Tony Hale has been training his whole life to voice Fear in “Inside Out 2.” “I’ve had a very long relationship with fear,” he says. “Fear has taken me far in my career.”
Growing up as an “anxious, fearful kid” in Tallahassee, the actor admits to constantly seeking laughs in an attempt to please people and mask his inner turmoil. He believes that his performances as the two characters he’s become synonymous with—the neurotic Buster Bluth on Fox’s “Arrested Development” and the submissive Gary Walsh on HBO’s “Veep”—benefited from this personal baggage.
Then he watched 2015’s “Inside Out,” which showcased the inner workings of a young girl’s (Kaitlyn Dias) mind and the personified emotions—Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Fear (Bill Hader)—who affected her actions. Though Hale played no part in the original installment, Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen’s Oscar-winning Pixar film forever changed his relationship with his own feelings.
“It taught me how to have compassion towards my emotions, because they’re really trying to help me,” the actor says. He put that lesson into action in 2019 in a production of Will Eno’s one-man play “Wakey, Wakey” at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. It was a break from his usual role as part of a packed ensemble on shows like “Arrested Development” and “Veep.”
“I was so petrified every night, that I thought, Oh, tonight’s the night I’m going to have a panic attack onstage in front of a thousand people,” Hale recalls. “And it was that whole lesson from ‘Inside Out,’ like: Rather than trying to push the fear away, I’m going to thank the fear for being there. I had always been like, Don’t be afraid; just buck up. But let’s bring fear in and be like, I appreciate you trying to have my back, [but] I’m going to keep walking. At some point, I had to surrender and then embrace all these emotions I was afraid of. For me, it was the actor’s version of ‘Fear Factor.’ ”
For my own part, there was a little fear that came with interviewing Hale. But it wasn’t because of his accolades—he won two Primetime Emmys for “Veep” and a Children’s & Family Emmy for “The Mysterious Benedict Society”—or his demeanor. In fact, Joy is the character most akin to the real-life Hale; he’s jovial throughout our extended Zoom conversation, which ends with him passing along restaurant recommendations for my upcoming trip to Italy.
No—the real cause of my agitation had to do with our shared college major. “I’m so grateful for my journalism degree, because I was trained for four years to cut the fat,” Hale says of his time at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. “My journalism teacher [was always] like, ‘You don’t need this; get to the point!’ So I use [that advice] all the time.” Later in our conversation, he jokes, “I’m going to be judging your journalism skills and editing!”
Before he briefly pursued a career in media, Hale fell in love with the stage. “I was not into sports; and my parents, by the grace of God, found this theater that they signed me up for,” he recalls fondly. “It was a place where I didn’t feel judged and where I felt like I could find myself. I’m not even saying I had a knack for it; but I loved the response I got.”
He put his background in both journalism and acting to good use when he moved to New York City in 1995. Years before he graced this issue’s cover, the actor would regularly flip through Backstage, circling any and all casting notices for roles that seemed like they would be a good fit. Between auditions, he worked various temp jobs—including a brief stint at Vogue, despite personal fashion choices that he says made him look like he was in “a bad Gap ad.”
“Being a physical kind of comic actor, you’re used to using your physicality to deliver the joke. [But] when you just have your voice… I was really nervous about that. Even on ‘Veep,’ they called me a ‘bitchy mime’ because I never spoke!”
Though Hale soon found a home in the commercial industry, he struggled for years to land film and TV representation. “They would only see me as a commercial actor, and crossing over was a really difficult transition,” he remembers. “You walk into a room and you see hundreds of guys looking and acting exactly like you, and you’re like, Where’s my identity? What makes me special? I tell people who are wanting to get into the business to always invest in your community before you invest in your career—because having that community who sees you for who you are outside of the business was 100% what gave me longevity.”
In 2001, Hale scored small guest spots on hit shows like “Sex and the City,” “Dawson’s Creek,” and “The Sopranos.” But his life changed on a dime when he booked his first major role. The “roller-coaster” ride that was Mitchell Hurwitz’s groundbreaking comedy “Arrested Development” began in 2003, when the actor flew to Los Angeles to audition for the part of Buster, the anxious youngest son of the dysfunctional, formerly wealthy Bluth family. After booking the job, he immediately went into filming the pilot, then got married just a week before the show was picked up by Fox.
