5 min read
Zachary Woods (born September 25, 1984, in Trenton, New Jersey)1 is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director best known for playing Jared Dunn on HBO's Silicon Valley (2014-2019) and Gabe Lewis on NBC's The Office (2010-2013).1 He appeared in Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016) as Tour Guide Garrett, the hapless museum guide who becomes the film's first ghost-encounter witness.2
Join the community
Free accounts post in the forum, upload to the gallery, edit the wiki, and follow your favorite franchises. No credit card. No catch.
Woods was born into a Jewish family in Trenton, New Jersey, and grew up in Yardley, Pennsylvania. His father, Jonathan, is a psychiatrist specializing in clinical therapy; his mother, Lisa, is a nurse practitioner. He is the middle of three siblings. The family surname had originally been Widensky.1
At age 16, while still attending Pennsbury High School in Yardley, Woods began commuting by train to New York City to study and perform at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. He became a member of UCB's improv troupe The Stepfathers alongside Bobby Moynihan and Chris Gethard.1 After graduating from Pennsbury High School in 2003, he moved to New York City and enrolled at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, earning a Bachelor of Arts while continuing his involvement in the UCB scene.1
Woods's first screen appearances came in small film roles: he appeared in Armando Iannucci's political satire In the Loop (2009) and in Adam McKay's cop comedy The Other Guys (2010).2 Alongside his growing screen work he remained active in the improv world, teaching classes at Columbia University, Duke University, and Lincoln Center.1
In 2010, Woods joined the cast of NBC's The Office as Gabe Lewis, an anxious, socially awkward Sabre corporate executive. He appeared in 51 episodes across seasons six through nine (2010-2013), becoming a series regular in season seven. The ensemble received Screen Actors Guild Award nominations during his tenure.1
He then landed the role that defined his decade: Jared Dunn, the earnestly loyal company operations manager, on Mike Judge's HBO comedy Silicon Valley (2014-2019). Jared appeared in all six seasons across 53 episodes, earning Woods widespread recognition and a devoted audience.1
During the same period he took recurring television roles, including Zach Harper in the NBC/USA comedy Playing House (8 episodes, 2014-2017) and Ed Webster on HBO's Veep.2
In 2015, Woods appeared in Paul Feig's action-comedy Spy alongside Melissa McCarthy. The following year he rejoined Feig's ensemble for Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016). He also provided a voice performance in The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017).2
Woods starred as Matt Spencer, the overwhelmed head of customer relations aboard a luxury space cruise liner, in the HBO sci-fi comedy Avenue 5 (2020-2022), appearing in all 17 episodes across two seasons.1 He next took the lead role of Edgar D. Minnows, an ultra-wealthy, lizard-toting tech billionaire who is the murder victim at the center of the mystery, in Season 2 of Apple TV+'s The Afterparty (2023).3
In 2024, Woods expanded into series creation with In the Know, a stop-motion animated adult comedy for Peacock developed alongside Mike Judge and Brandon Gardner. Set among the staff of an NPR-style public radio program, the series featured Woods as co-creator, writer, director, and executive producer. The show was canceled after one season in December 2024.4
His first feature as a director, The Accompanist, which he also co-wrote, stars Susan Sarandon, Aubrey Plaza, and Everly Carganilla. The drama centers on a 70-year-old woman who becomes an unlikely foster parent to an 8-year-old girl. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 4, 2026.5
In Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, directed by Paul Feig, Woods played Tour Guide Garrett, who leads ghost tours through the Aldridge Mansion Museum in the film's opening chapters. The character was created by the film's co-writers, Katie Dippold and Paul Feig. Garrett is a dry-witted guide who habitually spooks tourists at Gertrude Aldridge's basement door using a trick candle he tips over ominously while recounting her story.
On one particular Tuesday tour, the experience turns real: the locked door rattles violently on its own, all its locks flip simultaneously, and an unseen force slams Garrett into a wall. He attempts to escape through the front door, but the knob is red hot; he tries to toss a chair through a window, but the chair stops mid-air and flies back, breaking over him. He runs into Gertrude's room, realizes his mistake immediately, and ends up dangling from the sealed door as the basement floor cracks open with green light.
Later, Garrett is encountered outside the mansion by Erin Gilbert, Abby Yates, and Jillian Holtzmann, where he is identified as a witness and is further embarrassed when Ed Mulgrave Jr. reveals the panicked details of his earlier phone call. He throws the mansion keys across the road and refuses to go back inside. The character appears across Chapters 01 through 03 of the film.
The "Anti-Irish Fence" gag delivered by Garrett during the tour was improvised by Woods on set. The scene in which Garrett is thrown into the wall was filmed on a separate soundstage with a stunt double, a month after the rest of that sequence was shot.
As a nod to his performance, the invoice shown on page 1 of Ghostbusters International #9 lists "Attn Zach" in the address field, a direct reference to Zach Woods.6
Woods was raised in a Jewish family; his father Jonathan is a psychiatrist and his mother Lisa is a nurse practitioner. He is the middle of three siblings.1
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
"Zach Woods," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zach_Woods. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10
"Zach Woods," IMDb, accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2046855/. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
Collider, "The Afterparty Season 2 Cast and Character Guide" (2023), https://collider.com/the-afterparty-season-2-cast-and-character-guide/. ↩
Deadline, "'In the Know' Animated Series Canceled by Peacock" (December 31, 2024), https://deadline.com/2024/12/in-the-know-animated-series-canceled-peacock-1236244391/. ↩
Tribeca Festival, "The Accompanist" (2026), https://tribecafilm.com/films/accompanist-2026. ↩
Ghostbusters International Issue #9 (IDW Publishing, 2016), p. 1. ↩
