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Breaking Down Brilliant Minds Star Zachary Quinto's Movie & TV Career
Zachary Quinto is back on NBC as gifted neurologist Dr. Oliver Wolf in the new medical drama Brilliant Minds.
Actor Zachary Quinto is currently gracing TV screens as the lead character in NBC’s medical drama Brilliant Minds. But before studying minds as gifted neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, Quinto was eating them when he played the supervillain Sylar in his breakout role on Heroes. In between these two NBC powerhouse series, Quinto portrayed plenty of other characters who aren't obsessed with brains ... so let's take a closer look.
With Brilliant Minds — which is based on the works of the famed neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks — having premiered on September 23, here’s what you need to know about its star Zachary Quinto.
RELATED: Zachary Quinto Medical Drama Brilliant Minds Gets NBC Premiere Date: Everything to Know
Zachary's Quinto's Early History & Dating Life
Quinto was born on June 2, 1977, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where his family has deep roots. His great-grandfather was a notable labor activist and his maternal grandfather, Joseph A. McArdle, was a member of Congress. Quinto’s father, Joseph John "Joe" Quinto, was a barber who died when Quinto was only 7 years old, leaving his mother, Margo, to raise him and his brother, also named Joe.
His father's death "sort of changed the dynamic of the family," he told USA Today, adding that it made him "pretty independent at a young age."
Zachary Quinto's older brother, Joe Quinto, is a photographer (per USA Today) but fans may also recognize him as one of the evil Romulan crew members who does battle with Kirk and Spock in the 2009 Star Trek film. He also worked as a cinematographer on the 2011 film Last Guy on Earth.
After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama in 1999, Zachary Quinto began acting, making his screen debut in an episode of the one-season NBC sci-fi series The Others in 2000. It wouldn’t be many years before he had his first major role.
Quinto is gay, having publically come out in 2011. He is an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ people, especially youths.
He was in a romantic relationship with actor Jonathan Groff for a year from 2012-2013, telling Out Magazine "I'm incredibly happy, I'm incredibly lucky," in a 2012 interview. The pair broke up reportedly due to the long-distance nature of their relationship, per Us Weekly. In 2013, Quinto began dating musician and model Miles McMillan. The pair were together for nearly six years, even sparking engagement rumors in 2017, before calling it off in 2019.
RELATED: Brilliant Minds' Zachary Quinto: It's a "Significant Honor" to Play Openly Gay Doctor
Quinto has over 900,000 followers on Instagram and, while he hasn't posted about a romantic relationship in some time, he does post about his adorable dogs Skunk and River, who he's often seen out and about with on walks.
All About Zachary Quinto's Theater Work
While audiences may know Quinto best for his onscreen work, he's no slouch in theater world.
He gained on-stage notoriety for his time in the lead role of Louis Ironson in an Off-Broadway revival of Tony Kushner's Angels in America from October 2010-February 2011, winning a Theatre World Award. Even before that, though, he was tackling Samuel Beckett's Endgame in 2003 at Los Angeles Odyssey Theatres as well as stints in Side Man, Gross Indecency (City Theatre Company), A Lonely Impulse of Delight (Vineyard Playhouse), The Bear (Tintreach Company - Galway, Ireland), Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Old Globe), Much Ado About Nothing (LA Shakespeare Festival), Pro Bono Publico, A Map of Doubt and Rescue, Laying On of Hands, and Lonesome Hollow (Ojai Playwright's Conference) [per his original online bio on his website].
His most notable role in recent years, though, was as Harold in the 2022 revival of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band alongside Matt Bomer (in his Broadway debut), Andrew Rannells, and Jim Parsons.
RELATED: How Brilliant Minds Is Following in the Footsteps of Monk & More: "It Destigmatizes"
"It's been amazing," Bomer told TODAY of his debut and working alongside Quinto and the rest of the cast. "To get to do it with this group of guys – I've known Zach for 20-plus years, I've known [Rannells] for 15 and we have six other incredible cast members... to get to it with these guys has been just a dream."
"Part of what's so exciting about doing it now 50 years after it was written is how far we've come in that amount of time," Quinto said of updating the original work. "And this moment I think socially and politically is a great time to present this to audiences."
What TV Shows Has Zachary Quinto Been In?
The Others marked Quinto’s first on-screen role, and he would make a few more small, one-off appearances in shows like Touched By an Angel, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Lizzie McGuire, and Six Feet Under. His first major role came in the third season of 24, in which he played CTU analyst Adam Kaufman, assisting Jack Bauer in his fight against terrorism.
His next notable role was in So NotTORIous, a short-lived VH1 sitcom starring Tori Spelling that only ran for one 10-episode season.
Arguably his most famous role came in 2006 when he began playing Gabriel Gray, aka "Sylar," the main villain of the NBC series Heroes (available to stream on Peacock). He played Sylar — a serial killer with the ability to steal the powers of other superhumans after examining their brains — for 60 episodes.
Quinto has also been a regular on American Horror Story, having had big roles in Murder House, Asylum, NYC, and Delicate. He received his only Emmy nomination (so far) for his part in Asylum. Some of Quinto’s other notable roles include The Slap, the reboot of In Search of…, and NOS4A2. He’s done some voice acting, too, in shows like Big Mouth, Invincible, and The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.
What Movies Has Zachary Quinto Been In?
With the success of Heroes, Quinto had become a well-known TV presence, especially among genre fans. So, it made sense that he would take an iconic science fiction role in his big-screen debut, playing Spock in the 2009 J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie. Quinto admirably lived up to Leonard Nimoy’s legendary performance as the half-Vulcan science officer aboard the starship Enterprise. He would reprise the role in Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013 and Star Trek Beyond in 2016.
RELATED: Zachary Quinto's Dr. Wolf Has a Unique Skill in Medical Drama Brilliant Minds
It’s fair to say that, Star Trek aside, Quinto is primarily a TV actor, but he’s had plenty of other film roles as well. His filmography includes parts in the finance thriller Margin Call, the video game adaptation Hitman: Agent 47, Oliver Stone’s Edward Snowden biopic, and Stephen Soderberg’s High Flying Bird.
Quinto has also played another supervillain in addition to his tenure on Heroes. He voiced Superman’s archnemesis Lex Luthor in the animated films Superman: Man of Tomorrow and Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths — Part One.
Watch new episodes of Brilliant Minds when they premiere on Mondays on NBC at 10/9c. Episodes are available to stream on Peacock the next day.
Originally published Aug 21, 2024.
