Actor Tony Hale.

Tony Hale is probably best known for his nimble work on "Arrested Development" as Buster Bluth, an overcoddled man-child with a penchant for giving horribly awkward shoulder massages. Hilarious as he was on that beloved show, it's refreshing to see him display a different side of his talent, which he does in the indie crowd-pleaser "happythankyoumoreplease."

The film, written and directed by actor Josh Radnor ("How I Met Your Mother"), focuses on a group of 20-something New Yorkers in various states of existential crisis. Hale plays "Sam #2," an irrepressible romantic who woos his outspoken co-worker (Malin Ackerman), a young woman suffering from alopecia.

"Buster was definitely a mental case. He was so fun to play," says Hale. "But Sam #2 was just a sweet guy, and I loved the fact that he treasured Malin beyond what she saw herself as. I loved that he had the eyes to see her the way other men haven't seen her. It's always fun to get outside of what you're normally cast as and I'm very thankful for that, because a lot of people might not have that opportunity."

Hale nabbed the role after participating in a reading of the script; a few months after the reading, Radnor asked him to play the role in the film version. "It was a fun group of people and I had lived in New York for eight years and it was shooting in New York, so it was a good excuse to hang out in the city," Hale says. "I liked the character, so it was a win-win."

Not the Type

Getting cast has not always been so straightforward for him, however. When he was a fresh-faced actor just starting out in New York, Hale recalls, he struggled to make the transition from commercial gigs to film and TV. "It took me probably about six or seven years to find a film and TV agent. I was doing commercials for so long and just couldn't cross over," he says. "There are different casting directors for commercials than there are for film and TV, and most of the casting directors that I met cast commercials. It's a difficult crossover because people will see you as a commercial actor. You've really got to make the effort to just try and get into other rooms."

So how did Hale finally land theatrical representation? "I begged my commercial agent to introduce me to a manager and after a time, they did," he says with a laugh. These days, Hale, who is currently repped by ICM and manager Steven Levy, does pretty well for himself: In addition to "happythankyoumoreplease," he recently guested on such shows as "Justified" and "Community" and will be featured in the upcoming MTV cartoon "Good Vibes."

But he still remembers the persistence it took to kick-start his career, and he suggests actors maintain that quality throughout their acting lives. He recalls, for instance, experiencing typecasting post-"Arrested Development," but he never let that discourage him. Just as he fought to land noncommercial auditions, he continues to work hard to be seen for many types of roles. "[The typecasting] made sense to me," he says. "No one's gonna hire me as a lawyer when all they've seen is Buster. There needed to be some time where I could prove that I could do other stuff. It took some time to get in those rooms."

In 'Development'

Hale has always loved acting, but "didn't have the confidence to pursue it" in college; instead, he studied journalism. He waited tables after graduating, existing in a general state of post-collegiate aimlessness. "I didn't really know what I wanted," he remembers. "Then I thought, 'You know what? I'm just gonna go and study acting a little bit in Virginia.'" After a stint at Regent University, he relocated to New York, where his first gig was "Shakespeare in the Parking Lot." "We did 'Taming of the Shrew' in a lot in the East Village," he recalls bemusedly. "It was so much fun."

From there, Hale started doing commercials: One of his most memorable spots is the still-iconic 1999 Volkswagen ad in which he does an energetic in-the-car dance to the Styx classic "Mr. Roboto." "I remember auditioning with that and they asked you to really go crazy," he says. "Commercials can be very technical: 'Okay, lift the chip to your mouth, show the nacho cheese.' But with that, it was so fun, it was just like, 'Go ballistic. Lose your mind.' It was fun to get away from the technicality of commercials and just be free."

On the TV side, Hale earned small gigs in New York institutions "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City," but he was still, as he says, "very, very green" when the "Arrested Development" audition came his way. "After doing commercials for so long, I was so excited to get the audition, 'cause I hadn't had that many opportunities for pilots," he says. "It was such a great script, but you learn to not get your hopes up and you learn to do your best work and then try to let it go. Buster was very much a 7-year-old trapped in an adult's body. He was so childlike and vulnerable, so I just played him very innocent."

Once Hale landed the role, he tried to take it in stride, but he remembers "freaking out" over the enormity of it all. "I had never been on a studio lot, I had never done any press," he says. "I didn't understand any of it. It was fun, but so overwhelming. I look back and I think I took it way too seriously, because I was in this freak-out place."

That said, Hale is deeply grateful for the role and everything it has brought his way. He has recurred on such shows as "Chuck" and "Numb3rs" and appeared in high-profile films like "Stranger Than Fiction."

He has even found a silver lining in the fact that "Arrested Development," though critically beloved, always struggled in the ratings. Though he would've loved for the show to continue past its three seasons, that struggle helped him develop a thick skin—a must in this mercurial business.

"I don't know what it's like to be on a hit show," he says, laughing a little. "When you get six more episodes picked up, you're not expecting it, so you don't get comfortable: 'We got more episodes? That's fantastic!' You learn to really appreciate what you have."

OUTTAKES
– Was also a regular on the short-lived series "Andy Barker, P.I."
– Was nominated for SAG Awards in 2005 and 2006 as part of the "Arrested Development" ensemble
– Studied at the Barrow Group in New York. "So many times, we as actors forget the play of acting. You go into class and everything's like, 'Great work': like everything's work. At the Barrow Group, it really came from this other perspective: This is play. That was a really great time. I would say that was my most significant training."