Men's Lifestyle June 19, 2026 0 Comments

Tony Hale Unleashes His Most Unexpected and Hilarious Moves Yet—Get Ready to Witness the Weirdness That’s Changing the Game!

You ever wonder how a painfully awkward moment could turn into a powerhouse career? Well, Tony Hale’s journey into acting kicked off with precisely that kind of “yikes” encounter. Picture this: mid-’90s, fresh agent, and an introduction that went something like, “You look like David Schwimmer—but not as cute.” Ouch. Yet, from that cringe-worthy comparison emerged the beloved Buster Bluth and Gary from Veep, characters so steeped in awkwardness they became iconic. Now at 55, Hale is back, lending his voice to Forky in Toy Story 5 and starring as a worn-out HR supervisor in the latest Netflix rom-com, Office Romance. Curious how he pivoted from cold calls at Vogue to Emmy-worthy roles? Let’s dive into the story – and trust me, it only gets better. LEARN MORE.

10 min read

It’s kind of fitting that Tony Hale’s acting career started with a painfully awkward encounter.

It was in the mid-’90s, and he’d just landed his first agent. “She was like, ‘You look like David Schwimmer,’” Hale recalls, which seemed promising since Friends was at that time one of the biggest hits on TV. But the agent wasn’t finished there. “She was this old New York broad and she was like, ‘Yeah, you look like David Schwimmer—but not as cute, not as good looking,’” Hale continues. “ And I was like, ‘…ahh, right.’”

As the feeble, accident-prone Buster Bluth on Arrested Development and the perpetually browbeaten body-man Gary on Veep, Hale has made his name as the embodiment of the cringeworthy, mortified and chagrined. Now the 55-year-old returns as Forky in Toy Story 5, bringing back the spork-turned-homemade-plaything who can’t stop questioning his purpose and existence. He also recently appears in Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein’s new Netflix rom-com Office Romance as a weary HR supervisor who is ready to curl up and die.

Esquire caught up with him about how it all started. Don’t worry. It gets better from there.

ESQUIRE: Where are you in the world today? I know you’re shooting the new Nancy Meyers movie.

TONY HALE: Yeah, we’re shooting that in L.A. and it’s really fun to be back working here. Nancy’s the best and this is my second day. I recently moved to Alabama and … I don’t know. I miss it because I’d lived here for 21 years. So it’s nice to be back.

When did you first come to L.A.? When did all of that begin?

It was for Arrested Development. I met my wife in New York, and I got engaged in November 2002. Then I found out I got the role, which was very surreal. I shot the pilot, came back, and was planning the wedding. And then 10 days before we got married, the show got picked up [for a full season] and I was like, “Sweetheart, we’re moving to L.A.” And she was like, “What?” She was a makeup artist on Saturday Night Live for seven years. So we both got our bags and took off to L.A.

You grew up in Florida, right? Was New York where you went to kick off the acting career?

Yeah, in 1995 I moved to New York with that young 20-something energy where you’re just like, “Let’s do it!” I did not know a soul. There was a newspaper called Backstage where I would just circle all these potential roles and auditions.

Los Angeles Premiere Of Disney And Pixar's "Toy Story 5"

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin//Getty Images

Tony Hale at the premiere of Toy Story 5, which sees him return as the makeshift toy Forky.

While on the audition circuit, how did you pay the bills?

I started temping. I did every job under the sun. As a temp, they would send me to Vogue. They would also send me to places like banks and stuff, but they would send me to Condé Nast a lot. If somebody’s sick, they just needed a warm body to sit there and answer phones. But I had no fashion sense. I mean, I barely had a nice pair of khakis. I would just sit there, and I don’t think they trusted me to do anything. I made long-distance phone calls all day long back to my family and friends because it was free—from Vogue. [Laughs.] Back then, you had to pay money for long-distance phone calls.

I remember. It was 10 cents a minute.

Yeah, they got expensive! So then I started cater-waitering, and then I remember I went to this place where you paid money to meet agents.

That sounds like a scam.

I know. … But it’s how I met my agent.

Oh, really? Sorry.

