This Friday, The Hangover opens in theaters. The movie’s cast features several hilarious actors, including one comedian with a North Carolina pedigree. Zach Galifianakis, who plays the role of Alan, grew up in western North Carolina and later attended NC State, but didn’t graduate after failing his last college course by a single point. He moved to New York City where he began his career in comedy and acting.
Two other interesting (and appropriately miscellaneous) facts about Zach Galifianakis:
Zach’s uncle, Nick Galifianakis, ran against Senator Jesse Helms in 1972. The image below is of Nick Galifiniakis’ campaign buttons, which cleverly spread his long last name over two buttons in a not-so-subtle response to the Helms’ campaign slogan “Jesse Helms: He’s one of us.”
And in 2007, Zach directed and starred in an alternate music video for Kanye West’s song “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” which was filmed in North Carolina on Galifianakis’ farm.
The New York Times Magazine had a feature on Nick recently:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/magazine/31Galifianakis-t.html?pagewanted=all
I meant Zach
Interesting. Nick Galifianakis also was a Congressman.
I just saw a brief interview with Zach Galifianakis in Entertainment Weekly where he mentioned his North Carolina farm. Apparently in addition to hosting music video shoots there, he also grows several types of fruit, including blueberries, apples, and pumpkins. And he was quoted as saying that the best part of rural living was that ”Grapevines don’t heckle you.” I wonder: someday will there be a Galifianakis winery pamphlet in the NCC’s ephemera collection? 🙂
Zach’s The Hangover co-star Ken Jeong was on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. He was actually a practicing physician before his acting career and he said he attended dook and UNC Medical School.
Where in North Carolina does he live?
Galifianakis grew up in Wilkesboro, NC. I’m not certain exactly where his farm is located, but a New York Times article from May 28, 2009 suggests that it’s in western North Carolina, near the Virginia border.
Here’s a link to the NY Times article (click through to page 5 for a mention of filming the music video for Kanye West on Galifianakis’ farm):
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/magazine/31Galifianakis-t.html?pagewanted=1