Zachary Levi Pugh ( ; born September 29, 1980) is an American actor. He starred as Chuck Bartowski in the action comedy series Chuck (2007–2012), and as the titular 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 (2013) and (2017).
Levi starred as Georg Nowack in the 2016 Broadway theatre revival of She Loves Me, for which he received a Tony Award nomination.
He landed the Chuck Bartowski 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 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, (2013), after original actor Josh Dallas had scheduling conflicts of his own, and briefly in (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 theatre 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 Streaming media 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 . 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 opposite Gina Rodriguez and voiced Rocky in , 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.
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.
On June 16, 2014, Canadian actress Missy Peregrym announced that she and Levi had married in Maui, Hawaii. They filed for divorce in April 2015, with the separation date listed in court documents as December 3, 2014. In December 2024, Levi announced that his girlfriend Maggie Keating was expecting their child. Their son was born in April 2025.
Levi has been open about his struggles with Mental disorder and suicidal thoughts, both on social media and in his 2022 memoir Radical Love.
Due to his name and physical appearance, Levi is often incorrectly perceived to be Jews. Early in his career, a Hollywood agent persuaded him to change his name saying, "A guy named Zach Pugh would not be going far in Hollywood," which led him to drop his last name. In a 2013 interview with New York Post, Levi said he has no Jews ancestry. In 2016, he revealed that he had been turned down for a number of roles because casting directors mistakenly thought he was "too Jewish" for the part.
In 2018, he said, "I'm very spiritual, but not particularly religious." While avowing belief in God, he said, "Religion is, in my opinion, very destructive to what I believe the true heart and spirit and essence of who God is." In a 2021 interview with The Christian Post, he said working on the film American Underdog bolstered his Christian faith, and in getting to work on this project, "it feels like God's fingerprints were all over it."
In a 2022 episode of the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, Levi described Canadians psychologist Jordan Peterson as "one of the deepest thinkers I've ever heard break down human behavior" who "has a lot of integrity". In January 2023, he agreed with an online post that said, "Do you agree or not, that Pfizer is a real danger to the world?", leading to allegations of echoing anti-vaccine sentiment. He also implied that his former She Loves Me co-star Gavin Creel's death from cancer was caused by the COVID-19 vaccine, which led to heavy criticism of Levi by their former cast-mate Laura Benanti.
In 2020, the Chuck cast performed a table read of the episode "Chuck Versus the Beard" to support Feeding America's COVID-19 Response Fund, raising $31,000 for food banks. In 2022, Levi helped raise funds to support displaced Ukrainians families through Convoy of Hope. In 2023, he allowed AdoptUSKids.org to use his likeness on billboards and in TV spots to promote awareness for foster care and adoption in the United States.
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An American Carol | Lab Tech 1 | |
Shades of Ray | Ray Rehman | |
Toby Seville | ||
She Loves Me | Georg Nowack | Filmed production of musical play |
The Star | Saint Joseph (voice) | |
Blood Fest | Himself | Cameo |
American Underdog | Kurt Warner | |
Teddybjørnens jul | Teddy | English voice role |
Larry Daley / Laa | Voice role, replacing Ben Stiller | |
Terrence Tango-Torrez | ||
Rocky | Voice role, replacing Mel Gibson | |
Sarah's Oil | Bert Smith | Post-production; also producer |
Not Without Hope | Nick Schuyler | Post-production |
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Curb Your Enthusiasm | Bellman | Episode: "Opening Night" |
2011 Spike Video Game Awards | Host | Also consulting producer |
Vietnam in HD | Karl Marlantes | Voice role, 6 episodes |
Heroes Reborn | Luke Collins | Main role, 13 episodes |
Geeks Who Drink | Himself | Host, also executive producer |
Alias Grace | Jeremiah Pontelli | Miniseries |
Billy McGoldrick | Television film | |
Family Guy | Seymour | Voice role, episode: "Hard Boiled Meg" |
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Arcade Gannon | Voice role | |
Eugene "Flynn Rider" Fitzherbert | Voice role | |
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2013–2014 | First Date | Aaron | Longacre Theatre, Broadway theatre |
2016 | She Loves Me | Georg Nowack | Studio 54, Broadway |
Sunday in the Park with George | Jules / Bob Greenberg | New York City Center, Off-Broadway | |
2023 | Gutenberg! The Musical! | The Producer | James Earl Jones Theatre, Broadway One night cameo |
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