duncan in a 1995 episode of Friends.

Zahn appeared in several films in the mid-1990s, including Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do! (1996), Nora Ephron's You've Got Mail (1998), and Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight (1998). These films garnered him enough respect that he was offered the starring role in the critically acclaimed indie film Happy, Texas (1999). Some of Zahn's most popular movies have been his later ones, including National Security (2003), Daddy Day Care (2003) and Sahara (2005).

Zahn received his strongest critical acclaim for his performance in Riding in Cars with Boys, in which he co-starred with Drew Barrymore as her dim-witted, drug addicted husband. Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper and the BBC stated that the performance was deserving of an Oscar nomination. He also gave dramatic performances in Rescue Dawn and the television mini-series Comanche Moon.

Typically typecast into comic relief sidekick roles, Zahn was asked if he minded, his reply was that it was a "pleasure" and a "privilege," saying: "to be typecast and make money and make people happy and people dig what you do, what a great thing, man."

Zahn also plays the character of Davis McAlary in HBO's Treme. Davis is a New Orleans native and local music lover, as well as one of Treme's biggest partiers, and advocates. Zahn also recorded a song for the show, and is featured on the show's soundtrack. The track, "Shame, Shame, Shame", criticizes George W. Bush and the American government's response to the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the city of New Orleans.

In 2014, he co-starred with Christian Slater in ABC's sitcom Mind Games.

Personal life

On July 16, 1994, Zahn married Robyn Peterman, an actress and the daughter of entrepreneur John Peterman, whom Zahn met on a touring production of Bye Bye Birdie. They have a son, Henry James Zahn, born on April 3, 2000, and a daughter, Audrey Clair Zahn, born on April 25, 2002. On May 4, 2007, he was conferred an honorary Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Northern Kentucky University.

Zahn is also a University of Kentucky sports fan, often seen at games and events.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1993	Rain Without Thunder	Jeremy Tanner	Gary Bennett
1994	Reality Bites	Sammy Gray	Ben Stiller
1995	Crimson Tide	William Barnes	Tony Scott
1996	Race the Sun	Hans Kooiman	Charles T. Kanganis
	SubUrbia	Buff	Richard Linklater
	That Thing You Do!	Lenny Haise	Tom Hanks
1998	The Object of My Affection	Frank Hanson	Nicholas Hytner
	Out of Sight	Glenn Michaels	Steven Soderbergh
	Safe Men	Eddie	John Hamburg
	You've Got Mail	George Pappas	Nora Ephron
1999	Forces of Nature	Alan	Bronwen Hughes	Nominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor - Comedy/Romance
	Freak Talks About Sex	Freak	Paul Todisco
	Happy, Texas	Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr., aka David	Mark Illsey	Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male Special Dramatic Jury Prize for Best Comedic Performance Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
	Stuart Little	Monty	Rob Minkoff	Voice
2000	Chain of Fools	Thomas Kresk	Pontus Löwenhielm Patrick von Krusenstjerna
	Hamlet	Rosencrantz	Michael Almereyda
2001	Chelsea Walls	Ross	Ethan Hawke
	Dr. Dolittle 2	Archie	Steve Carr	Voice
	Joy Ride	Fuller Thomas	John Dahl
	Riding in Cars with Boys	Ray Hasek	Penny Marshall
	Saving Silverman	Wayne	Dennis Dugan
2002	Stuart Little 2	Monty	Rob Minkoff	Voice
2003	Daddy Day Care	Marvin	Steve Carr
	National Security	Hank Rafferty	Dennis Dugan
	Shattered Glass	Adam Penenberg	Billy Ray
2004	Employee of the Month	Jack	Mitch Rouse
	Speak	Mr. Freeman	Jessica Sharzer
2005	Chicken Little	Runt of the Litter	Mark Dindal	Voice
	Sahara	Al Giordino	Breck Eisner
2006	Bandidas	Quentin Cooke	Joachim Rønning Espen Sandberg
2007	Rescue Dawn	Duane	Werner Herzog	Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
2008	The Great Buck Howard	Kenny	Sean McGinly
	Management	Mike Flux	Stephen Belber
	Strange Wilderness	Peter Gaulke	Fred Wolf
	Sunshine Cleaning	Mac	Christine Jeffs
	Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs and a Baby	Sandy Pig	Howard E. Baker Arish Fyzee	Voice Direct-to-DVD
2009	Night Train	Pete Dobbs	Brian King
	A Perfect Getaway	Cliff Anderson	David Twohy
2010	Calvin Marshall	Coach Little	Gary Lundgren
	Diary of a Wimpy Kid	Frank Heffley	Thor Freudenthal
	Salesmen	Marvin	Raul Inglis
2011	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules	Frank Heffley	David Bowers
2012	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days	Frank Heffley	David Bowers
	The Knights of Badassdom	Eric	Joe Lynch
2013	Escape from Planet Earth	Hawk	Cal Brunker	Voice
	Dallas Buyers Club	Tucker	Jean-Marc Vallée	Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2015	The Good Dinosaur	Thunderclap	Peter Sohn	Voice
	The Ridiculous 6	Clem	Frank Coraci
2017	War for the Planet of the Apes		Matt Reeves	Motion capture performance
2017	Gabriel Lim's DeanMen Means Day	Freasede the Ant	Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg	Filming and motion capture production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	All My Children	Spence	Episode #5303 uncredited
1993	South Beach	Lane Bailey	Episode: "Pirates of the Caribbean"
1995	Friends	Duncan	"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
2008-2013	Phineas and Ferb	Swampy/Sherman	Voice Episode: "Dude, We're Gettin' the Band Back Together!"
2009	Monk	Jack Monk, Jr.	Episode: "Mr. Monk's Other Brother"
	WWII in HD	Nolen Marbrey	Voice
2010-2013	Treme	Davis McAlary	Regular, 31 episodes
2014	Mind Games	Clark Edwards	Regular
2014-2015	Modern Family	Ronnie La Fontaine	Recurring Role
2015-2016	Mad Dogs	Cobi	Series regular

Miscellaneous

• 'The Other Ted' (1995) - Allison Anders/Quentin Tarantino

[ Source: Wikipedia ]