Jerry Gordon Zucker (born March 11, 1950) is an American film producer, director, and writer known for his role in directing comedy spoof films such as Airplane! and Top Secret!, and the Best Picture-nominated supernatural drama film Ghost.^[1] He and his older brother, David Zucker, collaborated on several films.

Zucker was born to a Jewish family^[2] in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Charlotte A. (Lefstein) (d. 2007) and Burton C. Zucker, who was a real estate developer.^[3][4] Jerry graduated from Shorewood High School.^[5] Jerry's paternal grandfather was Leonard Zucker who emigrated from Russia to the United States and became a naturalized citizen.

Zucker started working with Jim Abrahams and brother David Zucker. They performed in Madison, Wisconsin as a sketch and comedy troupe called "Kentucky Fried Theater". The trio co-directed Airplane! in 1980, Top Secret! in 1984, and Ruthless People in 1986. In 1987, both Jerry and David Zucker through Zucker Brothers Productions signed with Paramount Pictures for a two-year non-exclusive production agreement and development deal with the studio. The brothers thought they would crank out four comedies for Paramount Pictures during the arrangement; the first film was a feature film version of the early 1980s television show Police Squad!, which was originally cancelled after six episodes on the air.^[6] In 1990, Jerry lent his directorial skills to the dramatic genre with Ghost, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Jerry's most recent directorial effort is the 2001 film Rat Race.

Jerry Zucker's films have been ranked among the greatest comedies of all time: Airplane! was ranked at the top of Entertainment Weekly's list of best comedy films and AFI listed it as #10; Top Secret! made Entertainment Weekly's Top 100 list.^[7]

Like his brother David Zucker, Jerry often cast his mother, Charlotte (who died in 2007), and his sister, Susan Breslau, in small roles in his films. Along with Jim Abrahams, the Zuckers make up the "ZAZ" team of directors.