About Zachary Garmers
Zachary Micah Henry Garmers (born May 05, 2003) is an American actor. He began his acting career in August of 2021. Some of his first notable roles came shortly after his start in the industry. He’s best known for starring as the lead role of Alonzo in the Hulu short film Berros, presented on Hulu’s ‘Your Attention Please’ hosted by Craig Robinson. He also plays the role of Kid #1 in Season 3 Episode 21 of Law & Order: Organized Crime ‘Shadowerk’, Protester #2 in Season 13 Episode 5 of Blue Bloods (TV series) ‘Homefront’, Juwan Hilliard in Season 1 Episode 2 of CBS crime-drama East New York (TV series) ‘Misdemeanor Homicide’, Chadney in Season 12 Episode 4 of Amazon Prime Video‘s award winning series Evil Lives Here ‘A Special Place In Hell’, as well as the role of James in Season 3 Episode 6 of Amazon Prime Video’s Evil Lives Here: Shadows Of Death ‘The Lookout’.
He also worked as the main Stand-in for Rhenzy Feliz on the production of HBO Max‘s The Penguin (TV series) starring Colin Farrell as DC‘s The Penguin (character).
In 2023 he had joined the United States Marine Corps as a contract Private First Class (PFC) for Intelligence and underwent training at MCRD San Diego, California, U.S.
He chose to withdraw from his platoon during training however, due to differences with the leadership and specifically regarding how, he says in an interview, “the Corps chooses to continually mishandle operations in recruit training“.
After leaving Marine Corps Bootcamp and the Recruit Separation Platoon (RSP), Garmers was reapproached by his talent manager and talent agency team to rejoin the acting scene. He continues to pursue his acting career to this day.
Early and personal life
Zachary Micah Henry Garmers was born on May 05, 2003, in Wabasha, Minnesota, but grew up in the neighborhood of Long Island City, Queens, New York. His mother, Megan Garmers, is the founder of several companies such as MGHair&Makeup, The Wedding Masterclass and Streamline Social Marketing Agency. His father, Haize Lindow, founded the MyFitnessJournal app in the early 2000’s and is currently retired. His mother is of South Korean descent, while his father is of Trinidadian descent. His parents are separated as of 2017 but were never married.
Garmers made a few comedic skits on IMovie when he was in elementary school but never seriously acted in theater or school plays growing up. Instead he focused on being the captain of his middle school competitive debate team[1] at Hunters Point Community Middle School[2]. In the year 2015, Garmers was gifted an award from the New York City Urban Debate League (NYCUDL)[3] for being the ‘Best Novice Debater in New York City‘. He did end up joining his middle school’s film club in his 7th grade year. As far as extracurricular activities growing up, Garmers took drum lessons at the School of Rock and performed at The Bitter End on different occasions, he attended an art summer camp at the Guggenheim Museum, a debate summer camp called Capitol Debate, as well as multiple summer camps at both the Central Park Zoo and the Bronx Zoo.
Garmers is a follower of Christ with values that line up largely with that of the Presbyterian denomination. He grew up going to Redeemer Presbyterian Church founded by Tim Keller and says he was usually gifted every Sunday to hear Tim Keller speak his sermons in person, both at the Hunter College location and the Upper West Side location. Garmers states that he is a “follower of Christ first, not the church” clarifying he understands “churches don’t always get it right and can definitely miss the mark at times”.
Garmers was definitely not the biggest fan of the public school system. He dropped out of John Jay Senior High School in the 10th grade. He proceeded to get his General Educational Development (GED) and attend one semester at Dutchess Community College before dropping his classes during finals week. He attempted to attend college again in 2020, this time online, due to him being approached by a United States Marine Corps recruiter for the first time. In order to join the United States Marine Corps, he was told by the recruiter he needed to attain at least an Associate degree due to him dropping out of high school in the 10th grade. Later that semester he dropped his college classes.
