Most Well Known Today

In “First Date,” Levi pairs up with Krysta Rodriguez, who’s additionally maybe maybe maybe not Jewish. (Joan Marcus)

In “First Date,” Levi pairs up with Krysta Rodriguez, who’s additionally maybe perhaps maybe not Jewish. ( )

Those that adored the sweetly lead that is nerdy of “Chuck” are going to be pleased to find its celebrity, Zachary Levi, on Broadway, doing just what he does well: singing, dancing . . . cringing.

In “First Date,” opening in a few days, Levi plays Aaron — as awkwardly earnest as Chuck, but as bearded and bespectacled as a yeshiva kid, as well. Cue the cringing whenever Aaron discovers that their date that is hot — the comely Krysta Rodriguez (“Smash”) — is not Jewish.

Then once more, neither is Levi.

“Nope, maybe perhaps not a Jew!” he says with a grin. “But if individuals wish to lump me personally in with God’s plumped for, I’ll go on it!”

Backstage during the Longacre Theatre — backpack by their part, their 6-foot-4 frame closing in black colored Converse sneakers — the set that is 32-year-old record right, their conversation peppered with all the words “journey,” “amazing” and “blessed.”

He had been created Zachary Levi Pugh — that Welsh surname’s pronounced “pewww!” — which resulted in no end of “brutal responses” in boyhood and past. Their representative recommended the actor that is young simply want to change their title.

It wasn’t a simple choice.

“I’d made a guideline that i’dn’t alter or fold for Hollywood,” claims the star, whom was raised in Southern Ca, within the shadow of Disneyland. But after he “prayed about any of it very long and difficult,” he chose to merely lose the Pugh.

That, Levi states, resulted in another trouble: “I’ve had casting directors call my representative and state, ‘Yeah, you know — he’s a tad too Jewish.’ ”

In terms of the creators of “First Date” had been concerned, Levi had been perfectly.

“Zachary’s like a version that is better-looking of — the me I’ve always wished to be,” says Austin Winsberg, the show’s bespectacled book author. The one women want to be with and the guys root for while writing for “Gossip Girl,” which shared offices on the Warner Brothers lot with “Chuck,” Winsberg saw in Levi what he calls “the sweet spot — someone who could sing, dance, be funny and play the romantic leading man. ”

Because it occurred, Levi ended up being free, and Broadway ended up being on their bucket list. He’d been singing and dancing in local movie movie theater I was a ham”), and he and his “Tangled” co-star Mandy Moore sang a duet together at the Oscars since he was 6.

Their only doubt: getting typecast as a nerd, also if he views himself in that way in real world. He and buddy operate a company he describes as “Nike for Nerds” — the Nerd Machine, which produces duds and gizmos for sci-fi fans and gamers like Levi himself, whom place their supply through a light fixture whilst hitting an overhead smash throughout a Wii game of tennis.

“ we think in utilizing the working platform you’ve got for good,” says Levi, whom calls their company transactions “conscientious capitalism — have a money, offer a buck.” A k a Comic-Con he’s an avid supporter of Operation Smile and other charities, and arranged for a week off at “First Date,” just after previews started, to honor his commitment to appear at Geek Central.

And their love life?

“That we won’t go into,” he states, pleasantly. Despite a breakup that is well-publicized singer Caitlin Crosby, he’s was able to keep their personal life in the down low.

“I’m maybe maybe not just a dater that is big genuinely,” he claims. https://datingrating.net/escort/carrollton/ “I’m a go-with-the-flow form of guy . . .

I’d rather hang away with somebody in an organization to check out then we’ll get on a night out together. when they check these different containers beside me before we head out together — get acquainted with one another really casually and coolly, of course there’s chemistry,”

Judging through the ecstatic applause Levi’s drawing in “First Date,” lot of individuals could be extremely thrilled to know him better.