A lot of famous people have called Tallahassee home, really too many to name. They include NASA astronaut Norman Thagard, Wally Amos behind the “Famous Amos” chocolate chip cookie brand, and Radio Hall of Fame sportscaster Red Barber.
We have musicians like George Clinton and T-Pain. Show business stars include actors Burt Reynolds, Faye Dunaway, and filmmaker Barry Jenkins, whose film Moonlight won the Best Picture Oscar in 2016.
A few more acting stars include Allison Miller (A Million Little Things, Terra Nova), who was a student at Maclay School. She attended Tallahassee’s Young Actors Theatre (YAT), as did Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Waitress). Hines is now married to former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Hines starred in the movie RV, which included a then-lesser known actor named Tony Hale (Veep, The Mysterious Benedict Society).
Hale is a two-time Emmy-award winner with a long string of movies and TV series under his belt. Part of his first Emmy acceptance speech made national news when he thanked his teachers at YAT, Tina Williams and Alison Grimes.
“To be able to have that kind of platform and thank them was just an absolute joy,” Hale said as we chatted over Zoom last weekend. (Full disclosure: This author attended YAT and does some teaching there.)
Hale will be back in Tallahassee at the end of the month to host an alumni party and a gala for YAT’s 50th anniversary. “It’s a time in my life that was just incredibly — not just special but very fruitful for me,” Hale said of his time as a student at YAT. “Anytime I get the chance (to come back), it’s just joy. I just love it.”
Williams recently retired from YAT, turning over the duties of executive director to her niece, Sarah Doolin Roy.
“We’ve been here for 50 years, and we’re going to be here for the next 50 years and beyond,” says Roy. “What we are hoping to do with our 50th anniversary is create a grand celebration of arts and education. We have a gala at the FSU Student Union on February 1st that sold out within days, and that just shows community support for wanting to invest in the future of the arts.”
On this episode of Speaking Of, we hear more from Hale as well as Williams and Grimes about their decades at YAT. Click LISTEN to hear the segment.
