Biography

John Carl Zak was born in Washington D.C. but lived in and traveled to many places during his childhood, as his father worked for TWA. Those early experiences of travel to Africa, Europe, Asia, South America put a mark on him. After graduating from Canyon High School in Canyon Country California, Zak studied film and television at UCLA, graduating Magna cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Upon graduation, Zak began work as a lighting director with ABC Television in Hollywood, earning an Emmy Award and six Emmy nominations for work on series including General Hospital (1963) and Benson (1979).

Zak left ABC after nine years to pursue freelance opportunities. He worked for Universal Studios as Director of Photography on situation comedies including Silver Spoons (1982) and Diff'rent Strokes (1978) as well as designing looks for several Universal pilots. Zak then continued in the directing area, directing for various soap operas in the 1980s before joining The Bold and the Beautiful (1987) as producer and director. Zak remained with the show for 12 years, advancing to the position of supervising producer while continuing as a director on the series, earning a Directors Guild of America nomination in 1995.

After that, Zak began graduate studies, earning certificates from UCLA's Graduate Producing and Screenwriting Programs, followed by a Master's Degree in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. It was during Zak's psychology studies that he got in touch with his life-long love for Hawaii, having traveled there regularly since childhood. John took a leap of faith and moved to Hawaii in 2002, and he now splits his time between Hawaii and Los Angeles. In 2004 and 2005, Zak commuted from Hawaii to New York City to work as a contract director for ABC on the daytime series, One Life to Live (1968). On Hawaii has taken new ventures like painting but continues to direct. His documentary films on Hawaiian topics have screened at numerous film festivals and conferences in Hawaii, on the US Mainland, and in Europe. Recently, Zak was hired as a consultant for the Dutch based company, Endemol. Zak is fluent in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese.
- IMDb mini biography by: Torsten B. Tomaschek