Zach Cregger

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Zachary Michael Cregger (born March 1, 1981) is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker. He is a founding member of the comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U' Know and starred in the sitcoms Friends with Benefits, Guys with Kids, and Wrecked. He wrote and directed the horror films Barbarian (2022) and Weapons (2025).

Early life and education

Cregger was born in Arlington, Virginia.^[1]^[2] He performed in various local comedy and music groups^[3] before moving to Brooklyn, New York to attend the School of Visual Arts.^[4]

Career

Cregger is a founding member of the Whitest Kids U' Know comedy troupe, formed alongside Trevor Moore and Sam Brown in 2000. While shooting an independent film, he met Darren Trumeter who subsequently joined the group.^[5] The Whitest Kids U' Know garnered success locally and online, leading to an invitation to the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 2006. The troupe won the award for Best Sketch Group and attracted the attention of several networks.^[6] Following their successful showcase, Fuse ordered a sketch series from the group.^[7] The Whitest Kids U' Know aired its first season on the network in 2007 before moving to then-sister network IFC.^[8] The series ran for five seasons before concluding in 2011.^[9]

Alongside Moore, he starred in and co-directed the films Miss March and The Civil War on Drugs. The latter received a limited theatrical release and aired as a recurring serial during the final season of The Whitest Kids U' Know.^[3] The troupe's second feature film, Mars, premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 6, 2024.^[10]

In 2008, Cregger made his first film appearance in Deb Hagan's directorial debut College.^[11] In 2011, he joined the cast of the NBC sitcom Friends with Benefits. He then starred on the NBC sitcom Guys with Kids from 2012 to 2013.^[12] From 2016 to 2018, he starred as Owen O'Connor on the TBS sitcom Wrecked.

Cregger wrote and directed the 2022 horror film Barbarian, starring Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, and Justin Long. He wrote and directed the 2025 horror film Weapons.^[13]^[14]^[15]

In January 2025, it was announced that Cregger would write and direct an upcoming horror film based on the Resident Evil franchise.^[16] In December 2025, it was announced that he will serve as a producer on a feature film adaptation of Torso for Netflix.^[17]

Personal life

In 2013, Cregger met Sara Paxton in Austin, Texas on the set of Love & Air Sex while playing an on-screen couple.^[18] The couple became engaged in 2018 and married the following year in October 2019.^[19]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Others	Notes
2009	Miss March	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Co-directed and co-written with Trevor Moore
2011	The Civil War on Drugs	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Partial	Template:No	Co-directed with Trevor Moore^[20]
2022	Barbarian	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2024	Mars	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Co-written with The Whitest Kids U' Know^[21]
2025	Companion	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	^[22]^[23]
2025	Weapons	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Also composer
2026	Resident Evil	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Post-production

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	College	Cooper
2009	Miss March	Eugene Bell
2011	The Civil War on Drugs	Abraham Lincoln / various roles
2011	The Death and Return of Superman	Hal Jordan / Green Lantern	Short film
2013	Love & Air Sex	Jeff
2014	Date and Switch	Greg
2016	Opening Night	Micky
2018	Doubting Thomas	Graham
2022	Barbarian	Everett
2024	Mars	Various

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Other	Notes
2004	The Lounge	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2004–2006	Uncle Morty's Dub Shack	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2006	Comedy Zen	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2007–2011	The Whitest Kids U' Know	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Partial	Template:Yes	Also co-creator
2021	Sasquatch	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Partial	Template:No	Documentary series

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Homicide: Life on the Street	Dean Stamper	Episode: "Brotherly Love"
2007–2011	The Whitest Kids U' Know	Various roles
2011	Friends with Benefits	Aaron	Main role
2012–2013	Guys with Kids	Nick	Main role
2014	About a Boy	T.J.	Recurring role
2015	The McCarthys	Doug	Episode: "The Ref"
2016–2018	Wrecked	Owen	Main role
2019	Adam Ruins Everything	Berch	Episode: "Adam Ruins Nature"
2019	Just Roll with It	Brent	Episode: "Gator's Reunion"

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result	Template:Abbr
2023	Fangoria Chainsaw Awards	Best Director	Barbarian	Template:Nom	^[24]
2023	Fangoria Chainsaw Awards	Best Screenplay	Barbarian	Template:Nom	^[24]
2026	Astra Film Awards	Best Original Screenplay	Weapons	Template:Nom	^[25]
	Critics' Choice Awards	Best Original Screenplay		Template:Nom	^[26]
	Producers Guild of America Awards	Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures		Template:Pending	^[27]
	Writers Guild of America Awards	Best Original Screenplay		Template:Pending	^[28]

References

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:IMDb name

Template:Zach Cregger Template:St. Louis Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay

This article incorporates text from the Wikipedia article "Zach Cregger", available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.Retrieved 2026-03-08.

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