# Zachery Ty Bryan

Zachery Tyler Bryan (born October 9, 1981) is an American actor and film producer. He is best known for his role as Brad Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement. He also appeared in the films First Kid and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

## Early life

Bryan was born in Aurora, Colorado, to Jenny and Dwight Bryan.

## Career

Bryan started off his career by appearing in local print and television advertising in Denver. He then appeared at a showcase in New York City, directed by Peter Seidman, where he was seen by a professional talent representative. This, and his interest in acting soon brought him to California, where he was cast in the role of Brad, the oldest Taylor child, in the show Home Improvement, a role he played until the series ended in 1999. His character was known for experimenting with different hair styles as well as being the child most often in trouble. He is one month younger than Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who played his younger brother Randy on the show.
In the middle of Home Improvement Bryan made an appearance as Steve on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1995. After Home Improvement ended, Bryan made brief appearances in many other television shows including (2002) Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Peter Nicols, (2005) Veronica Mars as Caz Truman, and (2006) Shark as Scott Natterson, as well as a guest appearance on an episode of Reading Rainbow. Additionally, he made a cameo appearance on MTV's I Bet You Will in which he portrayed himself and competed in a challenge where he wrestled female convicted felons. In 2001, he portrayed an ice hockey player in an episode of Touched by an Angel. He also appeared on Smallville in 2003 where he played Eric Marsh, a high school baseball player using steroids made from meteor rock. He was the second Home Improvement alum to make a guest appearance on the show after Jonathan Taylor Thomas. In 2005, Bryan appeared as Bryan Nolan in ESPN's TV movie Code Breakers. Bryan also guest starred in Cold Case (as the young murderer in the flashback scenes) and in 2008 as a young man hiring a hitman to kill his stepmother on the show Burn Notice.
Bryan's film roles include the school bully in the 1996 Sinbad comedy First Kid. He starred in the 1995 movie Magic Island as Jack Carlisle, the 1998 TV movie Principal Takes a Holiday, and the 1999 movie True Heart. He also starred as Eric in 1999's The Rage: Carrie 2. Later, he played defender Harry Keough alongside Gerard Butler in the 2005 movie The Game of Their Lives otherwise known as The Miracle Match about the 1950 US upset at the World Cup. In 2006, he played a villain named Clay in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, then a deputy in the 2009 TV mini-series Meteor, which aired on NBC. He also played Thor in the made-for-TV Syfy channel film THOR: Hammer of the Gods. The film originally aired on November 29, 2009.
In 2009, Bryan retired from the acting profession. In 2022, Bryan was cast in a small role in The Guardians of Justice. By October 2024, he had severed ties with California.

## Personal life

Bryan's cousin is former NFL quarterback Brady Quinn.
On 10 March 2007, he married Carly Matros, whom he met while attending La Cañada High School. They have twin girls born on 23 June 2014, a third daughter born on 7 June 2016, and a son born on 18 March 2019. Bryan and Matros divorced in September 2020 after 13 years of marriage.
On November 17, 2021, Bryan announced his engagement to model Johnnie Faye Cartwright. Bryan and Cartwright had a daughter in April 2022. In early November 2022, Bryan and Faye announced they were expecting twins. Cartwright gave birth on 14 May 2023. They are Bryan’s sixth and seventh children, respectively, and his second set of twins. In January 2025, Bryan was revealed to have had a child with a woman he was accused of assaulting in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
During an arrest in Oklahoma in October 2024, Bryan revealed that he was now "running" from his previous longtime home of California, stating, "I hate that place." Despite leaving the state, Bryan still has residency in La Quinta, California, where he is currently facing a drunk driving related charge.

