Zach Braff was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, to Anne Hutchinson (Maynard), a clinical psychologist, and Harold Irwin Braff, a sociology professor and trial attorney. His father is from a Jewish family (from Russia and Austria), while Zach's mother, who is from a Yankee family with deep roots in New England, converted to Judaism. Zach attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, and also graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in film. Zach is known for playing Dr. John 'J.D.' Dorian on the television series Scrubs (2001), for writing, directing, and starring in the films Garden State (2004) and Le rôle de ma vie (2014), and for starring in the movies Chicken Little (2005), Last Kiss (2006), and Son ex et moi (2006).
