Spotlight: Zack Gottsagen

October, among other things, is Down Syndrome (DS) Awareness Month. Zack Gottsagen, who is 34 years old and has DS, recently starred with Shia LaBeouf and Dakota Johnson in The Peanut Butter Falcon. The movie is about a young man with DS who leaves the North Carolina nursing home where he has been living to find the wrestling school he wants to attend in Georgia. Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, the film's co-directors, met Gottsagen years ago at Zeno Mountain Farm, a camp for performers with and without disabilities in Los Angeles. Gottsagen of Boynton Beach, Florida, was the first student with DS to be placed in classes with non-disabled students in the Palm Beach County school district. He graduated from the Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in 2004 and performed for years with the SpotLighters and Southern Dance Theatre. Gottsagen previously appeared in the short film Bulletproof (2012) and will be in Ready to Ride: A Musical Homecoming. For more information about this inspirational actor, go to https://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/theater-and-arts/fl-et-zack-gottsagen-boynton-beach-down-syndrome-actor-peanut-butter-f-20190807-lk3gl7pxlvfczhgxga5k2yb7ti-story.html.

Zack Gottsagen

(image via imdb.com)