Photo: RealTVfilms / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
For me, Zach Gilford will always be Matt Saracen first. His performance on Friday Night Lights was quiet and aching in a way TV rarely allows, all stammered sentences and unspoken weight, and I think it's one of the most underrated dramatic turns of its era. What I admire is how he later reinvented himself in horror with Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, and The Fall of the House of Usher, leaning into dread instead of coasting on the sensitive-everyman image. An Evanston, Illinois native, he strikes me as an actor more interested in the right roles than the loud ones.
Overview
Zachary Michael Gilford (born January 14, 1982) is an American actor, best known for his role as Matt Saracen on the NBC sports drama series Friday Night Lights. In 2021, he starred in the Netflix horror limited series Midnight Mass. In 2022, he appeared in the horror mystery-thriller series The Midnight Club, and in 2023, he had a main role in the horror drama miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Zach Gilford
- Name (Japanese)
- ザック・ギルフォード
- Reading
- ざっく・ぎるふぉーど
- Born
- January 14, 1982 (age 44)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Capricorn / Dog
- Origin
- Evanston, Illinois, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- television actor / film actor / actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Evanston Township High School
- University
- Private
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Television actor — see all → · Film 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.