Michael Zegen

Michael Zegen
Zegen at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Michael Jonathan Zegen (1979-02-20) February 20, 1979 (age 42) Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Other names	Mike Zegen
Education	Ridgewood High School Skidmore College
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2002–present

Michael Jonathan Zegen (born February 20, 1979)^[1][2] is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series Rescue Me (2004–2011), Boardwalk Empire (2011–2014), and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2021).

Personal life[]

Zegen was born to a teacher mother and a lawyer father, and lived in Glen Rock, New Jersey, before moving to nearby Ridgewood when he was five. He has two brothers.^[3] He is Jewish. His mother was born in Austria, in a displaced persons camp, and his maternal grandparents were Holocaust survivors from Ukraine and Poland.^[4][5][6][7] He attended Ridgewood High School, where he was active in the school's theater program.^[8] Zegen is a 2001 graduate of Skidmore College.^[9]

Career[]

His role on Rescue Me began as a recurring character in seasons 1–3, playing the nephew of series lead Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary). In seasons 5–6, he was promoted to the main cast when his character began probationary firefighter school to become a firefighter.^[10]

In 2010, Zegen was cast as gangster Bugsy Siegel for the second, third, and fifth season of the HBO series, Boardwalk Empire.^[11] In 2011, Zegen, along with James Ransone, was cast in supporting roles in the HBO comedy series How To Make It In America. In mid-2011, Zegen was cast in a recurring guest role in the second season of the AMC series The Walking Dead.^[12] In 2014 he created the role of Liam off-Broadway in the dark comedy Bad Jews.^[3][5] In 2017, Zegen played Joel Maisel in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.^[13] For the role he has won two Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series awards from the Screen Actors Guild.

Filmography[]

References[]