Billy Zane

Billy Zane
Zane at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2019
Born	William George Zane Jr. (1966-02-24) February 24, 1966 (age 58) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Lisa Collins ​ ​ (m. 1989; div. 1995)​
Partner(s)	Candice Neil (2010–present; engaged)
Children	2
Family	Lisa Zane (sister)

William George Zane Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor. His breakthrough role was in the 1989 Australian film Dead Calm, a performance that earned him a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor. He has since appeared in numerous films and television series, most notably playing the main antagonist Caledon Hockley in the epic film Titanic (1997), for which he and the rest of the ensemble cast was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Zane's other film roles include Kit Walker / The Phantom in the superhero film The Phantom (1996), "Match" in the Back to the Future franchise, Lieutenant Val Kozlowski in Memphis Belle (1990), The Collector in Demon Knight (1995), Curtis Zampf in The Believer (2001), and Richard Miller in the Sniper film series. He also played the recurring role of John Justice Wheeler in the second season of the TV series Twin Peaks, and provided the voice of Ansem in the video game Kingdom Hearts (2002).

Early life

Zane was born in Chicago to Thalia and William George Zane Sr.; both were professional actors and founders of a school for medical technicians.^[1][2] His parents are of Greek descent (from Chios through his mother and Mani through his father); and his family's original surname, "Zanetakos", was anglicized to "Zane" by his parents. He grew up in the Greek Orthodox faith.^[3][4][5] He has an older sister, Lisa Zane, who is an actress and singer.^[6]

After completing a year of school at The American School in Switzerland (TASIS), Zane graduated from Francis W. Parker School and attended Harand Camp of the Theater Arts in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.^{[citation needed]}

Career

1980s

Zane's first two screen roles were in the science fiction films Back to the Future in 1985 and Critters in 1986, around the same time he appeared in the music videos for Sheena Easton's songs "Do It For Love" and "Magic of Love". In 1988, he played Tony Gambini alongside Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote: A Very Good Year for Murder. Zane also appeared in an episode of Matlock entitled "The Nurse". In 1989 he reprised his henchman role in Back to the Future Part II. Earlier that same year, Zane gained international recognition with the role of villain Hughie Warriner in the thriller Dead Calm, alongside Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill. He also starred in the NBC film The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989), and Adam Sandler's "no budget" debut Going Overboard (1989) which was not released to a wider audience until 1996.

1990s

Zane's first starring role was in a 1990 independent film, the low budget science fiction thriller Megaville. In 1990, he also co-starred in the film Memphis Belle, a film version of a 1944 film about a World War II Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, as the bombardier. Zane also forayed into television work, and in 1991 he appeared as John Justice Wheeler in several episodes of David Lynch's hit TV-show Twin Peaks. In 1992 Zane co-starred alongside Tilda Swinton in the film adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando. In 1993, he played the Shakespearean actor "Mr. Fabian" in Tombstone, took a starring role in Sniper he also starred alongside Mario Van Peebles as a cold-blooded and corrupt Colonel Graham in Posse and also in Lake Consequence and played a playboy named Harry, posing as the elusive, albeit fake Damon Bradley alongside Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. in Only You.

He also starred in a couple of Tales from the Crypt productions, including Tales From the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight, where he played a henchman of Satan called The Collector, and the episode "Well-Cooked Hams", where he played a poorly skilled magician who killed to steal good tricks from other magicians. In 1996, Zane played the eponymous classic comic book hero in the big budget action film The Phantom, based on Lee Falk's comic.

Zane played the snobbish millionaire misanthrope Caledon Hockley in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic. This role as Rose's (played by Kate Winslet) fiancé earned him an MTV Movie Award nomination for "Best Villain" and a Blockbuster Entertainment Award. Along with the rest of the ensemble cast, he was nominated for a SAG award.

In 1998, he starred in and produced I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, a silent film based on Ed Wood's last script, intended as a parody on bad filmmaking. He won several awards at the B-Movie Film Festival, including Best Movie and Best Actor, for this work. The year after, he starred opposite Timothy Dalton, Bruce Payne, Sean Pertwee and Leonor Varela (who became his fiancé after shooting ended) in a TV-movie about Cleopatra. Zane played the part of Mark Antony.

