1980s Zane's first two screen roles were in the science fiction films
Back to the Future in 1985 and
Critters in 1986, around the same time he appeared in the music videos for
Sheena Easton's songs "Do It For Love" and "Magic of Love". In 1988, he played Tony Gambini alongside Jessica Fletcher in
Murder, She Wrote: A Very Good Year for Murder. Zane also appeared in an episode of
Matlock entitled "The Nurse". In 1989, he reprised his henchman role in
Back to the Future Part II. Earlier that same year, Zane gained international recognition with the role of villain Hughie Warriner in the thriller
Dead Calm, alongside
Nicole Kidman and
Sam Neill. He also starred in the
NBC film
The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989), and Adam Sandler's "no budget" debut
Going Overboard (1989) which was not released to a wider audience until 1996.
1990s Zane's first starring role was in a 1990
independent film, the
low-budget science fiction thriller Megaville. In 1990, he also co-starred as the bombardier in the film
Memphis Belle, a film version of a 1944 film about a
World War II Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. Zane also forayed into television work, and in 1991 he appeared as John Justice Wheeler in several episodes of
David Lynch's hit TV-series
Twin Peaks. In 1992, Zane co-starred alongside
Tilda Swinton in the
film adaptation of
Virginia Woolf's novel
Orlando. In 1993, he played the
Shakespearean actor "Mr. Fabian" in
Tombstone and took a starring role in
Sniper. Zane also starred alongside
Mario Van Peebles as a cold-blooded and corrupt Colonel Graham in
Posse and also in Lake Consequence and played a playboy named Harry, posing as the elusive, albeit fake Damon Bradley alongside
Marisa Tomei and
Robert Downey Jr. in
Only You. Zane also starred in a couple of
Tales from the Crypt productions, including
Tales From the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight, where he played a henchman of Satan called The Collector, and the episode "Well-Cooked Hams", where he played a poorly skilled magician who killed to steal good tricks from other magicians. In 1996, Zane played the eponymous classic comic book hero in the big budget action film
The Phantom, based on
Lee Falk's comic. Zane played the snobbish millionaire
misanthrope Caledon Hockley in
James Cameron's 1997
blockbuster Titanic. This role as Rose's (played by
Kate Winslet) fiancé earned him an MTV Movie Award nomination for "Best Villain" and a Blockbuster Entertainment Award. Along with the rest of the ensemble cast, he was nominated for a
SAG award. In 1998, Zane starred in and produced
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, a silent film based on
Ed Wood's last script, intended as a parody on bad filmmaking. He won several awards at the
B-Movie Film Festival, including Best Movie and Best Actor, for this work. The year after, he starred opposite
Timothy Dalton,
Bruce Payne,
Sean Pertwee and
Leonor Varela (who became his fiancé after shooting ended) in a miniseries about
Cleopatra. Zane played the role of
Mark Antony. The same year, Zane voiced
John Rolfe in
Disney's
Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World and
Etrigan the Demon in an episode of
The New Batman Adventures.
2000s , 2010 Zane appeared as
neo-fascist Curtis Zampf in
The Believer, which won the Grand Jury Prize at
Sundance Film Festival in 2001. The same year, he also had a cameo as himself in the comedy
Zoolander. Zane appeared on
Broadway in the musical
Chicago, where he played lawyer Billy Flynn. Zane also had a recurring role in the television series
Charmed in which he played poetry-loving ex-demon Drake. He also provided the voice of
Ansem, the main antagonist of the
2002 video game Kingdom Hearts, opposite
Haley Joel Osment as
Sora. Though archive audio of Zane was later used for
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, he was replaced by
Richard Epcar for the rest of the series from
Kingdom Hearts II onwards. However, Zane's performance was kept for the
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix remaster in
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix. In 2006, Zane starred in
Arthur Allan Seidelman's
West End production of
Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks as an acerbic gay dance instructor opposite
Claire Bloom. In the same year, he appeared in the
Turkish film
Valley of the Wolves: Iraq (
Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak in Turkish), part of the
Kurtlar Vadisi franchise. The film tells the story of the U.S. Army run amok in Iraq, eventually brought into check by a Turkish soldier. Zane plays Sam William Marshall, a cruel U.S. soldier who is the film's main antagonist. He took over
Timothy Olyphant's role as
Christina Applegate's ex-boyfriend on
Samantha Who?. However, the sitcom was not renewed for the 2009–2010 season. Zane is a principal at RadioactiveGiant, a film and television production and distribution company.
2010s Zane starred in the action/thriller film
The Kill Hole (2012), and in January 2017 he appeared in a commercial for
KFC as a gold-colored
Colonel Sanders to pitch the restaurant chain's newest limited-time flavor, Georgia Gold Honey Mustard BBQ chicken. Zane also appeared in an episode of
Community, season 6's "
Advanced Safety Features".
2020s Zane was also featured in two episodes of
The Boys portraying a fictional version of himself who made a movie with Popclaw and also attended a comic convention with
Tara Reid. In season 3, Zane appeared as himself portraying Alastair Adana in the Vought film
Not Without My Dolphin. In 2024, Zane portrayed
Larry Ray in the
Lifetime film
Devil on Campus: The Larry Ray Story as part of its "Ripped from the Headlines" feature films. ==Personal life==