Zach Barack's journey from Glenview to Hollywood

Right now, Glenview native Zach Barack has got it all going on.

He's the voice of Barney, the lead character Barack calls an "audience surrogate" in the well-received animated Netflix series, "Dead End: Paranormal Park," now in its second season. The show, based on a series of graphic novels by Hamish Steele, also featured fellow Glenview native and Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump in several episodes of its first season that debuted in June.

Barack, an actor, singer and comedian now based in Los Angeles, also narrated the audiobook version of Mason Deaver's "The Feeling of Falling in Love," released in August; played a recurring role in the 2020 podcast series, "The College Tapes"; and in October spoke in forums at Fresno City College and Missouri State University, and joined a Netflix panel in New York City.

This month he was the subject of articles on the Digital Spy website and Out Front Magazine - in which Barack said a TEDxBoulder talk he did in 2019 attracted Steele's attention when considering cast for "Dead End: Paranormal Park."

It's a second cycle of media attention for Barack, 26, born at Evanston Hospital and a student at Lyon, Pleasant Ridge, Springman Middle School and, "briefly," he said, Glenbrook South High School.

The first came in 2019 after Barack was cast as Zach Cooper, one of Peter Parker's classmates in "Spider-Man: Far from Home," thus becoming the first openly transgender actor to be in a Marvel film. Barack, who also earned pre-pandemic credits in the television series, "Transparent" and "L.A.'s Finest," was the focus of stories in the Jewish site Forward, the Chicago Tribune, and Variety, who also interviewed him at the "Far from Home" premiere on the red carpet outside the TCL Chinese Theatre, formerly Grauman's.

The Tribune article included the following line: "Barack believes that there's an inherent value in playing a student whose biggest problem is not their gender identity."

Wise beyond his years, Barack shared his articulate thoughts with the Herald in a phone interview. It has been edited for length and clarity. The complete interview is available online at

Herald: What was your experience like in Glenview?

Barack: It was odd. It's funny because we're Jewish and Northbrook and Skokie in particular have a lot of Jewish kids, but actually in Glenview I didn't know that many. It was odd because I remember feeling like, "I really don't know that many people like me." Also being a person who would eventually come out as trans, it was also sort of navigating that in a space where obviously I wasn't meeting anybody like that.

I was really fortunate that I was a talkative kid and really needed a lot of attention. So I found my way to people. But it was one of those weird situations where you're kind of masking who you are but also kind of authentic, because I think there's something authentic in the experience of queerness and "transness" and living an identity such as Judaism where you find ways for it to be part of who you are even if it's not outwardly something you understand or have the words for.

Herald: How does being a transgender person jibe with Judaism?

Barack: We weren't particularly religious, we were kind of a "synagogue on the High Holidays" family. It wasn't like much changed, but I will say it's never really come into conflict. I have cousins and friends who are more religious than I am and observe more seriously.

I think one of my favorite things about the practice of Judaism is that so much of it is about pushback and questions and discussions about what the literature means. One movie I really love is "Yentl," and so much of it is kind of about that. It's largely about someone trying to live in a space where they're allowed to practice or observe and study Judaism but have the boundary of gender. I don't know, I think there's something kind of beautiful about that. I haven't personally had that conflict. I think I am about as religious as I've ever been but I really do love that culture.

Herald: How did you get into performance?

Barack: When I was in middle school I sort of started getting a lot of those little lunchtime detentions. I found that I really enjoyed talking to adults. I think there was a lot that went on at home throughout my childhood, and there was something really calming about having, sort of, people to guide me. I didn't understand the concept of positive attention yet, so I didn't realize that I had access to that.

At some point an adult talked to me ... and also a lot of my middle school teachers, about, "You know, you can have that in a positive way." And I started doing theater originally, actually, at the Glenview Park Center. I did a play about pirates and one about disco.

I remember being on stage and getting immediate feedback from the crowd, and being, like, "Oh, that's really neat." I do like the way it feels to do something and have sort of a very quick reaction so I understand how I'm being received. That really opened things up for me. I started to understand sort of the way people interact better. And as I got older - and I also realized I really loved art and creativity and being onstage as a performer - I started to realize that's kind of the most authentic I ever felt.

I don't know how to explain it necessarily. I think it is some combination of being a kid that just needed a lot of love and attention and also being someone who maybe just naturally liked performing. But it was something to me about being up on a stage and to me getting something to people that I really, really wanted to say and knowing they were listening. You know, being guaranteed an ear. At some level, not to get too deep about it, there's something that feels very attached to being a person who lives on the outskirts that is marginalized, and trans in my case, about being told here's a guarantee that people are going to listen and hear you.

On some level ... it's as simple as, you know what, it's really fun. I have a blast doing it and that's enough of a reason.

Herald: Jumping forward, how did it feel to receive a standing ovation at your TED Talk?

Barack: That was surreal. I do orating as well now. I just actually this week did two colleges and was traveling to do some stuff in New York as well, for "Dead End."

I never really considered myself someone who's by any means an expert. I mean, I took some gender and sexuality classes in college before dropping out, and I worked at a nonprofit where I learned a lot about queer history. But I guess I forgot that an experience with something from the "I" perspective makes you an expert.

