Zachary Laoutides is an actor and screenwriter with a B.A. in writing, journalism, and directing from Chicago. In his early twenties, he won Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment nationwide talent search for new actors, and launched an international modeling career with BMG Models and Elite Model Management in Bombay, gaining early exposure in front of the camera.

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He later co-founded Ave Fenix Pictures, the first Latino film studio in Chicago and the Midwest. Laoutides earned acclaim for Adios Vaya Con Dios, an official selection of the 2014 Bel Air Film Festival, and for Arise from Darkness, recognized by Screen Rant as one of the “10 Best Supernatural Horror Movies of the Last Decade.” The Huffington Post praised his performances as tributes to screen icons like Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando.

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Following an on-set injury in 2021 and industry-wide delays from the SAG strike, Laoutides returns in 2025 as lead actor and writer of Where Sweet Dreams Die, taking over writing duties from the creators of Taxi Driver and American History X.