Background and career
Zachary Levi Pugh ( PEW; born September 29, 1980) is an American actor. He starred as Kipp Steadman in the sitcom Less Than Perfect (2002–2006), Chuck Bartowski in the action comedy series Chuck (2007–2012), and as the title character in the superhero film Shazam! (2019) and its 2023 sequel. He voiced Flynn Rider in the 2010 Disney animated musical fantasy film Tangled, in which he performed "I See the Light" with Mandy Moore. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. He reprised the voice role in the 2012 short film Tangled Ever After and in the 2017 television series Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure. He also appeared as Fandral in the superhero films Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017). Levi starred as Georg Nowack in the 2016 Broadway revival of She Loves Me, for which he received a Tony Award nomination.
Levi was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the son of Susan Marie Pugh (née Hoctor, 1950–2015) and Darrell Alton Pugh (1946–2023). Zachary is of English, Welsh, and German descent. While he was a child, he and his family moved to 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 including Grease, The Outsiders, Oklahoma!, Oliver!, The Wizard of Oz, and Big River at the Ojai Art Center in Ojai, California.
Levi first appeared in the Showtime/Goosehead.com series, Whatever, as a teenage boy, Ben. He was credited as Zachary Pugh. The series was produced by Ashley Powers and released in 2000. Levi was next seen in the FX television film Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie. He played Kipp Steadman on the ABC sitcom Less than Perfect. He also portrayed a potential boyfriend of Charisma Carpenter's character, Jane, in the then-ABC Family television film 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. 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. In the summer of 2008, he 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 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. 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 Levi as #97 on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011". He landed the male lead in the 2012 TV pilot Let It Go, which would have aired on Fox, but was not picked up. He 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. 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 film titled Tangled: Before Ever After. The television movie continues the story as a regular series titled Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, which lasted for three seasons, premiering on March 24, 2017, and concluding March 1, 2020. The series is based on the 2010 film Tangled and features the returning voices of Mandy Moore and Levi. In 2018, Levi appeared as Dr. Benjamin Ettenberg, a love interest for the main character, Miriam 'Midge' Maisel, in the second season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. With the series' other principal cast members, Levi won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series at SAG's January 2019 awards ceremony. In 2019, Levi starred as the main character in New Line Cinema and Warner Bros.' superhero comedy feature film Shazam!, an entry in the DC Extended Universe franchise. In the film, Levi's Shazam character (also known as Captain Marvel) is the superpowered alter-ego of a teenaged boy, Billy Batson (played by Asher Angel), who retains his childish personality in his adult form similar to the 1988 20th Century Fox comedy Big. After a nearly two-year hiatus from acting, Levi starred in a supporting role in Kevin Macdonald's 2021 legal drama, The Mauritanian. Levi also played the role of Kurt Warner in the biographical sports drama American Underdog that same year. In 2023, he reprised his role as Billy Batson in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, played the character of Terrence Tango-Torrez in Spy Kids: Armageddon opposite Gina Rodriguez and voiced Rocky in Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, replacing Mel Gibson. In 2024, Levi starred in the film adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon, playing a grown-up version of the titular character. In 2025, Levi portrayed the author Scott LeRette, the father of a child with osteogenesis imperfecta, in The Unbreakable Boy. Also in 2025, Levi portrayed the character of Bert Smith, a charming, silver-tongued, and opportunistic wildcatter who initially appears self-centered but undergoes a transformation. He is an intelligent and resourceful hustler who becomes an unlikely ally to Sarah Rector, ultimately being changed by her strong faith and determination to protect her land in the film Sarah's Oil. In late 2025, he played the character of Nick Schuyler in the drama movie Not Without Hope. In early 2026, Zachary Levi hosted a four-part docu-drama on Fox Nation. The series chronicles the biblical story of David, focusing on his rise from shepherd to king, the battle with Goliath, and his journey as a flawed, human leader, aiming to highlight themes of faith, redemption, and divine love.
In April 2010, Katharine McPhee released a preview of a music video to cinemas for her single "Terrified". Levi and McPhee have a duet on the song (which was re-recorded; the original album version features Jason Reeves) and appears in the music video singing with McPhee. On May 3, 2010, the song was previewed on the Entertainment Weekly website and made available for purchase on iTunes. The full video premiered May 7, 2010, on the music video website Vevo. Levi financed Kendall Payne's album Grown after she was dropped by her label, Capitol Records. On the soundtrack of the film Tangled, Levi sings "I See the Light" (with costar Mandy Moore) and "I've Got a Dream". For the film receiving a Oscar for Best Original Song nomination, Levi and Moore performed "I See the Light" at the 83rd Academy Awards. Levi has also been a guest member of Band from TV, a band made up of actors from various American television shows. On December 21, 2023, Levi performed Jolly Holiday from the 1964 film Mary Poppins on the primetime CBS special Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic.
Levi launched a production company called Wyldwood Productions in 2020. Director Zach Ramelan directed two narrative short films for the studio in 2020: Freelancer in February and The Statement starring Levi in May. In 2023, the studio co-produced the sixty-second episode of The FilmUp Podcast which is about Levi's life, career, and future plans. Wyldwood released its first theatrical feature film, Sarah's Oil, in partnership with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2025.
