Billy Van Zandt

William Van Zandt (born December 13, 1957) is an American playwright and actor.

Personal life
Van Zandt was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, to Mary H. Lento and William Brewster Van Zandt. He is of Italian and Dutch descent He grew up in Middletown Township, New Jersey.

Van Zandt is the half-brother of musician/actor Steven Van Zandt and brother-in-law of his wife, actress Maureen Van Zandt. Billy married actress Adrienne Barbeau on December 31, 1992.  The couple met in 1991 during the West Coast premiere of Billy's play Drop Dead!  They divorced in 2018.  They have twin sons, William and Walker (born March 17, 1997).

Career
Van Zandt is the co-author and star of the Off-Broadway plays You've Got Hate Mail, Silent Laughter,  Drop Dead!, and 21 other theatrical plays written with Jane Milmore, including A Night at the Nutcracker, Wrong Window, and summer stock perennial Love, Sex, and the I.R.S.  He also wrote The Property Known as Garland for Adrienne Barbeau, which ran Off-Broadway at the Actor's Playhouse in 2006.

Van Zandt was nominated for an Emmy Award for his television special I Love Lucy: The Very First Show, and won People's Choice and NAACP Image Awards for his work on the Martin Lawrence comedy Martin and a Prism Multi-Cultural Award for his work on TV's The Hughleys.

Along with partner Jane Milmore, he created and/or developed television's The Wayans Bros. for Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans, Suddenly Susan for Brooke Shields, Bless This House for Andrew Dice Clay, and Daddy Dearest for Don Rickles and Richard Lewis.

In addition to starring in his own plays, he has had roles as Bob, one of the sailing teenagers, in Jaws 2 (1978), an alien Starfleet ensign in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), a military school cadet in the 1981 film Taps, and a mobster wannabe in the 1999 film A Wake in Providence, which he also co-wrote.

On television, he was a regular cast member on the second season of ABC's Anything but Love. He was writer and guest star in the 1990 Valerie Bertinelli series Sydney.

He toured in the Off-Broadway hit You've Got Hate Mail which ran at the Triad Theater from 2010-2015  and currently tours in his newest play The Boomer Boys.

Full-length plays
Love, Sex, and the I.R.S.
Suitehearts
Lie, Cheat, and Genuflect
Having a Wonderful Time, Wish You Were Her
Playing Doctor
A Little Quickie
Drop Dead!
Bathroom Humor
Infidelities
The Senator Wore Pantyhose
Till Death Do Us Part
Do Not Disturb
What the Bellhop Saw
Merrily We Dance and Sing
What the Rabbi Saw
Confessions of a Dirty Blonde
Silent Laughter
The Pennies
The Property Known as Garland
A Night at the Nutcracker
You've Got Hate Mail
Wrong Window
High School Reunion: The Musical
The Boomer Boys

The plays are published with Samuel French, Inc. and performed worldwide.

Television
 Newhart
 Anything But Love
 Nurses
 I Love Lucy: The Very First Show (Emmy nomination)
 Sydney
 Martin (People's Choice Award, NAACP Image Award)
 Daddy Dearest (created by)
 The Wayans Bros. (developed by)
 Bless This House
 Suddenly Susan (developed original pilot)
 Yes Dear
 The Hughleys (Multi-Cultural Image Award, NAACP Image Award nomination)
 Center of the Universe
 Jack and Janet Save the Planet (created by)
 American Dad (as Jerry the dentist)

Film
 Jaws 2 (1978, actor only) - Bob Burnsides
 Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979, actor only) - Alien Ensign
 Taps (film) (1981, actor only) - Bug
 A Wake in Providence (1999, co-author) - Louie

References

External links 

Van Zandt/Milmore website
 You've Got Hate Mail website
Playbill interview (March 10, 2006)
SilentLaughter website
The Property Known as Garland website
Boomer Boys website
The Samuel French website

Category:1957 births
Category:American people of Dutch descent
Category:American people of Italian descent
Category:Living people
Category:People from Middletown Township, New Jersey
Category:People from Red Bank, New Jersey
Category:Writers from New Jersey
Category:Male actors from New Jersey
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:American male stage actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:Male actors of Italian descent