Career
2021–2023: Early Roles
Garmers’ first credited appearance was in a student film by Jonny Berkowitz at Rutgers University, called ‘Wheat’[4]. Garmers plays the role of the Missionary. This film went on to win the Los Angeles Film Awards[5] and the Auber International Film Festival[6]. After this first opportunity, he began booking countless student films, commercials and featured background gigs where he’d interact with the main cast of A-list actors as well. Amongst the ad campaigns he worked with, were brands like Adidas Yeezy, Grubhub, Netflix, Star Wars, etc. Some of the schools he worked with on student films were NYU Tisch School of the Arts, School of Visual Arts, Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, etc. The jobs he took for Extra (background) acting gigs, he says, were “numerous and frequent” during this time. These included but weren’t limited to shows and films such as, Dumb Money, A Good Person, Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024 TV series), East New York (TV series), Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Harlan Coben’s Shelter, The Good Fight, etc. All of these roles and jobs spanned from 2021–2022.
Garmers has costarred on the critically acclaimed CBS crime drama Blue Bloods as Protester 2 and has been featured on Investigation Discovery’s True-Crime Television shows, Evil Lives Here & Evil Lives Here: Shadows of Death. He’s also played the character of Juwan Hilliard in the CBS Original breakout show, East New York; where he acts alongside the likes of Jimmy Smits and Richard Kind.
Other roles Garmers is known for include, The Boyfriend from A Good Person (2023) directed by Zach Braff, Trevor from Star Wars x Sprayground short film It Is What It Is, and The Shooter from Telly Award winning documentary Second Shot (2022) directed by Andrew Michael Ellis. Garmers has also done a table read as the lead role of Sacaar in “The Prince Of Purgatory Road.” This was in collaboration with writer, Kenyatta Raelyn from The Writers’ Colony & the people at Story27 performing in front of Netflix Showrunner Mara Brock Akil.
By the end of 2022, Garmers had worked as featured background on so many SAG-AFTRA productions that he was required to join SAG as a member within a specified timeframe if he was to continue working on SAG productions. He decided to take the leap and join SAG as an official SAG-AFTRA Member. Shortly after joining SAG, he was scouted by his first talent manager and also his first talent agency. He decided to sign on with both parties and gained the opportunity to audition for bigger roles on both the East and West coast.
In the year 2023, Garmers had made some notable changes and strides in his career but also in his personal life. He managed to book a co-star role on Law and Order: Organized Crime and also took a brief hiatus from the acting industry as the SAG Strike and Writers Strike had reached it’s climax. He had also briefly relocated out of New York State for the first time and got an apartment near his family in Rochester Minnesota, U.S. He has since moved back to New York City.
2023: Stand-In/Photo Double Work On ‘The Penguin’
In February of 2023, Garmers had attended his first ever camera test for a Stand-In position. After landing the job, Garmers continued to be a Stand-In for Rhenzy Feliz’s character (Victor) from February-June of 2023. He was such a regular Stand-In for Feliz on set for ‘The Penguin’ that Silvercup Studios issued him an Identification card. Garmers says he would frequently have conversations with Rhenzy Feliz on set and found out through shooting that he had originally auditioned for the same role he was Standing In for[7]. “So it’s funny how I ended up getting to see the production up close. I take it as a win because it’s almost like I did land the part in a lot of ways. I definitely learned a lot from being on set every day.”
Military
2023: Marine Corps Bootcamp
During the height of the SAG-AFTRA Strike, he had decided to join the United States Marine Corps. He would frequently attend Physical Training (PT) sessions twice a week at his local recruiting office and take college classes to prove his knowledge. After 2 months of processing paperwork he was shipped out in the Delayed Entry Program to San Diego, California on October 30th, 2023. Arriving on the famed ‘yellow footprints’ of MCRD San Diego, Garmers would only stay in his training platoon for a total of 10 days before arguing with his Follow Series Chief Drill Instructor and Senior Drill Instructor about the persistent dehumanization and hazing tactics used daily by the Drill Instructors on himself and his fellow recruits for the 3 month training period. “We’re men, not robots. That means we are tasked with making the right decisions, especially when the orders we’re being given are wrong”, he states in a YouTube video recapping his Marine Corps experience.
