Early Life
Zane was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Thalia and William George Zane, Sr., both of whom were amateur actors and founders of a school for medical technicians. Both of his parents are of Greek descent (Chios on his mother's side and Mani on his father's side), and his family's original surname, "Zanetakos" (Greek: Τζανετάκος), was anglicized to "Zane" by his parents, who also raised him Greek Orthodox. He has an older sister, Lisa Zane, who is an actress.
After completing a year abroad at the American School in Switzerland, Zane graduated from Francis W. Parker School and attended Harand Camp of the Theater Arts, located in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Read more about this topic: Billy Zane
Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)