I think I was described as ‘David Schwimmer, but not as good looking.’ That was kind of my description.

That was your description of yourself, or what she said?

She was like, ‘You look like David Schwimmer.’ She was this old New York broad and she was like, ‘Yeah, you’re like David Schwimmer, but not as cute, not as good-looking.’ And I was like, “…All right.”

But she must have seen potential, since she signed on with you.

I was put out as this type for commercials: “A guy who’s not all there.” That’s how they described me.

[Los Angeles] is kind of a misfit island. I took that for granted.

I always love the stories that actors have about their first parts.

I made the mistake of when I got something I would tell my entire family. I remember I was doing this bit on Conan O’Brien’s show. They hired me to be, remember the guy who was in Shine, as the piano player?

Geoffrey Rush.

Yes, Geoffrey Rush. They were doing a parody of that. And so I was Geoffrey Rush in this thing and I literally told my whole family and their friends. I just told everybody. And then they ended up cutting it.

Oh no.

Back then, you had to wait up until 11 at night. So they all waited up. Of course they cut my sketch. It was the first lesson of like, ‘Yeah, until it airs, until it’s happening, just don’t tell anybody.’

What kind of commercials did you do?

I think my first was an MCI commercial, which was a phone company back then. It’s not around anymore. That also never aired, by the way. I clearly didn’t learn my lesson because I told my whole family. There was a devil and an angel on my shoulder, I remember.

I love that you were using Vogue to make your own phone calls and then one of your first roles was an ad for long distance.

Yeah, exactly. The weird thing is they kept having me back. But they’d never asked me even to file anything. I would just sit there and call all my friends.

Did any of your commercials finally make it out into the world?

I did the “Yo Quiero Taco Bell” commercial with the little dog. I remember I was flown to Miami for that. It was the first time I’d been flown for a job and I was like, “This is crazy.” I had a per diem [fee] and everything.

So you had this agent who says, “He’s like a less-handsome David Schwimmer?” How did you view yourself? Were you like, “No, I’m the next James Bond”?

Oh no, that was tracking for me. I was like, “Listen, I’m going to lean into this.” I did comedy in high school and I was always kind of the quirky, wide-eyed sidekick and stuff, and I loved it. Thankfully I didn’t have delusions that I was the next Hamlet. It was fun to do weird.

And that became your calling card.

Pretty much, with so many nonverbal facial expressions. Then you cut to Veep where I’m literally called “a bitchy mime” on the show. [Laughs.]

When you landed Arrested Development, was that a pretty big level up for you?

Oh yeah, huge. I remember I was in New York and this amazing casting director, and she’s also an actress, Marcia DeBonis, called me in because the character was described as: Buster’s kind of not all there. So she thought of me.

It comes back around!

It was still kind of trying to check my expectations. And then it happened. I’m still just … I’m so thankful.

I was looking at your filmography from before that time and you had a credit on The Sopranos.

It was very tiny. It was when Uncle Junior was having chemo treatment and I was the nurse. Sopranos and Sex and the City were the big New York shows that were happening, and I remember I was so nervous. My hands were shaking. I’m like, “What does it look like to have somebody who’s giving you your chemo treatment and their hands are violently shaking?” [Laughs.] I was trying so hard to calm myself down with every therapeutic breathing exercise I could think of. Somehow, they bought it.

Were these early roles things that made you feel, like, “Okay, I can finally tell my family to watch?”

They were pretty excited because when I started doing commercials. It was fun to be able to say, “Oh yeah, this Taco Bell one’s coming out.” And there was a Volkswagen one that got a lot of attention. My parents didn’t watch Sopranos or Sex and the City, so that was not something that they would think was cool. They thought commercials were more cool than that.

Really?

By the way, these are my parents who never thought Arrested Development was funny—and still don’t! They still think the only episode that was funny was when Martin Short was on. They said, “Well, he’s funny. He’s funny.”

What’s wrong with them?

They’re just hilarious in their own right. I remember when my dad saw Veep, I took him to some Washington D.C. screening of it. When we got back in the car I said, “What’d you think, Dad?” And he’s like, “It’s … okay. It’s a little harsh. I’ve got some thoughts, some notes.” And I was like, “Okay, well, I’ll pass those on to the director.” [Laughs.]