“We were not given proper insoles for our shoes for multiple-mile runs and hikes, which is why recruits kept breaking bones and being dropped from training. We were given too much hydration as a hazing tactic which would lead to recruits throwing up the water they were forced to drink along with the remnants of food they did have in their stomach, leading to more severe dehydration and an increase of recruits frequently passing out with heat cases during training. This is only the tip of the iceberg, I could go on for days.”
Garmers explains that his perception of the Marine Corps as a civilian prior to enlisting was “unrealistic” and almost “pedestalized”, whereas he now sees the Marine Corps for “what it is” he says, “an inhumane situation, facilitated by the government, to psychologically rewire the human mind to obey commands and abandon all individual thought. How unfortunate-” he says.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2022 | Bros (The Movie) | Club Goer 3 | |
| 2022 | Sweethearts | Football Player 2 | |
| 2023 | A Good Person | The Boyfriend | Garmers acted on screen with Celeste O’Connor |
| 2023 | Dumb Money | College Kid #1 |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2017 | I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman | Classroom Student | First ever television appearance |
| 2020 | Modern Love | Lunchroom Teen | Garmers’ reintroduction to acting |
| 2021 | Powerbook III: Raising Kanan | Church Teen 2 | |
| 2021 | Extrapolations | Airport Traveller | |
| 2021 | Wu-Tang: An American Saga | Record Store Shopper 1 | |
| 2022 | Harlan Coben’s Shelter | Classroom Teen | |
| 2022 | Your Attention Please: Hosted By Craig Robinson | Alonzo | Short film on a Hulu series |
| 2022 | Evil Lives Here: Shadows Of Death | James | |
| 2022 | Evil Lives Here | Chadney | |
| 2022 | City On Fire | Waiter #3 | |
| 2022 | The Good Fight | Mailroom Employee | He showed Andre Brauher his Hulu episode |
| 2022 | Blue Bloods | Protester 2 | Filmed in his hometown of Long Island City, NY |
| 2022 | East New York | Juwan Hilliard | He ironically lived in East New York at the time |
| 2023 | Mr. & Mrs. Smith (TV Series) | Market Shopper | Garmers introduces himself to Donald Glover for the first time |
| 2023 | Full Circle | Funeral Attendee | |
| 2023 | Law & Order: Organized Crime | Kid #1 |
Short Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2022 | Wheat | The Missionary | Garmers’ first student film to win an award |
| 2022 | Protein | Steven | Rutgers University short film |
| 2022 | Fed | Flip Book Face | Stop motion horror short film |
| 2022 | Psychology 1 | Therapy Patient | Psychology training video |
| 2022 | Somnus Sleep | Isaiah | NYU Tisch short film |
| 2022 | Letting Go | Boyfriend Spirit | Fierstein Graduate School of Cinema short film |
| 2022 | Little Creatures | Tommy | NYU Grad short film |
| 2022 | Sunflower Girl (Proof Of Concept) | Cooper | NYU Grad short film |
| 2022 | Fairness | Davis | School of Visual Arts |
| 2022 | Dream State | Dream Boy | NYU Tisch student film |
| 2022 | Star Wars x Sprayground ‘It Is What It Is’ | Trevor | Star Wars collaboration short film |
| 2022 | Second Shot | The Shooter | Telly Award winning documentary film |
Training
| Year | Class | Administrator |
| 2022 | Performing Arts Industry Essentials Course | NYU Tisch School of the Arts |
| 2022 | Let’s Talk Acting: 2-Day Intensive | Ser’Darius Blain |
| 2021 | Acting Intensive | John Windsor-Cunningham |