Brian Thomas Smith

Brian Thomas Smith (born May 13, 1977) is an American actor and comedian known for playing the dim-witted but kind-hearted Zack Johnson in The Big Bang Theory for nine seasons. He has also made other TV appearances on Fear Factor, Two and a Half Men, Happy Endings, The Neighborhood, 9-1-1: Lone Star, and United States of Al. On the big screen, Smith starred opposite Al Pacino and Annette Bening in Dan Fogelman's directoral debut film, Danny Collins. Other films Smith has starred in include Lethal Seduction, Babysplitters, The Wedding Party, and Concrete Blondes.^{[citation needed]}

Brian Thomas Smith
Smith in 2016
Born	(1977-05-13) May 13, 1977 (age 47) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Occupations	Actor comedian producer

Career

Smith has appeared in over 100 commercials including Miller Lite, Pizza Hut, Burger King, State Farm, Lopez Tonight, Chevrolet, Carl's Jr., Coors Light, Budweiser, Taco Bell, DirecTV, Pop Chips, Buffalo Wild Wings, Honda, Corona, Applebee's, DairyQueen, Audi, and Progressive Insurance.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, in markets outside of the United States, he starred in a Heineken beer commercial with Jennifer Aniston.^[1][2]

In 2005, Smith appeared on the reality television competition series The Amazing Race 7 with his brother, Greg. The two were involved in a car accident during the sixth leg that injured their cameraman. They were then eliminated on the subsequent leg during the sixth episode and placed sixth overall.

In 2006, Smith was cast as the lead in Dan Fogelman's half-hour comedy pilot The 12th Man.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, Smith joined the cast of comedy series The Big Bang Theory in a recurring role, portraying Penny's sometime boyfriend, sometime ex-boyfriend, Zack Johnson. He continued to recur on the show until its 12th and final season in 2019 (S12E12 and S12E25).

In 2021, Smith was cast in a recurring role of the comedy series United States of Al, as Freddy, the new boyfriend of Vanessa, Riley's ex-wife.^[3]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	The 12th Man	Adam Rump	TV movie
2008	No Place Like Home	Matt	Short
2009	The Moonlighters	Bob	Short
	Perry's Fairies		Short
	The Indies	Sean	Short
2010	All American Zombie Drugs	Bobby
2012	Lucy in the Sky with Diamond	Brian	Short
	Surprise	Matthew	Short
	Hot Neighbours	Judd	Short
	Concrete Blondes	Karl	Short
2013	Casual	Guy
2015	Lethal Seduction	Randy	TV movie
	Danny Collins	Judd/Busy Work
2018	Big Muddy	Bo
2020	Babysplitters	Dr Palmer
2023	Holiday Twist	Boogie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Friends	Strip club patron	Season 8, Episode 11 (uncredited, no lines)
2005	The Amazing Race 7	Contestant	Eliminated, 6th place (with Greg Smith)
2006	Two and a Half Men	Emmett	Episode: "Ergo, the Booty Call"
2010	A Good Knight's Quest	Agent One	8 episodes
	The Indies	Sean	2 episodes
2010–19	The Big Bang Theory	Zack Johnson	Recurring role, 11 episodes
2010–11	Casual: The Series	Guy	Season 1–3 (series regular; 17 episodes)
2012	Happy Endings	Nick	"Party of Six"
	Wolfpack of Reseda	Vance	Season 1 (series regular; 5 episodes)
	Suit Up	Bjorn Hansen	Recurring role, 4 episodes
2019	The Neighborhood	Ed	Episode: "Welcome to the Bully"
2020	9-1-1: Lone Star	Andrew Reynolds	Episode: "Awakening"
2021–22	United States of Al	Freddy	Recurring Role
2022	NCIS	Fantasy Football Dad	Episode S20E2: "Daddy Issues"
	The Really Loud House	Mr. Bolhofner	3 episodes

References

1. "Lunch Break: "Banned" Jennifer Aniston Heineken ad". June 9, 2010. Archived from the original on December 2, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
2. "Doug's Brush With Fame: Brian Thomas Smith". July 25, 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
3. "Brian Thomas Smith To Recur In 'United States Of Al'". May 5, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021.

External links

• Official website
• Brian Thomas Smith at IMDb