Their book on the subject, Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, was published in July 2023.

[5] His grandfather, Robert F. Schenkkan, was a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and worked on passing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.

His middle name, McKenzie, is his paternal grandmother's maiden name; he uses it as part of his stage name to avoid confusion with actor Ben Shenkman.

From 1997 to 2001 he attended the University of Virginia, his father and paternal grandfather's alma mater, where he majored in foreign affairs and economics.

[11] After graduating from college in 2001, McKenzie moved to New York City where he worked in part-time jobs and performed in some off-off-Broadway productions.

[13] At age twenty-three,[14] he moved to Los Angeles where he waited tables and slept on the floor of his friend Ernie Sabella's apartment.

[12] On August 5, 2003, Fox premiered the television series, about affluent teenagers with stormy personal lives in Orange County, California.

He stars as Joe Bonham, a role previously played by James Cagney, Jeff Daniels, and Timothy Bottoms.

McKenzie starred as rookie police officer Ben Sherman on the NBC drama Southland, which premiered on April 9, 2009.

From September to October 2010, he starred in an off-Broadway transfer of The Glass Menagerie at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

[20] Following the end of Southland, McKenzie was cast in the CBS drama television pilot The Advocates, opposite Mandy Moore.

In 2017, he appeared in the first season of The Accidental Wolf, a miniseries series created by Arian Moayed and the theater production company Waterwell.

[43][44][45] McKenzie testified at the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing "Crypto Crash: Why the FTX Bubble Burst and the Harm to Consumers” in December 2022.

[46] McKenzie's debut book Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud with journalist Jacob Silverman was released by Abrams Press on July 18, 2023.

[50] With Silverman, he has written a number of critical articles on crypto for publications including Slate, The New Republic, The Washington Post, and The Intercept.

[58][59] As a pundit, McKenzie has also appeared on CNN Business, CNBC, CBS News, and Real Time with Bill Maher to discuss the topic.

[44][60][61][62][63][64] He has been a guest on podcasts like What Next: TBD, Deconstructed, and Chapo Trap House, and radio programs Marketplace Tech and Morning Edition.

[36][37][38] In September 2015, actress Morena Baccarin said in a legal declaration involving her divorce from Austin Chick that she planned to marry her Gotham co-star, McKenzie, adding that she was pregnant with their child.