Zachary Quinto is at his most persuasive when composure begins to look like hard work. His Spock makes irritation funny without making the character ridiculous.
Fi1m perspective
In Star Trek (2009), Chris Pine supplies the swagger and Zachary Quinto’s Spock declines to be impressed. Quinto lets just enough irritation disturb the composure for us to see the effort of maintaining it. We laughed at how firmly he resists Pine’s invitation to admire Kirk, without making Spock seem merely humourless. The pleasure is in their timing, and in Quinto’s willingness to let the other actor do the showing off. Under J.J. Abrams, their developing friendship is worth following even when the adventure is rushing past its own difficulties.
His breakthrough came as the serial killer Sylar in Heroes (2006–2010), establishing an association with intense and conflicted characters. Spock carried that inner conflict into Star Trek, with two further films following in 2013 and 2016. Alongside those came Margin Call (2011), a contained, dialogue-driven ensemble in which he played Peter Sullivan. That is a useful alternative to being cast as the person everyone should find unnerving.
In High Flying Bird (2019), he plays David Starr, the boss of the agent trying to turn an NBA lockout against the owners. Starr wants the lockout over, giving him a clear reason to exert pressure. Tarell Alvin McCraney’s script puts a second negotiation beneath each conversation, so a workplace exchange has enough tension without anyone needing to appear sinister. Steven Soderbergh shoots it on a phone, but the sharp writing and ensemble are the reasons we recommend it. Its chilliness and abrupt finish are reservations about the film, rather than evidence against Quinto’s place in this sort of company.
Spock shows how well comedy can work without requiring him to abandon the restraint: Pine supplies someone whose behaviour makes maintaining it difficult. The reservation about Star Trek is that its thin villain and overworked action sometimes interrupt the more enjoyable business between the actors. Start there, and do not mistake the person making less fuss for the one doing less work.
Biography
Zachary Quinto is an American actor and producer. He was born on 2 June 1977 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama in 1999.
Quinto first gained attention for recurring roles on television series including 24 (2003–2004) and So NoTORIous (2006). He is known for portraying Gabriel ‘Sylar’ Gray in Heroes (2006–2010) and Commander Spock in the films Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016). He also played Dr Oliver Thredson in American Horror Story: Asylum (2012–2013), receiving a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
In film he has appeared in Margin Call (2011), Snowden (2016) and as David Starr in High Flying Bird (2019). Quinto co-founded the production company Before the Door Pictures in 2008.