The same year, he voiced John Rolfe in Disney's Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World and Etrigan the Demon in an episode of The New Batman Adventures.

2000s

Billy Zane at the Cannes Film Festival, 2010

Zane was instrumental in realizing the critically acclaimed film The Believer, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival in 2001.^[7] In it, he portrayed neo-fascist Curtis Zampf, and starred opposite Ryan Gosling. The same year, he also had a cameo as himself in the comedy Zoolander.

Zane appeared on Broadway in Chicago, where he played lawyer Billy Flynn.

Zane also had a recurring role in the television series Charmed in which he played poetry-loving ex-demon Drake. He also provided the voice of Ansem, the main antagonist of the 2002 video game Kingdom Hearts, opposite Haley Joel Osment. Though archive audio of Zane was later used for Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, he was replaced by Richard Epcar for the rest of the series from Kingdom Hearts II onwards. Zane's performance, however, was kept for the Kingdom Hearts Final Mix remaster in Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix.

In 2006, Zane starred in Arthur Allan Seidelman's West End production of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks as an acerbic gay dance instructor opposite Claire Bloom.^[8] In the same year, he appeared in the Turkish film Valley of the Wolves Iraq (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak in Turkish), part of the Kurtlar Vadisi franchise. The film tells the story of the U.S. Army run amok in Iraq, eventually brought into check by a Turkish soldier. Zane plays Sam William Marshall, a cruel U.S. soldier who is the main antagonist in the film.

Zane in 2008

He took over Timothy Olyphant's role as Christina Applegate's ex-boyfriend on Samantha Who?. The show, however, was not renewed for the 2009–2010 season.^[9]

Zane is a principal at RadioactiveGiant, a film and television production and distribution company.^[10]

2010s

Zane starred in the 2012 action/thriller film The Kill Hole,^[11] and in January 2017 he appeared in a commercial for KFC as a gold-colored Colonel Sanders to pitch the restaurant chain's newest limited-time flavor, Georgia Gold Honey Mustard BBQ chicken.^[12] Zane also appeared in an episode of Community, season 6's "Advanced Safety Features".

Zane was also featured in two episodes of The Boys portraying a fictional version of himself who made a movie with Popclaw and also attended a comic convention with Tara Reid. In season 3, Zane appeared as himself portraying Alastair Adana in the Vought film Not Without My Dolphin.

In 2024, Zane portrayed Larry Ray in the Lifetime film Devil on Campus: The Larry Ray Story as part of its "Ripped from the Headlines" feature films.^[13]

Personal life

Zane was married to actress Lisa Collins from 1989 to 1995. He was also engaged for a time to Chilean actress Leonor Varela who was his co-star in Cleopatra (1999), a television film.^[14]

Later Zane was engaged to British model-turned-actress Kelly Brook; he met her when they co-starred in the movie Survival Island (2005), also known as Three. They split in April 2008, got back together again shortly after that, and ended the relationship in August 2008.^{[citation needed]} Zane dated Croatian model Jasmina Hdagha in 2010; they broke up later that year.^[15]

Through a friend he met American model Candice Neil with whom he has two daughters; they became engaged.^[14][16] Their first daughter, Ava Catherine, was born in 2011, and their second daughter, Gia, was born in 2014.^[17]

In 1999, Zane participated in the first Gumball 3000 rally, driving a 1964 Aston Martin DB5.^[18] He is an abstract expressionist painter and he has had many solo and group exhibitions.^[19]

