The Son Also Rises: Zachary Booth Jumps from Damages to Albee's Me, Myself & I

Age: 27

Hometown: Irvington, NY

Currently: Having an identity crisis onstage as a devious identical twin named OTTO in Playwrights Horizons' off-Broadway premiere of Edward Albee’s Me, Myself & I.

Love and Loss: He has the face of a cherub, but Booth has played the bad son of two horrifying mothers—one who often doesn’t recognize him (Elizabeth Ashley in Me, Myself & I) and one who tries to destroy him (Glenn Close in TV’s Damages). So it’s natural to teasingly inquire about the young actor’s own mom. His answer is anything but a joke. “My mother passed away when I was 15,” he says. “She was a wonderful woman, a very intelligent and very passionate mother. She fought for the best for all her children [Booth is the youngest of three], but she was also very, very sweet and loving.” The loss of a parent can push a grieving teen onto a negative path, but Booth says, “I’m lucky that I have a loving family and grew up in a supportive community. I was able to go down both paths—the good and the bad—and through the grace of God, I’ve ended up in a really good place.”

College Bound: After his mother’s death, young Zachary felt inclined to “blow off” college—but his dad gently guided him toward pursuing his interest in acting. “My father is such an amazing man,” Booth says. “He used his intuition and pushed me to go to a summer theater program at Carnegie Mellon. I found that I liked acting school, but I was turned off by the competition so I shied away from applying to conservatories.” Prodded again by his father and caring teachers, Booth was accepted at the University of Michigan. “I wanted nothing to do with it,” he recalls with a laugh, but his guidance counselor urged him not to turn down such a prestigious college with its first-class theater program. “So I went to Michigan begrudgingly and blindly, but I’m really glad I did.”

Breaking In: Armed with a B.F.A. and an Equity card (thanks to summer stock work with the Peterborough Players in New Hampshire), Booth arrived in New York in 2004 and soon found steady work in TV (Law & Order: SVU, New Amsterdam and Royal Pains, plus three seasons as Michael Hewes on Damages), movies (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Taking Woodstock) and theater. At Playwrights Horizons alone, he’s gotten two juicy roles: a bisexual small-town slacker in Craig Lucas’ 2008 drama Prayer for My Enemy and now OTTO in Me, Myself & I. “I’ve been blessed with amazing parts in difficult but exciting plays,” he says. “In the life of an actor, you get passed up a lot—young actors want to work nonstop—but then you land on your feet in an Edward Albee production.” He laughs. “I’ll take it!”

Who’s Afraid of Edward Albee? Booth first encountered an “intimidating” Albee at an audition for the 2008 off-Broadway revival of The American Dream. "There’s a two-and-a-half-page monologue in the play about being a twin, and I went in and did it without a script. Immediately after, [Albee] said, ‘You missed a line.’ I think he was having fun with me.” This time, Booth entered the audition room determined to aim his character’s cheeky monologues directly at the playwright. Soon, he was in rehearsal for a play he still finds difficult to describe to friends. “I say that it’s funny to watch but sad to be part of,” noting that OTTO’s antics, including denying the existence of his twin brother, otto, involve multiple levels of manipulation. Luckily, there’s plenty to learn from working with Elizabeth Ashley (“she dives in and is so committed to the emotional life of her character”) and Brian Murray as a stepfather figure (“he listens so closely and executes the dialogue so specifically”).

Life Is Good: Like many busy actors his age, Booth is considering spending more time in L.A. to pursue film and TV, “but I would never want to sacrifice being able to do theater,” he says. “It’s a tricky balance. Fame and fortune are tempting, but I don’t believe that there’s only one way to happiness.” For now, he’s happily living in “a cute little studio on the top floor of a walkup on the East Side. I can see a couple of trees out of my window and get a little bit of sunshine, so it’s perfect for me.” His mom would undoubtedly be proud. “That’s something I think about a lot, and I think she would,” he says. “She was a very hip woman, and I think she would get a kick out of having a son in his 20s living in New York and doing off-Broadway theater and television. But she would probably make fun of me for living in midtown.”