Sean Hayes

About the Author

Sean Hayes, who received critical acclaim for his roles in theater, television and film, quickly gained overnight fame as the sarcastic and hilarious, Jack McFarland, on NBC’s “Will & Grace.” Not too long ago, Hayes has recently added producing to his repertoire.

Sean was raised in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn, Illinois. A talented musician, he supported himself as a classical pianist and performed in a pop band while attending Illinois State University, where he majored in performance and conducting. After his college experience, Hayes began working in the Chicago theater community, serving as the music director at the Pheasant Run Theatre for a few years, where he appeared in several of their productions. He also appeared in the original production of “Role Play” at the Organic Theater.

After moving to Los Angeles, Hayes had gigs as a standup comic, performing at the Comedy Club, and starred in the television movie “A&P,” based on the short story by John Updike. Sean landed “Will and Grace” in 1998, shortly after which he starred as Jerry Lewis in the television movie “Martin & Lewis”. He immediately won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2000 — and has been nominated every year since. Hayes has also been honored with four Screen Actors Guild Awards, two TV Guide Awards, an American Comedy Award and eight Golden Globe nominations.

On the big screen, Hayes was most recently seen in The Bucket List opposite Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman and Soul Men opposite Samuel L. Jackson. He also provided the voice of Brain in the animated feature Igor. Hayes was previously seen in the independent feature Pieces of April for writer/director Peter Hedges. He was also seen in The Cat in the Hat as the voice of The Fish and in person as Mr. Humberfloob. Prior to these films, he played the title role in the art-house hit Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss, which won critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, and lent his voice to the character of the diabolical Mr. Tinkles in the box-office hit Cats and Dogs.

In 2003, Sean and producing partner Todd Milliner formed Hazy Mills Productions. Their first production, “Situation: Comedy”, a documentary television show in search of the next great sitcom, premiered on Bravo in the summer of 2005 and garnered wide critical praise.  Current projects include: “Grimm” for NBC, sitcoms, “Who Knows More” and “Cornerstone” for CBS, and “BiCoastal” for ShowTime. In addition to these projects, Hazy Mills has optioned the books “Everyone Worth Knowing” (by Lauren Weisberger – author of “Devil Wears Prada”) which is set up at the CW. ON the film front, they are currently developing “The Pleasure of My Company” by Steve Martin.