Hana Hayes Biography

Hana Lani Hayes was born on March 29, 1999, in Tucson, Arizona, to Sandy and Robert Hayes. She has a brother, Justin Hayes. Her mother is an architect and worked briefly in London, but she took semi-retirement to help Hana with her career.

In 2007, she started acting under the direction of Melody Baker, at the ‘Gaslight Musical Theater.’

When she was 10, Hayes entered an acting competition through ‘Models Melange, Tucson’ (a scouting and development company for models and actors). She emerged successful at the modeling and talent event, ‘IMTA – or, The International Modeling & Talent Association.’ Her parents supported her in following her dreams, and her family relocated to Los Angeles and acquired an agent and manager to represent her.

Hayes received vocal training at ‘La Voix Studio,’ LA. She attended acting classes at various famous studios such as the ‘Playhouse West’ and ‘Actorsite’ in Los Angeles. She received a scholarship from ‘The Voice Studio’ for her talent in dancing, acting, and singing.

Her debut project was a Japanese animation movie, ‘A Letter to Momo,’ in 2011, in which she worked as a voice actor. She began her professional acting career in 2011 with the role of ‘Ally Dolan’ in an episode of the TV series ‘Criminal Minds.’ This was followed by a recurring role as ‘Tammy Lynch’ in the series, ‘Bucket and Skinner’s Epic Adventures’ (2011-2013).

In 2011, Hayes appeared as a guest character in movies like ‘Wrinkles,’ ‘Relative Eternity,’ and ‘End of the Innocence.’ She was a part of the feature film, ‘Thunderstruck’ (2012), which starred basketball player Kevin Durrant. In 2013, she worked in an episode of the well-known TV series, ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ and also in the movie, ‘Crazy Town.’

Sony/PlayStation’s much-admired video game, ‘The Last of Us,’ came her way in 2013. Her voice and motion capture role of ‘Sarah’ in it received praise, mainly because of the powerful death scene of her character at the beginning of the game, which she carried out effectively. According to her, the memory of losing her grandfather at the age of 8 helped her provide realistic emotions for the scene.

In the movie ‘Mercy’ (2014) she worked with her former boyfriend, Chandler Riggs, who is known for his role in ‘AMC’s’ film ‘Walking Dead.’ Hayes portrayed the role of ‘Danielle’ in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy in 2015, and also worked as a ’12-year-old Leia’ in ‘Stockholm, Pennsylvania,’ in the same year. Her other appearances in 2015 were in the series ‘The Ultimate Evil,’ and the movie ‘A Beautiful Now.’

Fox Channel’s ‘The Grinder’ (2015-2016) was a legal comedy and she played the role of ‘Lizzie’ who is a slightly awkward, but fun teenage girl. In this series, she shared the screen space with Rob Lowe and Fred Savage. This was her first series as a regular member of the cast and she liked working with the same group of people for a long period of time.

Hayes was seen in the role of ‘Chloe’ in the 2017 movie, ‘To the Bone,’ while her other movies in 2017 were, ‘Here Now,’ and ‘Remember Me’; she also worked in the TV series ‘9JKL’ and ‘Future Man’ in the same year.

Her recent work includes the lead role of ‘Tessa’ in the TV series ‘T@gged’ and the role of ‘Elise Rainier’ in the film ‘Insidious: The Last Key,’ the fourth installment of the horror film franchise ‘Insidious.’

In 2019, she starred as ‘Aspen’ in the comedy-drama film ‘Relish’ directed by Justin Ward. The film holds a 4.3 rating on IMDb. That same year, she also appeared in the anthology film ‘Her Mind in Pieces.’ The following year, she played the role of ‘Tiara Marks’ in the Graham Hughes-directed romantic drama film ‘Isolationship.’ She next starred as ‘Emma’ in the 2021 comedy film ‘Plan B’ directed by Natalie Morales. The film garnered praise from critics and received a 96% approval score on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2022, she portrayed ‘Ida’ in the short horror film ‘Kin’ directed by Sarah Gross.

At the beginning of her career, she was represented by ‘WME and The Collaborative,’ which is now known as ‘Silver Lining Entertainment.’ Later in 2014, she changed the representation to ‘Coast to Coast Talent’ and obtained an agent.

Hayes was reportedly dating the ‘Walking Dead’ star Chandler Riggs, but they broke up in 2016.

Hayes likes reading biographies and her favorite author is John Green. Her hobbies are horse riding, traveling, and shopping. She loves to bake. Hayes likes sweet tea and cats. She is a supporter of gay rights.

She is close friends with Disney actor Brooke Sorenson. Hayes has a huge fan following of more than 181K followers on the social platform ‘Instagram.’

She volunteers at a senior singing group, and also at a place called ‘Mathnasium’ where she tutors little kids in math.