
Photo: Super Festivals from Ft. Lauderdale, USA / CC BY 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Zach Galligan will forever be Billy Peltzer, and honestly that is a wonderful thing to be remembered for. Gremlins is a perfect blend of Christmas warmth and chaos, and his earnest, slightly bewildered everyman gives the mayhem a real emotional anchor. It would have been easy for the human lead to get steamrolled by Gizmo and the creatures, but he holds the center with genuine charm. He never became a megastar, yet he has stayed working and embraced his place in horror fandom with real grace. There is something admirable about an actor who honors the role that fans love instead of running from it.
Overview
Zach Galligan (born 1964) is an American actor best known for playing Billy Peltzer in the hit 1984 horror-comedy Gremlins and its 1990 sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. A native New Yorker and Columbia University graduate, he has worked steadily in film and television over the decades, often appearing in independent and genre projects, and remains a beloved fixture of horror conventions.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Zach Galligan
- Name (Japanese)
- ザック・ギャリガン
- Reading
- ざっく・ぎゃりがん
- Born
- February 14, 1964 (age 62)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aquarius / Dragon
- Origin
- New York, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- Actor / Television actor / Film actor / Screenwriter
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Columbia University
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Actor — see all → · Television actor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.