Born in the USA. His father, a Jewish immigrant, was head of the Opera Department of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Illinois. The Zirners lived on Burlison Drive in Urbana, Illinois. Back in Europe Zirner studied at the "Max-Reinhardt-Seminar". Lives with his spouse, actress Katalin Zsigmondy, and their four children at the Chiemsee.