### Legal issues

In October 2020, Bryan was held on several charges including felony strangulation, misdemeanor charges of fourth-degree assault and interfering with making a police report, after an apparent argument with his girlfriend in their apartment in Lane County, Oregon. In February 2021, Bryan pleaded guilty to two of the charges, menacing and fourth degree assault, while six others were dismissed. He was sentenced to three years of bench probation and ordered to partake in a batterer intervention program and to have no contact with the victim.
In June 2023, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Bryan was accused of running a fraudulent agriculture-technology startup scheme. Four sources told the publication that the scheme involved them giving Bryan individual payment amounts ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 in exchange for fake contracts that actually had no value. The amount of money Bryan earned from the scheme is said to have totaled close to $50,000.
On July 28, 2023, Bryan was arrested for domestic assault again in Eugene, Oregon. Bryan had been charged with fourth degree robbery and harassment. On October 25, 2023, Bryan pleaded guilty to Felony Assault in the Fourth Degree Constituting Domestic Violence. As part of his plea deal, another count that Bryan was charged with was dismissed. Bryan was sentenced to 36 months of supervised probation, seven days in jail and was required to abide by a set of conditions typical of domestic violence cases, including no contact with his victim. Bryan was also warned that failure to comply with the probation terms would result in him serving 19–20 months in prison.
Also in 2023, the Superior Court of Los Angeles ordered Bryan and his production company, Lost Lane, to pay $108,940.57 to an investor, after finding him guilty of scamming money for a film featuring Thomas Jane, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Alex Pettyfer.
On the morning of February 17, 2024, Bryan was arrested for alleged DUI after a traffic collision in La Quinta, California. Bryan was charged with both misdemeanor contempt of court and a felony for operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. This was his fourth DUI charge. He was released the same day after posting a $50,000 bail, with a court hearing also scheduled for April 3. On March 27, 2024, it was revealed that Bryan had also received an additional felony charge related to driving under the influence after having three or more DUI convictions in the last 10 years.
On October 24, 2024, Bryan was arrested in Custer County, Oklahoma for driving under the influence, his second DUI offense in the year 2024, and also for driving without a valid license. The Custer County Sheriff's Office's website shows that Bryan was booked into the jail shortly after 8:30 a.m. that morning. His Oklahoma DUI charge was described as a "driving under the influence - second felony offense." On October 27, Deadline Hollywood reported that on the day of his booking, Bryan was able to get released after posting a $65,000 bail. On October 29, 2024, additional dashcam footage obtained by Fox News was released that confirmed that Bryan was arrested after refusing to take a sobriety test, and that he also admitted to driving after a night of drinking during his arrest. In this dashcam video footage, Bryan stated that the DUI charge that resulted in his license getting suspended was issued in 2021.
On January 2, 2025, Bryan was arrested in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and charged with second-degree domestic violence. No further details were immediately available regarding Bryan's arrest and local media have requested the warrant and report from the Myrtle Beach Police Department. However, OK! Magazine later revealed that the incident report stated that Bryan punched a woman multiple times, threatened to kill her and choked her in an attempt to cut off her breathing, with police finding injuries on her body consistent with the details she gave about the incident. The woman was not named in the report, but was identified as sharing a child with Bryan. He was released from the J. Reuben Long Detention Center on January 3, 2025.