Other media projects

Zane executive-produced an album by bluesman Tim O'Connor that includes three songs from Dead Calm, in which Zane had one of the lead roles.^[20]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1985	Back to the Future	"Match"
1986	Critters	Steve Elliot
1989	Going Overboard	King Neptune
	Dead Calm	Hughie Warriner	Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor
	Back to the Future Part II	"Match"
1990	Megaville	CKS Agent Raymond Palinov / Jensen
	Memphis Belle	Lieutenant Val Kozlowski	Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor
1991	Femme Fatale	Elijah
	Blood and Concrete	Joey Turks
	Millions	Maurizio Ferretti
1992	Orlando	Shelmerdine
1993	Sniper	NSC Agent Richard Miller
	Posse	Colonel Graham
	Poetic Justice	Brad
	Tombstone	Mr. Fabian
	Betrayal of the Dove	Jesse Peter
1994	Reflections on a Crime	Colin
	The Silence of the Hams	Jo Dee Fostar
	Flashfire	Jack Flinder
	Only You	Harry / Fake Damon Bradley
1995	The Set-Up	Charles Thorpe
	Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight	The Collector
1996	The Phantom	Kit Walker / The Phantom
	Head Above Water	Kent
	Danger Zone	Rick Morgan	Also co-producer
1997	This World, Then the Fireworks	Marty	Also executive producer
	Titanic	Caledon N. "Cal" Hockley	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor – Drama Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
1998	I Woke Up Early the Day I Died	The Thief	Also producer
	Susan's Plan	Sam Myers
	Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World	John Rolfe	Voice, direct-to-video[21]
1999	Promise Her Anything	George Putter
2001	Zoolander	Himself	Uncredited cameo
	The Believer	Curtis Zampf
	CQ	Mr. E.
	Morgan's Ferry	Sam	Direct-to-video
2002	Claim	Roberto Bealing
	Landspeed	Michael Sanger
2003	Silent Warnings	Sheriff Bill Willingham	Direct-to-video
	Vlad	Adrian
	The Kiss	Alan Roberts / Young Philip Naudet	Direct-to-video
	Starving Hysterical Naked	Jack
	Imaginary Grace	Nero
2004	Silver City	Chandler Tyson
	Big Kiss	Billy	Also director and executive producer
2005	Dead Fish	Virgil
	The Pleasure Drivers	Marvin
	BloodRayne	Elrich
2006	The Last Drop	Lieutenant Robert Oates	Direct-to-video
	Survival Island	Jack
	Valley of the Wolves: Iraq	Sam William Marshall
	Memory	Taylor Briggs
2007	The Mad	Jason Hunt
	Fishtales	Professor Thomas Bradley	Also co-producer
	Alien Agent	Tom Hanson / Saylon	Direct-to-video
2008	Perfect Hideout	Victor
	The Man Who Came Back	Ezra
	Love N' Dancing	Kent Krandel
2009	Surviving Evil	Sebastian "Seb" Beazley
	Blue Seduction	Mikey Taylor
	Evil – In the Time of Heroes	Prophitis Messenger
	Darfur	Bob Jones
	The Hessen Affair	Jack Durant
2010	Magic Man	Darius
	The Confidant	Monty
	Enemies Among Us	Graham
2011	The Roommate	Professor Roberts
	Boop	Max Fleischer	Short film
	Sniper: Reloaded	NSC Agent Richard Miller	Direct-to-video
	Mercenaries	Colonel Torida
	Flutter	Edwin "The Dentist"
	Mysteria	The Producer
	Lovemakers	Jake's Agent
	Guido	Sid Shine
2012	The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption	King Talus	Direct-to-video
	Electrick Children	Paul McKnight
	Mama, I Want to Sing!	Dillan
	A Green Story	Greg Hutchins
	Two Jacks	Max Faraday
	Border Run	Aaron Talbert
	Dark Star Hollow	The Devil
2013	The Employer	Alan
	The Kill Hole	Marshall
	Blood of Redemption	Quinn Forte	Direct-to-video
	Come Find Me	Uncle	Short film
2014	Scorned	Kevin
	The Ganzfeld Haunting	Father
	HUVr	Himself	Short film
	Ghost of Goodnight Lane	Alan
	Mining for Ruby	Professor Sam Goodwell
2015	Zombie Killers: Elephant's Graveyard	Seiler
	Billy Zane Thinks Zayn Tweets Are About Him	Himself	Short film
	West of Redemption	Hank Keller
	Trouble Sleeping	Charles
2016	A Winter Rose	Preston Holdsworth
	Zoolander 2	Himself
	Swing State	Governor Richard Sollow
	Dead Rising: Endgame	Leo Rand
	White Island	Leo[22][23]
	Sniper: Ghost Shooter	NSC Agent Richard Miller	Direct-to-video
	The Adventure Club	Langley
2017	Sniper: Ultimate Kill	NSC Agent Richard Miller	Direct-to-video
2018	Samson	King Balek
	Holmes & Watson	Himself	Cameo
	Blue World Order	Master Crane
2019	Cliffs of Freedom	Christos
	The Great War	Colonel Jack Morrison
2020	Ghosts of War	Dr. Engel	Also executive producer
	Final Kill	Carl Riser
	Guest House	Douglas Masters
	Battle of the Bulge: Winter War	General Omar Bradley	Direct-to-video
	Centurion: The Dancing Stallion	Jeffrey Hall
2021	The Believer	Dr. Benedict
	Iké Boys	Newt Grafstrom	Also co-executive producer
	Rupture	Victor
2022	Hellblazers	Joshua
2023	Legend of Destruction	Simon bar Giora	English dub
	Centurion: The Dancing Stallion	Jeffrey Hall
	The Oath	King Aaron
2025	Waltzing with Brando	Marlon Brando	Post-production
TBA	Takeover	Gamal Akopyan
	Tapawingo	TBA

