Zack Addy

Dr. Zachary "Zack" Uriah Addy is a professional forensic anthropologist who worked for the Jeffersonian Institute. He was originally Dr. Brennan's brilliant young assistant.

Coming from a large Michigan family (with three brothers and four sisters), Zack is a former child prodigy, a genius with an IQ well above 163, and a supposed photographic memory. He has started two doctorates, one in Forensic Anthropology, which he has completed, and one in Engineering, which was mentioned in "The Woman in the Car."

His specialty, like Dr. Brennan, is in the analysis of remains, especially identifying the cause of death and weapons from marks remaining on skeletal remains. It is usually his task to remove the flesh from the bones, a process known as debriding. Because of his tremendous intellect, he has a strong broad-based knowledge of many of the specialties in the Jeffersonian lab. Despite his intelligence, Zack is unsure of himself and though he has come up with crucial insights vital to some of the team's cases, he is unable to forcefully express his opinion to Dr. Brennan. This may be due to hero worship and the feelings he might have toward her.

Zack's best friend is Jack Hodgins. Although it at first appears Hodgins and Zack are roommates, it is later revealed Zack rents the apartment over Hodgins's garage. Zack also carpools with Hodgins because he neither drives nor rides a bike as was revealed in The Man on Death Row. They have a visibly strong bond that lasts throughout the entire show, even onto the last few episodes.

Episodes towards the end of Season 1 of Bones reveal Zack's colleagues, especially Dr. Goodman, feel he has become too comfortable as Dr. Brennan's assistant. He's therefore not completing any of his work towards his doctorate degrees to avoid having to move into a new position. Goodman and Hodgins conspire to make Zack less comfortable in his position to motivate him to complete his studies and assume a role above that of an assistant.

Despite his intelligence, Zack is unsure of himself and though he has come up with crucial insights vital to some of the team's cases, he is unable to forcefully express his opinion to Dr. Brennan. This may be due to hero worship and also to romantic feelings toward her. When he discovered Temperance's own Forensic Anthropology professor had become her lover, Zack repeatedly wondered aloud whether he might enter into a similar relationship with Dr. Brennan. He was quickly disabused of the notion by his colleagues.

Zack appears to have an on and off-again relationship with "Naomi in Paleontology," despite hints in the first season she was dissatisfied with his sexual prowess. In the third season, they accompany each other to the annual Jeffersonian Institute Halloween party, agreeing to dress as the front and back half of a cow ("Mummy in the Maze"). Zack has no problem making inappropriate comments about others' personal lives and asked Agent Booth for advice on sex and women, requests which Booth characteristically ignored. Angela answered his question once, and Hodgins gave him a book (Kama Sutra) to help him out ("The Pain in the Heart").

Very little is known about his childhood. In "The Wannabe in the Weeds" episode from the third season, it was discovered Zack was a singer during his childhood as a way for his parents to help integrate him socially. Though it did not appear to work, he demonstrates his talent when Hodgins doubted him. He has fond memories of receiving his first microscope ("The Girl with the Curl") and when he was six, he had a pirate eyepatch ("The Man with the Bone"). It is also known he attended a private high school ("A Boy in the Tree"). His interests include model airplanes ("The Killer in the Concrete"), watching basketball ("The Soldier on the Grave"), and science fiction: Firefly ("The Man in the Fallout Shelter"), Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica ("The Superhero in the Alley"); he also likes Lord of the Rings ("The Woman at the Airport"). He does not dance, because he's been told he "look[s] like a marionette in a windstorm" (The Man in the Wall).

Although well-meaning, helpful, and friendly, when a situation calls for social interaction or intuition, he is often lost. Further evidence of his social ineptitude and neurodiversity can be seen in the frequent, on-screen coaching in social matters he gets from Jack and Angela. He is very literal and is often confused by colloquial expressions or metaphors, despite his high intelligence. His attempts to use such expressions meet with mixed success, such as referring to a skull he'd cleaned as being "clean enough to eat off of."

In the episode "The Killer in the Concrete", Booth is on the phone with Zack and Dr. Brennan while looking for "Icepick" (real name, Hugh Kennedy) at a model airplane enthusiasts gathering. Unaware of Zack's interest in planes, Booth comments every "airplane freak" in the area was at the event, and Zack corrects him by saying the enthusiasts prefer to be called "pilots." Zack mentions forensic anthropology is only one of his doctorates, the other is in applied engineering, and he is extremely adept at practical aeronautics.

As seen in the episode "The Man in the Fallout Shelter" Zack has a large family and greatly values them, remarking the true meaning of Christmas is "Brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews; 40 people who love you and are happy to see you." Also in the first season, he reveals to Dr. Brennan he uses his vacation time to visit his family. While he does not necessarily enjoy these visits because they referred to him as a "freak" once they found out his job, he tell her that he goes because they love him.

Zack has choppy dark brown hair, brown eyes, pale skin, is five feet and seven inches tall, and is scrawny.

He works at the Jeffersonian.