## Filmography

Film :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1994 | Bigfoot: The Unforgettable Encounter | Cody | |
| 1995 | Magic Island | Jack Carlisle | Video |
| 1996 | First Kid | Rob | |
| 1999 | True Heart | Sam | |
| 1999 | The Rage: Carrie 2 | Eric | |
| 2000 | Held for Ransom | Glenn Kirkland | |
| 2001 | Rustin | Keith Gatlin | |
| 2001 | Longshot | Deke | |
| 2004 | Slammed | Derek | |
| 2005 | The Game of Their Lives | Harry Keough | |
| 2006 | Annapolis | Johnson | Uncredited |
| 2006 | The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift | Clay | |
| 2008 | Trunk | Jake | Short film |
Television :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1990 | ABC TGIF | Brad | TV series |
| 1990 | Crash: The Mystery of Flight 1501 | Child (uncredited) | TV movie |
| 1991–1999 | Home Improvement | Brad Taylor | Lead role |
| 1994 | Thunder Alley | Brad Taylor | Episode: "First Date" |
| 1995 | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air | Steve | Episode: "There's the Rub: Part 1" Episode: "There's the Rub: Part 2" |
| 1996 | Picket Fences | | Episode: "Winner Takes All" |
| 1997 | Soul Man | Brad Taylor | Episode: "Public Embarrassment and Todd's First Sermon" |
| 1997 | Promised Land | Ryan Gerhart | Episode: "Mr. Muscles" |
| 1998 | Principal Takes a Holiday | John Scaduto | TV movie |
| 2000 | Chicken Soup for the Soul | Daniel | Episode: "The Two Sides of Love" |
| 2000 | Opposite Sex | Chuck | Episode: "The Dance Episode" Episode: "The Field Trip Episode" |
| 2000–2001 | Boston Public | Malcolm White | Episode: "Chapter One" Episode: "Chapter Five" Episode: "Chapter Twenty-Two" |
| 2001 | Family Law | Jamie Wilkins | Episode: "Liar's Club: Part 1" Episode: "Liar's Club: Part 2" |
| 2001 | Touched by an Angel | Jeff McHenry | Episode: "The Penalty Box" |
| 2001 | ER | Upsilon Psi Lambda Frat Brother | Episode: "Sailing Away" |
| 2001 | The Outer Limits | Ray | Episode: "Abduction" |
| 2002 | A Killing Spring | Val Massey | TV movie |
| 2002 | Philly | Brian Lee | Episode: "Lies of Minelli" |
| 2002 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Peter Nicols | Episode: "Help" |
| 2003 | Smallville | Eric Marsh | Episode: "Witness" |
| 2004 | Century City | Teddy Paikin | Episode: "Love and Games" |
| 2004 | Plainsong | Russell Beckman | TV movie |
| 2004–2005 | Center of the Universe | Kevin Barnett | Episode: "Good Parenting, Bad Parenting" Episode: "If You Love Something Leave It Alone" Episode: "Oh Brother, What the Hell Were You Thinking?" |
| 2005 | Veronica Mars | Caz Truman | Episode: "Ruskie Business" Episode: "Kanes and Abel's" |
| 2005 | Code Breakers | Brian Nolan | TV movie |
| 2006 | Cold Case | Petey (1988) | Episode: "8 Years" |
| 2006 | Shark | Scott Natterson | Episode: "Déjà Vu All Over Again" |
| 2007 | K-Ville | Ricky | Episode: "Critical Mass" Episode: "Game Night" |
| 2008 | Burn Notice | Drew | Episode: "Double Booked" |
| 2009 | Knight Rider | Terry Driscoll | Episode: "Knight and the City" |
| 2009 | Meteor | Deputy Koskey | TV miniseries |
| 2009 | THOR: Hammer of the Gods | Thor | TV movie |
| 2022 | The Guardians of Justice | The President's Aide #1 | Netflix |
Producer :
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 2008 | Trunk | Co-producer |
| 2010 | The Wine Guy Unplugged with Anthony Gilardi | Associate producer |
| 2010 | Prowl | |
| 2012 | Rogue River | |
| 2012 | The Grief Tourist | |

## Awards
### Wins

* 1994 – Young Artist Awards for Outstanding Youth Ensemble in a Television Series (Home Improvement) **Shared with Taran Noah Smith and Jonathan Taylor Thomas**
* 1999 – Young Artist Awards for Best Performance in a TV Drama or Comedy Series – Leading Young Actor (Home Improvement)
* 1999 – YoungStar Awards for Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy TV Series (Home Improvement)

### Nominations

* 1993 – Young Artist Awards for Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Series (Home Improvement)
* 1998 – YoungStar Awards for Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Miniseries/Made-for-TV Movie (Principal Takes a Holiday)