On Wednesday June 26, New York Film Academy held a Q&A with film and television star Tony Hale, following a screening of HBO’s Veep—the award-winning comedy series that skewers American politics. The event was held at NYFA’s Los Angeles campus and moderated by NYFA-LA Acting for Film Associate Chair, Anne Moore.
Tony Hale is best-known for his work as Gary Walsh on HBO’s Veep (for which he won two Emmys) and as youngest sibling Buster Bluth on the critically-acclaimed Fox sitcom Arrested Development. Hale recently starred in Toy Story 4 as beloved new character, Forky.
Hale began the Q&A by discussing his start in acting. “I was not a kid who was into sports, and so my parents just didn’t know what to do with me,” he told a captivated audience of NYFA students. “And they found this children’s theatre, called Young Actors Theatre … I’m such an advocate for arts in schools just because—even if you don’t make it a career, like I did—certain personalities need that environment to thrive.” Moore and Hale then discussed how they met, at one of Hale’s first productions in New York City.
The actor went on to discuss how he got his start in the business. He acquired his first agent and did a lot of commercial work and theatre before the audition for Arrested Development in 2003. A casting director remembered him from a previous audition and called him in for Buster Bluth. “I don’t know what that’s saying [about me] … he’s just kind of a man-child,” Hale joked about the casting director thinking of him for Buster.
Moore asked Hale about how he approaches his characters. Hale remembered a film he was working on in the mid-2000s, and he really didn’t like the character. “The character I was playing—I didn’t like the guy, ‘cause he was kind of a player, he was manipulative … And I was just like, ugh, I know people like this … I just didn’t like this character.”
Someone advised him that “Tony, you have to realize that these characteristics are inside of you.” Hale said it was a wake-up call: “It’s so refreshing … the fact is I would be lying if I said I never had moments where I’ve been manipulative … you have to find those places in them that are inside of you.”
Tony Hale wanted to leave the students with a bit of advice from his most recent film, Pixar hit sequel Toy Story 4: “One thing that Forky said in Toy Story that I love [was] ‘It’s gonna be okay.’ Because it really is. It’s going to be an emotional rollercoaster—like life!—but just coming back to the space of like, it’s alright, it’s going to be okay. It’s going to unfold in time.”
New York Film Academy would like to thank Emmy-winning actor Tony Hale for speaking to our students and sharing his experiences and insight.
These guests are not faculty and do not teach at NYFA, but they have appeared to share their stories and experience with our students. As guest speakers are scheduled based on their availability, NYFA cannot guarantee whether a guest speaker will visit during a student’s attendance or who that guest speaker may be. This guest speaker forum is not part of any NYFA curriculum and attendance at guest speaker events is purely voluntary. Students should be aware that guest speaker events do not represent a job opportunity nor are they intended to provide industry connections.