“I remember having to go to Old Navy because I ran out of underwear, and everything was so overwhelming,” Hale says. “I was in such an excited, anxious, and insecure state for a good two years that I just tried to go with the flow. Anytime the ratings would dip, I almost didn’t even know what that meant. I mean, I knew that it wasn’t good, but I liked the show so much.”
“Arrested Development” was a hit with critics—and with Hale’s stomach. “I gained 15 pounds the first season because I was so blown away by the free food,” he quips. He believes that Hurwitz’s absurdist joke tsunami was ahead of its time. But even though it had become a cult favorite, Fox canceled the show after three seasons. Then, in 2013, Netflix resurrected it for two additional installments.
Hale stayed plenty busy after the Fox run of “Arrested Development,” but he knew that his work on the show meant he likely wouldn’t be considered for other types of roles. “Buster Bluth was a cartoon character, just in this state of constant panic,” he says. “It’s not like someone is going to be casting the role of a lawyer and be like, ‘You know who’d be good for this? The guy that played Buster Bluth!’ ”
He didn’t mind hitting the audition circuit again, since it gave him a chance to sharpen his craft and demonstrate that he could play characters beyond a certified mama’s boy who once lost his hand to a seal. But while many actors spend a lifetime searching for even one signature character, Hale found his second shortly before the “Arrested Development” revival aired.
For seven seasons, beginning in 2012, Hale starred alongside comedy queen Julia Louis-Dreyfus on “Veep,” Armando Iannucci’s political satire about power-hungry Vice President Selina Meyer and her messy staff. Hale played Gary, Selina’s overly loyal personal aide and confidant—the type of man who begins crying (and bleeding) when his boss reveals her imminent promotion to the presidency.
“I haven’t given as much weight to getting that ‘big thing’ or having that moment that I feel is going to define me. Through a lot of therapy, [I’ve realized] that it’s the ordinary that has the power—and when the gig comes along, you do your best.”
“People have said to me a lot of times, ‘You’ve made really good choices in your career.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ ” Hale says with a laugh. “I was not in a place to make a choice; I was so thankful for a gig. I was like, ‘You want me?’ The fact that [‘Veep’] chose me—I was amazed, and I still am. This business is so out of control that I just felt very fortunate even to be invited to the party.”
Perhaps his eagerness to join the festivities helps explain why, starting in 2007, he became a regular in animated films and TV shows. Even if casting directors of courtroom procedurals couldn’t see past Buster, here was a medium where Hale could shine, in roles ranging from a talking spork to an angry bird.
Once again, he needed to overcome his fears. “I had a real insecurity about my voice,” he says. “I remember this one teacher who just kind of bashed my voice all the time, and it’s amazing what those words will do to you. Being a physical kind of comic actor, you’re used to using your physicality to deliver the joke. [But] when you just have your voice… I was really nervous about that. Even on ‘Veep,’ they called me a ‘bitchy mime’ because I never spoke!”
Hale’s confidence grew with each project, as he discovered he could give the same type of “tense,” “crazy,” “neurotic” performances behind the microphone as he did in front of the camera. Hale’s prolific VO credits include roles in films like “The Angry Birds Movie” and “Batman Ninja,” and on TV shows like “Rick and Morty,” “Solar Opposites,” “Harley Quinn,” “Doc McStuffins,” and “Rugrats.” He also starred on “Archibald’s Next Big Thing,” a series he co-created for Netflix.
But the Hale animated role heard ’round the world was the scene-stealing Forky, a plastic spork facing an existential crisis, in Josh Cooley’s Oscar-winning 2019 Pixar sequel “Toy Story 4.” That same year, the character got his own Disney+ spinoff series, “Forky Asks a Question.”
“If I’m honest, I just didn’t want to be the guy that completely screws up [the ‘Toy Story’] franchise,” Hale says. “When I recorded Forky, it wasn’t until I heard my voice in the trailer that I thought, Oh! They didn’t cut me. Because animation is not live action, they can just replace your voice.”