It's not something that I always considered because I don't think it's valued highly in society to just say, "I go through this and that makes me a scholar on some level." So getting to just talk about the way I grew up and know that that was information that hopefully someone was going to go home with gave me sort of like a fire under me to try to do my best. And seeing people receive that so strongly, it made me quite emotional actually, it was really meaningful.

Herald: How and why did you choose to come out as transgender?

Barack: You know, it's so funny, because I think about the way I was probably perceived versus the way I felt. The shortest way I could put it is I was such a huge tomboy as a kid, and my best friend, Chloe and I, kind of had a pact of sorts that we were going to try to dress more femininely as we got into middle school because it was sort of socially acceptable. I remember being, like, this is the normal course of things; I'm sure that this happens for a lot of people. I got to this boarding school (The Madeira School in Virginia) that was pretty progressive, and I ... started meeting people I probably normally wouldn't have. I had an English teacher, Miss Hogue, who would wear suits to school every day, and bow ties, and I remember just being like, 'Oh, I've never seen that.' I am almost 100 percent sure if I was still living at home I wouldn't have, that this feels like a gift, this feels like an important moment for me.

To see someone doing that and not walk away and go, OK, that's something I wanted to do since I was 10 years old and made that pact with my best friend, then be like, "this is my moment," would have felt like I was missing a moment I really needed to embrace. I remember being, like, that's what I'm going to do for the rest of my life now.

Herald: Did you ever feel alienated, or did you have a supportive home environment?

Barack: It was very fortunate that I grew up with a pretty progressive family and that I think early on taught me there was a sort of rooting-for-the-underdog mentality.

In the same breath, I'd say, we grew up at the time we grew up and didn't have the words for what we do now. We all probably said the term, "That's so gay." It was hard, right? You exist in society and on some level you survive by participating in it even if that's not always good.

Also, I have three pretty feisty older brothers who I think all consider themselves people that would go to bat for someone who was marginalized. My oldest brother's (Max) a workplace discrimination attorney. My brother, Jacob, was the one who from an early age - and this is complex stuff - was, like, I want to wear a pink shirt to places because I want someone to get mad at me, and I want to fight them. And my brother, Michael, is one of my biggest advocates.

I think I got really, really lucky. In a world where I think we used to use some pretty tough words - and again, not that we were exempt - I had people who when it came down to it and we did get the language to be supportive of each other and kinder and understand things that we didn't previously understand, they immediately made the shift. That's how I would say.

And, you know, it doesn't mean that everybody got it right all the time. I think nobody understood the urgency of my situation when I finally did come out, when it came to some of the physical aspects of transitioning and changing my name, and so it was a little tough. But once they got it they got it, and there hasn't been regression.

Herald: You were a Netflix intern when you were cast in "Spider-Man," correct?

Barack: I was a terrible, terrible, ill-prepared and underqualified intern at a production company where I'm very grateful they were patient with me, given my lack of understanding of how the industry works.

I was fortunate enough to watch a little bit of the Netflix show, "Grace and Frankie" getting filmed and learning about how sets work and sort of the basics. I was really grateful I did it within weeks of also being casted in 'Spiderman," because I was, like, OK, I'm not going in as a total idiot. Also it was just good fortune and fate that I was in (Los Angeles) for longer than I had planned, because everybody in my family since my oldest brother (Max) has worked at Hackney's on Harms and I was a busboy the previous summer, and I was excited to go back and become a waiter. I'm glad I stayed in L.A. an extra week.

Herald: Was Marvel ready for a transgender actor, or did it just happen?

Barack: I've done a lot of thinking on it because I did all this media about it. It's funny, because it's a very small role, which is just normal for a big actor, or any actor, really, where you start out doing these little bit parts where you say one or two lines, and if you're stupid lucky like I was you get to do it in a movie like "Spiderman." So it was like I was paying my dues and doing the normal actor thing but also I was going to be sort of having these conversations with media outlets about how it was a big deal just because of who I am inherently.

It taught me that our default often when we look at characters is that they are not trans and ... that there is maybe value in casting (transgender) people, even if the character isn't going to be discussed as trans, because it helps us debunk the idea that it's this a rare, freakish thing.

We're just human beings who exist in classrooms and work places, and usually don't really want any trouble - I almost say never, because I think you don't want to draw attention to yourself when you are a little bit afraid of the repercussions of existing in a society that doesn't totally understand you. So, that felt really meaningful to me.

Herald: Is "Dead End: Paranormal Park" a queer show, or does it include queer characters?

Barack: I think both, right? Our showrunner (Steele) has made this joke, but I'm going to steal it. In every television show you have the straight man, the person who the audience follows and is the audience surrogate, and you're seeing the world through their eyes. Not necessarily from the first-person perspective, but that's who is intended to bring reality into the story so that you can identify with it. In this case, it is Barney - the irony being he's obviously not straight. There's something that you can't totally separate about it not (being) a queer show, because if the person you're following is that character (the viewer is) humanizing and living with, that's sort of hard to separate.

