Biography
My name is Charles Zuckerman and I am an actor, storyteller, and ultramarathon runner living in San Francisco, California.
The Beginning
I was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Growing up, I always found my way on a different path, driven by an adventurous curiosity and irreverence for authority. This simultaneously lead to many adventures but also a very different way of getting through the hoops of life. It took a full five years to complete high school and six to navigate college, taking a gap year in both to better explore the world around me. It was during this time that I discovered acting, architecture and physical fitness
The Travel
Beginning during a break from college, I travelled and worked abroad extensively. I became a research assistant in West Africa, a door to door encyclopedia salesman in Australia, a bicycle messenger in Germany, and an assistant English professor in Romania. I met my wife and got married in Brasov Romania and we took our honeymoon to Ethiopia. Our travels taught us just how amazing and diverse the world is an how our own views of it are predicated on only that what we have experienced. The world is an incredible elephant and we are all just single blind people exploring just a small part.
The (Second) Career - Acting
As we all navigated Covid, I began to think about where I was and what more I wanted to accomplish in life. I had always loved acting and being on stage. In high school I had written a one person play exploring the introspective nature of the act of dying when the end is near. What drives us, what is meaningful, why do what we do. And as much as I enjoyed my work, I felt that there were other adventures to be had. And as much as I love running, I know it has a built in end far short of our final finish line. I reminisced of my time on stage, acting, speaking and telling stories. It was time to reignite that great adventure.
I retired in 2021 from architecture to explore these endeavors. I focused at first on accomplishing some long sought running goals (Badawater) and began my Substack block chronicling my adventures. In 2024 I started taking acting lessons. It is began baring fruit in the spring of 2025 when fruition when I got the role of playing Thommas Putnam in the San Francisco Community College production of The Crucible. I cannot wait to see where it goes next
The (First) Career - Architecture
In 2000 I received my masters in architecture and in 2004 became a licensed architect. For the next 21 years I practiced as both an architect and a general contractor, working on a diverse portfolio of projects including schools, hospitals, offices, hotels, and airports. If you have travelled through San Francisco International Airport or San Jose Mineta International Airport, you have probably, in some small way, already encountered my work (hopefully in a good way)
Running
As I sat at my computer, the sedate lifestyle took a toll. In 2005 I learned that my triglycerides were out of control and my weight too high. I refused, at age 37, to be on Lipitor the rest of the my life and began to run. Soon I discovered a love of fitness and endurance. By 2008 I had run my first 100 mile endurance run. Since then I have completed some of the most challenging events out there: the Death Ride (135 mile bike ride over 5 Sierra Nevada passes, An Ironman, and the Badwater 135-mile road race across Death Valley and up Mount Whitney. In the process I also got my personal training certificate and my Crossfit Level-1 trainers certificate.
