Steve Zahn is an American actor and comedian, with appearances on both film and stage.
He was born on November 13, 1967, in Marshall, Minnesota. He first appeared in school plays, eventually making his professional debut in a Minnesota production of Biloxi Blues. He also toured as Hugo in the play Bye Bye Birdie. His biggest break, however, came in 1994, when Ben Stiller noticed him, and subsequently cast him in the film Reality Bites. He was cast as the gay, celibate friend of Leilana (Winona Ryder).
Zahn shuffled his time between stage and film work, and also appeared in television programs; at one point, he played Phoebe’s husband in a 1995 episode of Friends. He also appeared in the 1996 film That Thing You Do! alongside Tom Hanks; and the 1998 films You’ve Got Mail, alongside Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan; The Object of My Attention, with Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd; and Out of Sight, with Danny DeVito. He subsequently appeared in the 1999 independent release Happy, Texas, as an escaped prisoner who pretend to be a gay organizer of a beauty pageant.
Zahn’s most critically-acclaimed performance, however, is 2001’s Riding in Cars with Boys, an adaptation of Beverly D’Onofrio’s autobiography. He plays the husband of Drew Barrymore, who deals with a drug addiction. Critics such as Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper strongly believed that Zahn should’ve been nominated for an Oscar with his performance.
Steve Zahn’s more successful films all came in recently. He appeared in films such as 2003’s National Security, opposite Martin Lawrence, the same year’s Daddy Day Care, opposite Eddie Murphy; and 2005’s Sahara, opposite Matthew McConaughey. He provided his voice to films such as Stuart Little, released in 1999; Chicken Little, released in 2005, and Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs and a Baby, released in 2008.