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1986	Brotherhood of Justice	Les	Television film
	Heart of the City	Tobin	Episode: "Don't Sell Yourself to the Cannibals"
1987	Matlock	Eric Dawson	Episode: "The Nurse"
	Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8	Police Officer	Television film
1988	Crime Story	Frankie "The Duke" Farantino	Episode: "Protected Witness"
	Murder, She Wrote	Tony Gambini	Episode: "A Very Good Year for Murder"
	Police Story: Monster Manor	Officer Don Varney	Television film
1989	The Case of the Hillside Strangler	Kenneth Bianchi	Television film
1991	Twin Peaks	John Justice Wheeler	5 episodes
1993	Lake Consequence	Billy	Television film
	Running Delilah	Paul	Television film
	Tales From the Crypt	Miles	Episode: "Well-Cooked Ham"
1998	The New Batman Adventures	Jason Blood / Etrigan the Demon	Voice, episode: "The Demon Within"[21]
1999	Cleopatra	Marc Antony	2 episodes
2000	Sole Survivor	Joe Carpenter	Television film
	Hendrix	Michael Jeffrey	Television film
2001	The Diamond of Jeru	Mike Kardec	TV movie
	Invincible	Os	Television film
	Boston Public	Matthew Baskin	4 episodes
2004	Bet Your Life	Joseph	Television film
2005	Charmed	Drake	3 episodes
2008	Finnegan	Brian Clark	Pilot
2009	Blue Seduction	Mikey Taylor	Television film
	Samantha Who?	Winston Funk[9]	5 episodes
2010	Journey to Promethea	King Laypach	Television film
	The Deep End	Cliff Huddle	6 episodes
2012	Red Clover	Sheriff Connor O'Hara	Television film
	Hannah's Law	Lockwood	Television film
	Robot Chicken	Commander Edwards / King Ding Dong	Voices Episode: "Poisoned by Relatives"
	Barabbas	Barabbas	Television film
2014	Checked Out	Uncle Dennis	Pilot
	Psych	Ian Collins[24]	Episode: "The Break-Up"
2015	The Wheel of Time: The Winter Dragon	Elan Morin Tedronai / Ishamael	Television film; also executive producer
	Community	Honda Boss	Episode: "Advanced Safety Features"
2015–2016	Mad Dogs	Milo	2 episodes
2016	Guilt	Stan Guthrie	10 episodes
2017	Legends of Tomorrow	P.T. Barnum	Episode: "Freakshow"
2018	Deception	"Switch"	2 episodes
2019	Curfew	"Joker" Jones	8 episodes
2019, 2022	The Boys	Himself	3 episodes
2021	True Story	Ari	2 episodes
	MacGruber	Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth	5 episodes
2024	Devil On Campus: The Larry Ray Story	Larry Ray	Television film

