entertainment
Zach Braff
has more stories to tell
Former Scrubs star returns to TV in Alex, Inc.
WRITTEN BY IAN SPELLING
Z
ach Braff sounds
thrilled to chat with
Millburn & Short Hills
Magazine, and here’s
why: “I’ll do anything
for something my
father will read,” he says.
Braff grew up in Maplewood and
South Orange, and his dad, Hal,
worked as a lawyer and actor. The
first play Braff saw was the Baird
Community Center’s production of
The Prisoner of Zenda, which fea-
tured his father. Clearly, he loves his
old man, and New Jersey as well, as
the actor-writer-director has set a few
of his plays and movies here —
notably, All New People and Garden
State. A pivotal scene from the pilot
of his new ABC series, Alex, Inc.,
unfolded at Teterboro Airport
(though it wasn’t filmed there).
“Growing up in New Jersey helped
shape me,” Braff says. “My father
performed at Baird Community
Center, then at Livingston
Community Players, and eventually
with Park Players. What opened my
eyes was not only his passion, but the
access to the world’s best theater, 45
minutes away in Manhattan. That
opened my eyes to wanting to be in
the arts. Once I started auditioning
professionally, I’d take Jersey Transit
“I’D PROBABLY BE A
WHOLE LOT MORE
SUCCESSFUL IF I JUST
PICKED ONE THING
AND DID IT.”
myself. That proximity, being able to
go on professional auditions in
Manhattan, was remarkable.”
Braff happily rattles off the places
of his youth: Essex Green shopping
center, the late, great restaurants
Stuft Shirt and Pals Cabin, Syd’s
hot-doggery in Millburn. He soaked
up movies at The Lost Picture Show
in Union, and attended Columbia
High School, though he didn’t act
there. Rather, Braff found his
“utopia” at Stagedoor Manor, a
performing arts summer camp in
Loch Sheldrake, N.Y.
A talent manager scouted Braff at
Stagedoor Manor and in 1989, at 14,
he landed a role in High, a television
pilot with Gwyneth Paltrow. That
didn’t become a series, but it set the
stage for everything since: Manhattan
Murder Mystery (film debut), the TV
show Scrubs (which ran for nine
years), Garden State (his hit indie
film, which he starred in, wrote and
directed), and the movies Chicken
Little, Wish I Was Here (which he
starred in, wrote, produced and
directed), Bullets Over Broadway,
Going in Style (which he directed),
and Alex, Inc.
Braff couldn’t resist when Alex,
Inc. came his way. The show is based
on StartUp, a podcast by Alex
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MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE MAY 2018
43