Do you think they see their son on screen, no matter how good you are? Maybe it’s hard watching you get put through the wringer so much as Buster and Gary?

Maybe that’s it. They’re probably like, “I don’t know if I’m enjoying seeing my son emasculated.”

You’re so good at the awkwardness of it all. Is that a reputation you enjoy, or do you wish you could shed it?

It comes from so much pain now, so much pain… [Laughs.] No, I love it. I was a guy who dealt with anxiety for most of my life as a kid, and back then no one ever talked about it. I do think it’s kind of cool that you go through these things in life and then later you can kind of use these historic struggles for your work. Because I know what a panic attack feels like. I know what heavy anxiety feels like. I know it’s a very internal battle, which is very funny to watch in comedy. So that’s cool how those things are used in your life and your future.

Do people you meet expect you to be like those characters, curling up in a ball or being cringey?” Are they surprised that you’re a regular person and not a man-baby?

Exactly. I do get some of that sometimes. I’ll be having a conversation, and they’re like, “Huh, I was expecting different.” I will say when I was doing Arrested Development, we had just gotten married. I would come home from playing Buster, my wife would say something, and I would have a reaction that was a little too hypersensitive.

Oh really?

And she was like, “Okay, we need to leave Buster on the Fox lot. Let’s just bring my husband back.”

In Office Romance you endure a litany of troubling descriptions that make your body go through convulsions. Was a lot of that improvised?

Ol Parker, who directed it, is such a wonderful man because he just allows for so much freedom. That’s always such a nice environment, especially with comedy. What you don’t want is to walk into a comedic situation of them being very “it has to be said this way, it has to be done this way.” Instead, everybody brings their own flavor. You want some freedom to be able to play.

At one point you feel compelled to express your frustrations and exclaim “baba ghanoush” as your substitute obscenity.

I don’t know how that came out of my mouth. Baba ghanoush? I don’t know if I had recently had that. The rhythm of the word just made me laugh, so I just threw it out.

That brings us to Forky. You’re back as Forky in Toy Story 5. People are surprised that this makeshift toy is still in the toy box after all this time, but there is a lot of affection for him.

He’s special and he’s beloved by me. I just love him. What’s so fun is like even on this [Nancy Meyer’s film] right now, there’s a woman there who has a two-year-old and a five-year-old and being given the opportunity to do a voice memo from them as Forky is magical. Obviously, Forky is real for them.

Why do people care about him so much?

Forky is so curious and he has a lot of questions and came into this world like a newborn baby. Just like, “What’s going on?” He’s the opposite of judgmental. He needs to be an example for everybody

And he’s found love in the new movie, right?

He found love quickly, I might add. He was introduced in Toy Story 4, and all the other toys except for the Potato Heads don’t even have partners. They’re not married, but Forky’s just like, “I’ve got to find a mate.”

With all these characters you play that embody various degrees of awkwardness, do you meet people in real life who, in addition to being amused by them, feel some connection?

That’s actually a really good question because my wife and I were talking, I mean we love Birmingham, Alabama, because our families are close by. But when I’m in Los Angeles, I was surrounded by people who do what I do, and they just understood the chaos and the rejection. How all of a sudden you’re not working, and then you are working, and it could turn on a dime. [Los Angeles] is kind of a misfit island. I took that for granted.

Can you share anything about who you’re playing or what the Nancy Meyers film is or is that under lock?

I don’t know if I can share much. Obviously, it’s great being able to work with people like Kieran Culkin and Erin Doherty and Owen Wilson and all these great people. And obviously Nancy Meyers, she’s a legend.

People talk about her amazing sets and I assume there’s a fabulous kitchen in this movie.

Always. Always. She’s such a good person. You’re with these people for three months and the person who captains the ship obviously has the authority. You want that combination of kindness and respect. She’s just got that in spades. She just sets such a cool and welcome tone for everybody.

It sounds like there would be a place for Forky in the Nancy Myers kitchen.

[Laughs.] That’s right! I’m going to go talk to the production designer.