Video games

Year	Film	Voice role	Notes
2001	SSX Tricky	Broderick "Brodi" Ford	[21]
2002	Kingdom Hearts	Ansem	[21]
2013	Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix		Archival audio; Kingdom Hearts Final Mix only
2017	Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix		Archival audio; Kingdom Hearts Final Mix only

Music videos

Year	Song	Artist	Role
1985	"Do It For Love & Magic of Love"	Sheena Easton	Unknown
1998	"The Dope Show"	Marilyn Manson	Recording Industry Executive
2001	"Epiphany"	Staind	Unknown
2013	"Rock n Roll"[25]	Avril Lavigne	Protagonist / Antagonist / BearShark
2023	“I’m My Only Friend”	Dillon Francis, Arden Jones	Actor

References

1. Mark, Norman. "The Brigadoon of Film Fests". TravelLady. Archived from the original on June 16, 2013. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
2. Billy Zane. Filmreference.com. Retrieved on November 15, 2011.
3. Dinges, Barnaby (March 18, 1990). "Lisa Zane looks soberly at 'Influence' Chicago actress has bold words about role and co-star Rob Lowe". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
4. Nasson, Tim (December 27, 2005). "Billy Zane & BloodRayne: From Wig to Wig". Wild About Movies. Archived from the original on November 2, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
5. Zwecker, Bill (April 26, 2005). "Honeymoon seems to be over for 'Newlyweds'". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007.
6. Billy Zane Archived February 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
7. "Sundance Film Festival (2001)". IMDb.
8. Billington, Michael (December 2, 2006). "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks". The Guardian. London. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
9. Ausiello, Michael (December 19, 2008). "'Sam Who' Recast Scoop: Zane In, Olyphant Out". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
10. Interview with Billy Zane. Ecofabulous (September 23, 2010). Retrieved on November 15, 2011. Archived October 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
11. Bryan, Steven (June 30, 2013). "'The Kill Hole' Features Chadwick Boseman, Billy Zane, Real-life Vets…". Yahoo! Voices. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013.
12. Wohl, Jessica (January 25, 2017). "See the Spot: KFC's Latest Celebrity Colonel Goes for the Gold". Advertising Age. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
13. Hemphill, Jim (June 21, 2024). "For 'Devil on Campus' Director Elisabeth Rohm, Lifetime Was the Perfect Fit for Her Movie About the Sarah Lawrence Cult". Indie Wire. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
14. "Billy Zane – Billy Zane Refers To Girlfriend As 'Wife'". Contactmusic.com. April 6, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
15. "Hollywood star Billy Zane and Croatian model Jasmina Hdagha break up". Croatian Times. Archived from the original on May 22, 2013. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
16. Eden, Richard (October 13, 2013). "Titanic star Billy Zane puts wedding on hold because Candice Neil expecting their second child". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
17. "Billy Zane: Oh, Captain!". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on March 28, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
18. "Gumball 3000 1999". Gumball 3000. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
19. Hughes, Sarah (February 9, 2019). "Billy Zane: 'My art is similar to my acting – improvisational'". The Guardian. London.
20. "Billy Zane's Parents Accused Of Cheating Students After They Closed Down Medical School". All Headline News. Archived from the original on April 15, 2009. Retrieved July 14, 2009.
21. "Billy Zane (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 22, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
22. "White Island". IMDb. June 23, 2016.
23. Grater, Tom (February 10, 2016). "Independent picks up 'White Island' for EFM". Screen Daily.
24. Bierly, Mandi (March 27, 2014). "'Psych' series finale postmortem: James Roday on landing that dream guest star and the ending". Entertainment Weekly.
25. "Avril Lavigne teases new music video for 'Rock N Roll'" (Press release). Avril Lavigne. August 15, 2013 – via Pressparty.

External links

• Billy Zane at IMDb
• Billy Zane at the TCM Movie Database