Considering Hale’s standout performance in “Toy Story 4,” it’s no surprise that Pixar tapped him to take over for Hader when the “SNL” alum opted not to return for “Inside Out 2.” “Bill’s an absolute master; no one can match him—and I’m not even going to try,” Hale says. “I just came in going, I’ve had a lot of fear in my life, so I’ve got a lot to draw on!”
His busy summer also includes a charming (and hairy) turn on Netflix’s “The Decameron,” a series inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th century short story collection of the same name. Created by Kathleen Jordan, the historical comedy takes place amid the Black Death in 1348 Florence, as a group of nobles and servants shelter together in a gorgeous, spacious villa; Hale describes the series as “a darker ‘Downton Abbey.’ ”
He plays Sirisco, an estate steward desperately trying to maintain the status quo. “The character has a lot more of a spine than Buster or Gary,” Hale says. “With Gary, words like ‘lapdog’ and ‘emasculated’ were very popular. [But Sirisco] is definitely eager to please; [there’s] a codependency throughline in most of my work.”
Perhaps the most noticeable difference between Sirisco and Hale’s previous roles is his flowing locks—a beautiful wig that the hair and makeup teams constantly reminded the actor not to take home. “The Italians—every single day they’d be like, ‘Oh, Tony, that wig is so good on you,’ ” he recalls, affecting an Italian accent. “I was like, ‘Guys, I cannot glue this on my head after this job, so let’s take a step back.’ And they’d go, [Pause] ‘Ah. Maybe you should.’ ”
Signing on for “The Decameron” meant spending six months on location in Rome. The experience was equally appealing and daunting for Hale, since it meant going long stretches without seeing his wife, Martel Thompson, and their daughter, Loy Ann—though they did visit him a number of times during production. When he wasn’t filming, Hale made repeat visits to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, and watched “way too many” YouTube videos about the Roman Empire.
The actor points to “The Decameron” as a testament to his long-standing commitment to choosing the projects he wants to work on—when he can, at least. “I’m 53 years old, and life gets a lot simpler,” he says. “I haven’t given as much weight to getting that ‘big thing’ or having that moment that I feel is going to define me. Through a lot of therapy, [I’ve realized] that it’s the ordinary that has the power—and when the gig comes along, you do your best. And I love to do it, but not all of life is there.”
Currently, Hale is focused on launching Loy Ann into the next phase of her life—though the recent high school graduate and aspiring elementary school teacher is eager to move on from her dad’s impromptu lectures. “She definitely hears all my lessons from what I do,” Hale says. “I’m like, ‘Honey, be present.’ And she goes, ‘Gosh, Dad, please, not another lesson!’ ”
But he believes that, like his daughter, young actors can benefit from the wisdom he’s learned from decades in the Hollywood grind. “The simple things that we deliver to children are the simple truths that we all need,” he explains. “Don’t put too much weight on the future, because the more weight you give it, it’s not going to satisfy it.
“When I was in New York, I wish somebody told me, ‘Tony, when you’re looking at Backstage, the value you have now is going to be the exact same value you have if you’re in the magazine 20-odd years later. I don’t care what the business tells you; your value is not going to change.’ ”
Wise words from a man who has clearly faced his fears.
This story originally appeared in the July 11 issue of Backstage Magazine.
Photographed by Emily Shur on 5/31 in Los Angeles, CA. Styled by Jenny Ricker. Groomed by Martel Thompson. Shot with painting on wall: Sandro creme linen button down; Paisley & Gray orange corduroy pant; The Tie Bar Navy socks; Marc Nolan Blue loafer with horse bit buckle. Cover and Cover story opener: Paisley & Gray orange corduroy suit; The Tie Bar brown polo knit; The Tie Bar Navy socks; Marc Nolan Blue loafer with horse bit buckle. Suit against pink door: Richard James blush corduroy suit; Evenlane oatmeal crew knit. Kitchen Cardigan: Missoni striped mohair cardigan; Cotton Citizen ivory crew tee; Richard James blush corduroy pant; Vince tan suede sneaker. Cover designed by Ian Robinson.