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Wilbur Eugene "Will" Bakke (born July 5, 1988) is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. Beginning around 2006, he has become known for his short comedy sketch videos on youtube and his website, bearlythereproductions.com, which earned him an award from MTVu as one of the top 25 college filmmakers. Bakke also co-wrote, starred in, and directed 2009's One Nation Under God, a documentary film about four guys who travel the United States seeking a broader perspective of God and eternity.

Bearly There Productions
During college, Bakke began creating short, sketch comedy videos, which became very popular on youtube and facebook. He eventually put the name, "Bearly There Productions" to his production house in Waco, Texas. The name is an homage to his college mascot, the Baylor Bears. The site has since stopped hosting the videos and is now used as a promotion for Bakke's recently released film, One Nation Under God.

Riot FilmHouse
Braff starred in the romantic drama The Last Kiss, which opened on September 15, 2006. Braff, who tweaked several parts of Paul Haggis' script for the film, noted that he could relate to his character because they were both self-absorbed, whiny losers, and wanted the script to be as "real as possible" and "really courageous" regarding its subject matter. The film's director, Tony Goldwyn, compared Braff to a younger version of Tim Allen, describing Braff as "incredibly accessible to an audience... a real guy, an everyman." As with Garden State, Braff was involved with the film's soundtrack; he served as executive producer and selected lesser known artists such as Frou Frou, Joshua Radin, Schuyler Fisk, and Rachael Yamagata, as well as Remy Zero, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Turin Brakes, The Shins and Aimee Mann, to appear on the track. The Last Kiss grossed approximately $11 million at the North American box office, and was considered a commercial disappointment; however, worldwide box office receipts and DVD rentals added $35 million to the take, bringing in nearly twice the production cost of $20 million for the film.

One Nation Under God
In addition to directing several episodes of Scrubs, Braff wrote, directed, and starred in 2004's Garden State, which was filmed in his home state of New Jersey, in various towns such as South Orange, Maplewood and Tenafly. Producers were initially reluctant to finance the film, which Braff wrote in six months. After its success, he was sent a large number of scripts that he rejected because they were the kinds of films that he "would never go see or have any interest in being in." In February 2005, he won a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for a Motion Picture for the Garden State soundtrack, on which he also served as the compilation producer.

Beware of Christians
Braff has also done voice-acting, having voiced the title character for the Disney animated film Chicken Little (2005) and the video game Kingdom Hearts II, the Cottonelle Puppy, and water in a PUR ad campaign. In the field of voice acting, Braff narrated Wendy's TV commercials in 2007 and '08. He has also portrayed the voice of the Cottonelle puppy in commercials as of late; Braff also makes a brief cameo in one spot. In 2005, Braff was featured on Ashton Kutcher's Punk'd when he was tricked into chasing a supposed vandal who appeared to be spray-painting his brand new Porsche. He then proceeded to hurl expletives at the young boy until Ashton Kutcher showed up. The episode aired March 20, 2005. Braff has also made a couple of guest appearances on the show Arrested Development as Phillip Litt, a parody of Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis, who produces a film series called Girls with Low Self Esteem.

Braff has directed several music videos: Gavin DeGraw's "Chariot," Joshua Radin's "Closer" and "I'd Rather Be With You," and Lazlo Bane's "Superman," the theme song from Scrubs. Despite winning a Grammy Award for assembling the soundtrack album of Garden State and directing three music videos, Braff has said that he "loves music and knows a lot about it." However, his music production has resulted in newfound success for some of the artists featured on his film soundtracks, such as The Shins, who were prominently featured on the Garden State soundtrack and the Scrubs soundtrack, resulting in the expression the "Zach Braff effect."

On May 19, 2007, Braff hosted the 32nd season finale of Saturday Night Live, where in one sketch, he plays a high schooler who tries to explain to the two snobby heads of the prom committee (Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph) how Garden State is an important film to his peers.

Braff was in talks to star in the film Fletch Won and had signed on to play the role eventually played by Dane Cook in Mr. Brooks, but dropped out of both roles to work on Open Hearts, which he adapted from a Danish film and will direct. He has also co-written a film version of Andrew Henry's Meadow, a children's book, with his brother, and is scheduled to direct one of the segments for the film New York, I Love You.

In July 2009 he signed on as an executive producer for the documentary Heart of Stone to "help spread the word about it."

Personal life

 * In early 2006, unnamed sources told In Touch Weekly magazine that Mandy Moore and Braff were engaged. Moore's representative denied the engagement.
 * In the summer of 2007, Braff started to date Roswell star Shiri Appleby.
 * In November 2008, he earned his pilot's License in a Cirrus SR20.
 * Braff's step-sister is Jessica Kirson, a New York stand-up comedienne.