1. Steve Zahn's notable supporting roles in films include Reality Bites, Out of Sight, Forces of Nature, Employee of the Month, the Stuart Little film series, Riding in Cars with Boys, Chicken Little, Sahara, Rescue Dawn, Dallas Buyers Club, The Good Dinosaur, Captain Fantastic and War for the Planet of the Apes.
Steve Zahn received an Independent Spirit Award, several nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Steve Zahn's father is of German and Swedish descent, and his mother is of German ancestry.
Steve Zahn spent part of his childhood in Mankato, Minnesota, attending Kennedy Elementary School, and moved to the suburbs of Minneapolis for high school, where he acted in school plays and became a two-time Minnesota state speech champion.
Steve Zahn graduated from Robbinsdale Cooper High School in New Hope in 1986, planning to eventually join the United States Marine Corps.
Steve Zahn attended Gustavus Adolphus College for one semester but dropped out after seeing the original West End production of Les Miserables.
In 1991, Steve Zahn made his professional stage debut in a Minnesota production of Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues after falsely claiming to be a member of Actors' Equity.
In 1991, Steve Zahn formed the Malaparte theater company with a group of actor friends, including Ethan Hawke and Robert Sean Leonard.
From 1991 to 1992, Steve Zahn played Hugo Peabody in a national tour of Bye Bye Birdie starring Tommy Tune, and subsequently appeared in two Off-Broadway plays, Sophistry and Eric Bogosian's Suburbia.
In 1999, Steve Zahn landed his first starring role in the critically acclaimed indie film Happy, Texas, for which he won a Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Steve Zahn received Oscar buzz for his role as Drew Barrymore's deadbeat ex in Riding in Cars with Boys, and played investigative journalist Adam Penenberg in Shattered Glass.
Steve Zahn has worked regularly in television, playing the role of Davis McClary on 36 episodes of HBO's Treme.
From 2010 to 2012, Steve Zahn portrayed Frank Heffley, the father of Greg Heffley, in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series.
In 2017, Steve Zahn played Bad Ape in War for the Planet of the Apes.
Steve Zahn researched the role by watching chimpanzee videos on YouTube, and later said that the motion capture process and lengthy digital takes made Bad Ape "the most challenging acting job I've ever had".
Steve Zahn has a lake cabin near Pine City, Minnesota, where he enjoys tubing and fishing with his children.
Steve Zahn is a lifelong military history buff and has said that one of his biggest regrets was having turned down a role in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers.