Jaclyn Hales was born on September 4th in Syracuse, New York to Julie Lea Hales, a homemaker and real estate agent, and James Rulon "Jim" Hales, a retired pharmaceutical district sales manager, making her of Scottish, Italian, and English descent.
At the tender age of six, Hales made her stage debut as "The Shrunken Alice" in a production of Alice in Wonderland at the Seacoast Repertory Theater in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she spent her childhood. She went on to appear in numerous productions throughout her childhood until her family relocated to North Salt Lake, Utah at the age of fourteen, prompting her to explore the world of TV/Film.
It was at a Janet Jackson concert that Hales was first scouted by a modeling agent, although the opportunity didn't pan out due to her reluctance to quit the swim team, leave her friends behind, or compromise her physical appearance. Instead, she met a talent agent in an adjacent office and quickly landed her first television role on the show Everwood, which aired on The WB, marking the beginning of her professional pursuit of a full-time acting career.
Hales subsequently studied acting at Utah Valley University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in theater performance, and was honored with "Best Actress 2009" and "Best Student Director 2009" by the theater department.
Her career took off when she was offered the lead role in the Indie feature 'Unicorn City' (2011),for which she won the Best Actress award at the LA Comedy Festival in 2012. This success led to her appearing in several more films and TV shows, including FX's 'Legion', HBO's 'Mosaic', and 'Christmas Eve', starring alongside notable actors such as Jean Smart, Jemaine Clement, Garrett Hedlund, Sharon Stone, and Patrick Stewart.
Hales has also played two series regular roles; Lynn from 'Extinct' (2017),which aired on BYUTV, and Claire from 'Cypher' (2021),which aired on The Roku Channel as their first exclusive series.
In 2020, Hales began co-writing with Ash Lendzion to create a scripted dark comedy podcast called The Bystanders, with the help of producers Heather Morris and Black Label Media. Now a writer, producer, and director, Season 1 (2021) of the podcast, starring Jane Lynch, Kristin Chenoweth, Oscar Nunez, Ed Westwick, and Michael Hitchcock, received rave reviews, leading to the production of a second season.
Season 2 (2023) of The Bystanders stars an impressive cast, including Jane Lynch, Kathleen Turner, Margaret Cho, Beth Dover, Joe Lo Truglio, Jon Gries, Luke Cook, Darren Chris, and Wayne Knight.