I would also say that it isn't just a queer show; I mean, it's so many things. Just because it appeals largely to and speaks to and from the perspective of queer people a lot of the time, and features a lot of queer characters, which becomes even more apparent in Season 2, doesn't mean it's not a show that's highly accessible to other people.

There's a lot of ways to live on the margins; there's a lot of ways to feel "other" that are not always even about identity in the traditional sense. I mean, there's geographical otherness, right? There are a lot of stereotypes we have about certain parts of the U.S. and other countries. We have otherness in terms of, like, how easy we find it to socialize, or mental health. I think the show does a really good job of making it identifiable for a lot of experiences. So, in that way, yes and no.

Herald: In "Dead End: Paranormal Park," you sing a fabulous song called "Some Guy." Can you describe how that came about?

Barack: (Michael) Kooman and (Christopher) Dimond are a songwriting duo, they wrote this song for Hamish, who's my showrunner, to pitch the musical (episode). They wrote all the music in addition to, actually, a Glenbrook South alum, Patrick Stump, who is the frontman for the very famous band, Fall Out Boy. He's been a big hero of mine and that band was a staple of my childhood. I saw them on tour, I used to envy him as a Glenbrook South alum and also just as a goth/emo kid.

They wrote this song and it was gorgeous. Something my showrunner and voice directors both said during it was it was really emotional to record, because as kids - and they're both queer people - that was just so not a thing.

The character in that moment is so love struck, and it's not about who he's singing to, it's about the very normal teenage feeling of being head over heels and deeply nervous about it.

It really meant a lot to be able to do that, only made even better by getting to work with my idol (Stump) in the booth. It was funny when I told him I was from Glenview, he was pretty flabbergasted. He's, like, I never meet anybody from Glenview, ever.

Herald: When did that appear in the show?

Barack: I knew that we were going to be doing a musical episode. I knew that it would be near the end (of Season 1). I had absolutely no idea. When they told me we were doing a (musical episode) I thought, I really hope the music's good. I couldn't say that out loud because it wasn't like it was going to do anything about it if it wasn't.

But then to hear it and be truly blown away by both how lyrically it is so honest about the experience, again, of being a teen, and then also just very catchy, it blew me away and I was like, you know what, this might mean something to other people because it means quite a bit to me. In that way it sort of snuck up on me.

I really do love the songs that the other characters do, particularly my co-star, Kody (Kavitha), sings this song called "My Frankenstein," which feels really relevant to today's experience because we have such immediate access to celebrities, people we idolize. Sometimes they let us down and sometimes we forget to give them the benefit of being flawed and also recognize that we project a lot on them. It felt like a really nuanced way to talk to kids about what it feels like when your hero lets you down, and makes that an identifiable experience.

Herald: You got a lot of media attention after 'Spiderman,' and now again. What does that mean?

Barack: I have a lot of acting buddies, and probably the people who have the most experience with it are some of the guys I met on "Spiderman." Tony Revolori, whose big start was on a Wes Anderson film ("The Grand Budapest Hotel"), and Jacob Batalon, who played Spiderman's best friend, are two of my really close friends. Having people who work in the industry and understand sort of the pace it operates at, and the way that work comes and goes was really, really helpful for my mental health.

Particularly because two of those years were pandemic, and nothing was going to happen, and it didn't matter what I did, and there's something really frustrating about having momentum and watching it sort of drift out of your control.

Right off the bat I did three projects that I got to be a really big part of. I did this show called "L.A.'s Finest," I did "Transparent" and I did "Spiderman." These were all things that were like a dream and then the world shut down and I had to be uncomfortable.

It taught me tons about self-assurance and also made me talk to the people who knew this industry best. And thank God, because otherwise I think I would have lost my mind.

So, it feels really good to have that pickup, because I personally really like talking about the projects I'm in, especially when I'm really passionate about them. And "Dead End: Paranormal Park" is the project I'm the most proud of that I've ever done, I think, in my whole life. So getting to just gab about it has been a dream.

Herald: What kind of advice would you give a person trying to figure things out?

Barack: (F)or a lot of people who do feel a little bit like weirdos, be it due to identity or just interests or what have you - which is how I felt a lot inside as a kid, even if I was able to assimilate pretty well - is we create, I think, really rich emotional lexicons for ourself. Because we are constantly explaining who we are, to ourselves, to other people. And that's really cool. It can be taxing, but it's really cool.

I think that it's a good thing and it's also at times a little bit of a bleak thing, because it speaks to the fact that we have to advocate for ourselves a little more highly and have to learn to have conversations at different levels and meet other people where their emotional lexicons are, for lack of a better term.

It's interesting, because I think it makes us incredibly versatile people - that's how I feel, at least - and really good at having perspective that comes from a lot of different angles. Also, I'm sure there's some level of, like, it can be exhausting to be a young person who feels like they're doing a lot of work on the behalf of other people. I find that quite fascinating and I think it's sort of a superpower, and a little bit of a kryptonite all at once. I think doing it too much - to get to the mental health, right - I think things like that live in our bodies, live in our nervous systems as sort of a defense mechanism of, 'Don't worry, I'll explain it to you and then you'll like me.' And also, make you a really fun person to be around and a person with a lot of empathy.