SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2024 | DENVER, CO

Zack Gottsagen

Zack Gottsagen
Zack Gottsagen
2018 Quincy Jones Exceptional Advocacy Award Recipient

Zachary Robin Gottsagen, “Zack,” made his first debut as the star of a natural childbirth instructional film on April 22, 1985. He has been a very enthusiastic performer since his first role as a frog at age three. Zack was the first child with Down syndrome to be fully included in the Palm Beach County school district and graduated from Dreyfoos School of the Arts, as a theatre major in 2004.

Zack starred in the live theatre production of “Artie” at the Royal Palm Playhouse in 2005. He became involved with Zeno Mountain Farms nonprofit film productions for over a decade, performing in many films including “Burning Like A Fire” and “Life of a Dollar Bill.” In 2012, Zack played the villain role in “Bulletproof.” During the filming of the movie, a documentary was made titled, “Becoming Bulletproof,” (2014) which went behind the scenes to follow Zack and other actors through their daily lives. In July 2015, the Smithsonian Museum invited Zack to be the keynote speaker for the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and showed the movie “Becoming Bulletproof.”

While filming with Zeno in Los Angeles, Zack met Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz. They were so taken with Zack that they decided to write a film for him to star in. They wrote “The Peanut Butter Falcon” incorporating Zack’s love of wrestling and his amazing intelligence, humor, innocence, enthusiasm and joy for life into the lead character role. Set to be released later this year, Zack is thrilled to star in the adventure film alongside Shia LaBeouf and Dakota Johnson.

Zack lives independently in Florida and works at the Alco Movie Theatre. His talent, passion, motivation and perseverance have been the impetus for Zack to build his expanding performing arts career. In Zack’s words, “Talent… that’s all I’ve got!”

GLOBAL was delighted to host a screening of “The Peanut Butter Falcon” at the Sie FilmCenter this past May, with Zack, Tyler and Michael in attendance – the movie is a must-see! Zack is thrilled to be recognized for all his accomplishments at the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show in October with the 2018 Quincy Jones Exceptional Advocacy Award.