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NBC Insider Brilliant Minds

Zachary Quinto Stays So Calm While Expertly Playing the Coolest Tune on the Banjo

Who knew the Brilliant Minds star had this talent?

By Chris Phelan

Zachary Quinto, the star of the upcoming NBC medical procedural Brilliant Minds, has a secret talent beyond being a phenomenal actor — and it involves the banjo!

How to Watch

Watch Brilliant Minds Mondays at 10/9c on NBC and next day on Peacock

In a May 5 Instagram post, the 47-year-old shared a video showing off his expert musical skills that blew his followers away. Armed with only a banjo, Quinto launched into a little ditty that made us think a career in music could have been a path for the star worth exploring!

"Sunday songs… 🪕," Quinto captioned.

So, so good. In that moment, Quinto was calm, still, and focused on just his instrument. It's an impressive feat — you can almost see him completely enveloped in the music he created. 

The video was shared a few weeks after filming began on Brilliant Minds, which just goes to show that many actors have unbelievable talent beyond what viewers see on the screen.

Zachary Quinto became a household name for his work on NBC's Heroes

Zachary Quinto poses for a promotional portrait

Longtime viewers will remember Quinto for his memorable (and villainous!) role in the cult classic NBC series Heroes, which ran from 2006 to 2010. Quinto is acutely aware of the impact Heroes had on his career; during the Television Critics Association summer press tour for NBC, the star acknowledged that fact publicly.

"The irony is that Heroes was the job that changed my life and my career 15 years ago here on NBC," he explained. "So it really does feel like coming home in a way. Also interestingly, Heroes was a show that the entire inciting incident of that show was about a solar eclipse awakening people's powers and awakening people's sense of what they could accomplish in their lives. We started filming Brilliant Minds on April 8, the day of the solar eclipse. So there was also this connection back to Heroes in another way entirely, which made me feel like there was something bigger at play here and made me feel even more connected to this show and to NBC again."

Fate works in funny ways sometimes, doesn't it? 

The concept of an eclipse was a theme that ran through Heroes from day one (including the marketing campaign). Quinto revealing that filming for Brilliant Minds occurred during a solar eclipse is one of the coolest coincidences ever!

During the press tour, Quinto further explaineed that the show itself will be unlike anything else on television, bringing with it a message of hope. 

"Frankly, at this time in the world and in this day and age, to be on a show that has a message of hope, a message of how we're similar more than how we're different and actually what brings us together instead of what pulls us apart... that, to me, feels really vital right now," he said.