“Alex, Inc.” lead Zach Braff talks onscreen kids and doing his own thing

ABC Radio(NEW YORK) — Former Scrubs Zach Braff returns to TV in ABC’s new comedy, Alex, Inc.

Like Alex Blumberg, the real guy whose life inspired the show, Braff’s character of Alex Schuman has a successful career in public radio, but trades it all in to go into business for himself with a podcast. That leap of faith appealed to Braff.

“Completely. I always that I wanted to make my own stuff,” Braff, who wrote and directed the 2004 film Garden State, told ABC Radio. “I felt like I didn’t want to wait around and wait for somebody else to hire me…And to this day I still live by that. And I think that’s the original Alex Blumberg, who made the podcast, that’s thought: ‘Is there more? Do I have the guts to be after my own boss and do my own thing?'”

Braff’s character, like his real-life counterpart, is married to an Indian woman, and they have two kids. Getting the casting of that son and daughter just right was tough, Braff said.

“I think a bad child actor could really take you out of something, so it’s crucial that they’re good…So when they walk in and they look like they could be our child, You’re like, ‘Please be good. Please be good. (Laughs) Please be good. But then there’s certain children that have ‘it’ already. There’s just natural talent.”

Such was the case, Braff says, with his onscreen kids — daughter Soreya, played by Audyssie James, and Elisha Henig, who plays Braff’s son, Ben.

Braff calls the latter actor a “savant…like Doogie Howser…he’s like 13 going on 25. He has his high school degree already…He’s on another level.” 

Alex, Inc. airs Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

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