Zachary Wolfe Galligan (born February 14, 1964)^[1] is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Billy Peltzer in the comedy-horror films Gremlins (1984) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990).

Galligan was born on February 14, 1964, in New York City, the son of Carol Jean (née Wolfe), a psychologist, and Arthur John Galligan, a lawyer who was a founding partner of the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro. He is mostly of Irish descent, and he has Jewish ancestry through his mother’s side.^[2][3][4][5] He has a sister, Jessica, and graduated from Columbia University.^[6][7]

Galligan's first major and most widely seen role was as Billy Peltzer in the 1984 film Gremlins.^[8][9][10] Prior to being cast in Gremlins, he filmed Nothing Lasts Forever, which had its theatrical release cancelled and went unreleased in any form for years.^[11] In 1988, he starred as Mark Loftmore in the horror comedy Waxwork.^[12] He reprised his role as Billy in the 1990 sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch, and returned to the role of Mark for Waxwork II: Lost in Time.^[9]

In 2016, UK progressive rock band Gandalf's Fist announced that Galligan would voice a character on their album The Clockwork Fable.^[13]

In early 2021, Galligan appeared in a Mountain Dew commercial in which his Gremlins character, Billy, gives Gizmo a drink of his Mountain Dew.^[14] Galligan is set to return to the Gremlins franchise again in the upcoming animated series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai.^[15]

Galligan married Ling-Ling Hu Ingerick at the Yale Club in New York on September 25, 2005; they divorced in 2010.^[16]