William George "Billy" Zane, Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor and director.
Zane was born in Chicago, Illinois the son of Thalia and William George Zane, Sr., both of whom were amateur actors and founders of a school for medical technicians. Both of his parents are Greek- American shortened from Zanetakos. He has an older sister, Lisa Zane, who is also an actress. After completing a year abroad at The American School in Switzerland, Zane graduated from the Francis W. Parker School and attended Harand Camp of the Theater Arts, located in Wisconsin.
Zane's first screen role was in Back to the Future playing one of Biff Tannen's friends. Zane later reprised the role for the 1989 sequel, Back to the Future II. Earlier that same year, Zane gained international recognition with the role of psychotic villain Hughie Warriner in the thriller Dead Calm, alongside Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill. Zane's first starring role was in a 1990 independent film, the low budget science fiction thriller, Megaville. Zane was instrumental in getting the critically acclaimed film The Believer made, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2001. Zane keeps busy in other parts of the entertainment industry as well. He is a singer and can occasionally be seen in various Broadway shows, like Chicago, where he played lawyer Billy Flynn. He appeared in Marilyn Manson's music video for his single "The Dope Show".
Zane's debut as a director was Big Kiss, a light-hearted romantic comedy about two journalists, who follow Billy Zane's advice, involved in a diamond caper in which he also starred. Although released in Sweden in 2004, the date of a wider distribution remains uncertain. In January 2006, he made his debut on the London stage in Arthur Allan Seidelman's production of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks by Richard Alfieri, a two-hander in which he co-starred with Claire Bloom. Zane is set to star as Deputy D.A. Brian Clark opposite Teri Polo in ABC's new TV-series Finnegan in 2008. In 2009, he will take over Timothy Olyphant's role as Christina Applegate's ex-boyfriend on Samantha Who?; Olyphant will depart because of scheduling conflicts with his role in Damages.
It has been reported that Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu is to star in her first Hollywood film and that Billy Zane will be her leading man.
Zane married actress Lisa Collins in 1989. The couple divorced in 1995. He was also engaged for a time to Chilean actress Leonor Varela, his costar in the 1999 television movie Cleopatra, where he played Marcus Antonius. In 2001, he met Emma Howard on the set of The Diamond of Jeru. They dated for three years. Zane was engaged to marry British model turned actress Kelly Brook whom he met when starring with her in the movie Survival Island, also known as Three. They split in April 2008, but got back together again shortly after. Their relationship ended in August 2008. His leisure interests include riding, painting, swimming, photography, frisbees, taking nature walks, riding a bicycle, and collecting cars. He has described his movie heroes to be Sean Connery, Gene Kelly, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
In 1999, Zane participated in the first Gumball 3000 rally, driving a 1964 Aston Martin DB5. He was featured in the music video, Epiphany, by Staind. Zane executive-produced a CD made by bluesman Tim O'Connor. The album includes three songs from Dead Calm, where Zane had one of the lead roles.