Tony Hale — Movies, TV Shows & Roles

crew · Producer · Actor · Director · Writer

1970-09-30 · West Point, New York, USA · Male

79 series in the catalog

Tony Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He had a leading role in the Fox series Arrested Development as Buster Bluth from 2003 to 2019, and portrayed Gary Walsh on the HBO series Veep from 2012 to 2019. For the latter, Hale won the 2013 and 2015 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
Hale has appeared in feature films including Because I Said So (2007), The Informant! (2009), In My Sleep (2010), The Heat (2013), Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015), Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021), Hocus Pocus 2 (2022), and Quiz Lady (2023). He has provided voice acting work for The Tale of Despereaux (2008), The Angry Birds Movie (2016), The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019), the Toy Story franchise (2019–26) as Forky, Lego Star Wars: Terrifying Tales (2021) as Vaneé, and Inside Out 2 (2024) as Fear, replacing Bill Hader from the first film. Hale also created the Netflix and Peacock original series Archibald's Next Big Thing, and voiced the titular character. He plays twin brothers Nicholas Benedict and L.D. Curtain in the Disney+ original The Mysterious Benedict Society (2021).
Early life and education
Hale was born on September 30, 1970, in West Point, New York. His mother, Rita (née Garnett), worked as a staff assistant to State Representative Kathy Ashe, and his father, Mike Hale, taught nuclear and atomic physics and served in the military. Hale grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, where he attended the Young Actors Theatre and participated in numerous theatrical and musical productions. He graduated from Leon High School in 1988. He graduated from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, with a journalism degree in 1992. He became a member of Sigma Chi while at the university. He completed graduate studies in 1995 from the School of Communication and the Arts of Regent University in Virginia. After graduating, he lived in New York City for eight years. While in New York, Hale helped found The Haven, an artistically minded community of Christians that meets weekly. He studied acting at The Barrow Group, as well as at the William Esper Studio in the Professional Actor Training Program.
Career
1997–2002: Early roles
Hale obtained his Screen Actors Guild card when he appeared in a commercial for MCI Inc., though it never aired. He made minor guest appearances in TV shows such as Dawson's Creek, The Sopranos, and Sex and the City.
2003–13: Arrested Development
From 2003 to 2006, and also in 2013, 2018, and 2019, Hale found success in television cast as Buster Bluth, the hapless, neurotic son on Arrested Development. Hale appeared in a season ten episode of MADtv in a parody of Cops, where two British robbers try to stop a domestic dispute among the royal family. In March 2006, Hale was cast in a co-starring role as the video store owner Simon in the NBC sitcom Andy Barker, P.I., starring Andy Richter and co-created by Conan O'Brien. He appeared in minor roles in Stranger Than Fiction and Because I Said So. He was the voice of Furlough in The Tale of Despereaux, an animated children's film released in 2008. Hale had a recurring role as Emmett on Chuck, beginning in October 2008 and ending in January 2010. His departure made room for his starring role on the NBC web series Ctrl, which premiered on July 13, 2009. He appeared in a cameo in the second episode of the first season of Showtime's dramedy United States of Tara, as English teacher Oral Gershenoff. He joined the cast of Numbers in 2009, in the recurring role of Professor Russell Lazlo.
2012–19: Veep and acclaim
In 2012, Hale starred in the drama comedy Not That Funny. He guest-starred on NBC's Law & Order: SVU as Rick Simms, a teacher who is fired from his job after being accused of inappropriate behavior with a student. In 2012, Hale was cast in the HBO comedy Veep as Gary Walsh, the personal assistant to Vice President-turned-President Selina Meyer (portrayed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus). On September 22, 2013, Hale won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his work in the show's second season. This was his first major award. He earned his second nomination in 2014, but lost the award to Ty Burrell. Hale won his second Primetime Emmy Award with his third nomination in 2015, in the same ceremony where Veep won its first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.
In 2017, Hale hosted the 9th Annual Shorty Awards at the PlayStation Theater in New York City. In 2018, Hale played the role of Jerome Squalor on the second season of the Netflix comedy drama series A Series of Unfortunate Events, appearing in episodes adapting The Ersatz Elevator and The Penultimate Peril. He appeared in two more episodes of the series. In 2019, he voiced Forky in Pixar's Toy Story 4 and reprised the role again in the 10-episode short-form educational series Forky Asks a Question.
2020–present
In 2022, Hale played Jefry Traske and his descendant Reverend Traske in Hocus Pocus 2, a sequel to 1993's Hocus Pocus. In 2024, Hale voiced Fear in Pixar's Inside Out 2, replacing Bill Hader who voiced the character in the first film. Hale reprised his role as Forky in Toy Story 5, released in June 2026.
In 2025 he was named alumnus of the year by his alma mater, Samford University, and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the university on December 13, 2025.
Personal life
Hale married Emmy Award–winning makeup artist Martel Thompson on May 24, 2003. They have a daughter born in February 2006. Hale and his wife are practicing Christians and reside in Birmingham, Alabama.
Interviews
2006 Video Interview Archived September 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine at About.com
Interview with Tony Hale at burnsidewriters.com
The Haven on Facebook
The Haven – website