It was hard to decide who to focus on this week. With Comic-Con on the minds of everyone in the geeksphere you have to wonder who would be the best representative of all that? Do you go with an obvious choice like Stan Lee, a popular choice who looks good shirtless like Arrow’s Stephen Amell (you got your pec fix last week, calm down) or do you go for someone who can not only play a nerd, but indulges himself in nerddom when he steps out of character as well? That last one was where my heart and mind went and that’s how we landed on Zachary Levi.
Name: Zachary Levi Pugh
Birthday: September 29, 1980
Place of Birth: Lake Charles, LA
Twitter: @ZacharyLevi
Best Known For
To most Zachary Levi isn’t a face, he’s a voice. Whether you’re a Disney fanatic or have someone in your life that made you watch Tangled, you’ve seen their take on the fairy tale staple. That was Levi. Oh no, not Rapunzel. Zachary was Flynn Rider, the wisecracking heartthrob who put a lot of past Disney men to shame. I still stand by Aladdin, but every girl’s got her choice prince. Other than being immortalized in the Disney Vault, you know Zachary Levi from Chuck. That’s the place you can picture him from, be it from being a loyal fan or recalling the ads when it was on from 2007-2012. Those are his big ones, and if you don’t know him from those then you’re like wait — Less Than Perfect? I can sort of remember a cute guy on that show! Or you’re like, he’s that guy behind The Nerd Machine who has the awesome Nerd HQ at Comic-Con.
5 Quick Zachary Levi Facts
- Zachary received 14 stitches after a Nintendo Wii accident. Don’t ever underestimate tennis on the Wii.
- Before acting was his full time gig, he worked at Blockbuster.
- He loves helping out his community. He’s a philanthropist of sorts.
- You may’ve seen him on American Idol — well, kind of. He did sing on Idol runner-up Katherine McPhee’s “Terrified” in 2010.
- Levi sits between two sisters. Yup, he’s the dreaded middle child.
Reasons You Love Zachary Levi
The reasons you love Zachary Levi reside in two of his biggest roles, what lies ahead and, of course, who he is when he is just a regular nerd like yourself.
You might consider yourself a Levi hipster because while most of the world is still calling him “Chuck” you always think of “Kipp Steadman.” That’s because you were in the know when he was dealing with Andy Dick on Less Than Perfect. However, Kipp quickly turned to Chuck and that’s where we’ll really start this love fest.
Levi’s Chuck was your average guy who had all the potential, but didn’t apply himself. He’s basically a poster boy for this generation — if you ask almost all of our parents. He was you, until of course his mind became the CIA’s focal point. Other than the spy side of life, you saw yourself in Chuck and related on a personal level to the character and that’s why you loved him. Let’s not forget that over time you too fell for Chuck like Sarah. It wasn’t just your love for the character though; it was the show as a whole. You were one of the many who banded together to keep Chuck on the air. NBC didn’t know what hit them when Chuck ended up having a cult following like it did. Your dedication made Chuck stay on for as long as it did and if that’s not love, I don’t know what is.
Then there’s Tangled. Oh Flynn Rider, you are the fantasy of one too many out there and that’s not a bad thing. We definitely have to give credit to the animators first and foremost because without them Flynn wouldn’t have been aesthetically pleasing, but it was Levi who gave Flynn life. Unlike a lot of Disney men in the past, Flynn wasn’t set on winning the girl at first. Maybe it’s that “hard to get” aspect of his personality that drove a lot of older Disney fans to him, but nevertheless, Flynn now sits forever atop a “I’d hit that” list of animated characters.
Next up Levi will step into the shoes of Fandral in Thor: The Dark World. He’s taking over the role and it is only going to send him deeper into the nerd world. This is obviously a blessing for Levi since when he’s not in character, he’s still a big geek. When he started The Nerd Machine in 2010, you were ecstatic because not only was Chuck a geek you swooned over, but Levi was too. You told your mom, “Hey you know that guy from Chuck I like? Well, I’m pretty sure I am going to marry the guy who plays him now because well — HE’S PERFECTION IN HUMAN FORM.” You instantly thought of being his second half at cons and internally smiled from there on out.
Whether he’s a Disney hottie, a fictional nerd, or a real life one, you love Zachary Levi because he’s continually failed at letting you down. He’s your perfect nerd boyfriend in both fictional and real worlds.
Reasons I Love Zachary Levi
Years ago my friends would talk about Chuck and I had no clue what they were talking about. Oh, that show with the one guy where’s a white shirt and tie? Yeah, never seen it. So I will never know the extent of Chuck because I have no immediate plans to binge on it. I was aware of Zachary Levi, but at that time I couldn’t spot him out in a crowd. He was a name with a run of the mill face.
My love for Zachary Levi comes along with some chipmunks. If you weren’t aware, Alvin and the Chipmunks is one of my all-time favorite cartoons. So you can imagine how excited I was when they had their trio of movies. I don’t care what critics say, they’re awesome to me. But anyway, Levi. I watched the entire Squeakquel thinking, who is that guy? With Jason Lee out, Levi stepped in to take care of the little guys. It wasn’t until the credits rolled that I knew it was this “Chuck” my friends were gaga about. See, a name without a face.
Today I’m a little more aware of who Zachary Levi is, but my love for him remains in a movie about singing chipmunks and nothing more. Even Flynn Rider isn’t my top choice because again, my Disney boyfriend will always be Aladdin. Hammer pants wearing street rat, that’s my boy.
