Software Engineer at Google Has the Coolest Night Job: Starring in Broadway's Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Exclusive)

Most people would be impressed to hear someone works at Google, or has a role in a hit Broadway show.

Zachary Lindberg is somehow managing to do both, simultaneously.

By day, he's a software engineer at the tech company, working on the Google Vids team to develop new ways to integrate AI into the system. And as soon as the curtain closes on his traditional 9 to 5, he hops on a broomstick and flies over to the Lyric Theatre where for eight shows a week, he becomes a Hogwarts student in the acclaimed Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

"If you had asked me five or 10 years ago whether I would be working at Google or on Broadway independently, I would have thought both of those sounded kind of ridiculous and unlikely," Lindberg admits to PEOPLE.

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Lindberg — who has also been seen on screen in Saturday Night Live and Law & Order: CI — joined the cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as Yann Fredericks in November 2024. It's his second project on Broadway, following 2024's Prayer for the French Republic.

The path he followed leading to this unique pairing of jobs was a "twisty" one, Lindberg says. Acting was Lindberg's childhood passion. However, he put that part of his career on pause to study philosophy at Columbia University.

His job at Google in 2016. But realizing that he "really missed acting after a certain point," Lindberg returned to the industry and has been balancing both professions ever since.

Landing a role in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was a particularly exciting development, as Lindberg's been a longtime fan of the franchise.

"I read the books, and I read the books to my sister. Then I read the books again. And I went to the midnight launch parties for some of the books," the actor, who identifies as a Slytherin, gushes. In fact, he even remembers winning tickets in a lottery to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child open on Broadway in 2018.

His appreciation for the show runs deeper than his status as a Potterhead. Lindberg's also impressed by the "amazing illusions and technical effects" that are part of the "magical and spectacular" production.

"There’s no other play that is like Harry Potter on Broadway," he says.

Pulling double duty with jobs on Broadway and at Google is a challenge, but it's one that the software engineer and actor embraces. He noted that the theater is near his office, and he manages a heavier load at the tech company on days when the show is dark.

The two roles allow him to stimulate different parts of his brain. Lindberg compares it to "arm day and leg day" at the gym: they're obviously different, but both are necessary for a successful workout routine.

In this case, his success at one helps him do better at the other.

"I feel like I’m a better engineer at Google for being able to exercise the acting part of my brain. And I really feel like I’m a better actor for being able to work with the people that I work with at Google and work on the hard engineering problems at Google," he explains.

While some people might feel the strain of doing it all, Lindberg likes a fuller plate of responsibilities. "I'm busy, but I like being busy," he admits.

He also makes sure to avoid burnout by getting enough sleep every night, and being protective of his rare time off.

"I’m the kind of person who needs a little bit of time to myself. These days I’m with a lot of people all the time. But you also need to see friends and stuff outside of work," he says. "I just try to think really carefully through. It’s made me pay more attention to what I’m going to fill those times with."

Lindberg expressed an interest in continuing to work in both industries and would like to pursue directing in the future.

For now, he's enjoying balancing his cool day and night jobs.

"It's fun to have both because they're so different. And I feel like a lot of the time, whether working on a project or hanging out with one group of people, our world's shrink down very quickly," he says.

Tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are now on sale