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She's a comedian and an actress whose star is quickly rising.
By Bernadette Giacomazzo — Written on Apr 19, 2019
She's a comedian and an actress whose star is quickly rising.
Erinn Hayes is someone who, on the surface, can be considered an “overnight success.” After all, she’s now making huge waves for her role as Vivian in the hit Netflix series, Huge in France, opposed renowned Moroccan comedian Gad Elmaleh (who, himself, is “huge in France”).
But, she’s someone who has a long and storied history in the entertainment industry as both an actress and a comedian, and she’s someone whose success is hard-earned and long overdue.
Let’s look at what we know about Erinn Hayes.
1. Erinn is her middle name.
Though she’s more popularly known by her middle name, her first name is Alexandria. It’s not clear why she chose to take her middle name as her professional name, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, she became known by both of her names when she starred on the hit comedy Kevin Can Wait. She was so popular, in fact, that when she was fired from the show, viewers were in a tizzy.
“The female lead of the Kevin James vehicle, Erinn Hayes, has been let go and Leah Remini will reunite with her King of Queens co-star when she joins the series as a regular. The decision to replace Hayes, who played Kevin's wife, Donna, was an organic one, CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl told reporters Tuesday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour,” said the outlet.
Erinn Hayes is married and has two children.
2. Hayes is her married name.
Erinn Hayes was born Alexandria Carter in May 1976 in San Francisco, CA. “Hayes” comes courtesy of her husband, Jack Hayes, who was her high schoool sweetheart. The duo, according to Erinn’s official CBS bio, began dating in 1998 when they were both attending the University of Colorado at Boulder. They’ve been married for a number of years, and have two daughters — Maggie Mae and Lilah Grace. People Magazine, in fact, reported on Erinn’s pregnancy to Lilah Grace.
3. She’s had a string of film and television appearances.
Huge in France is far from Erinn Hayes’ “big break.” According to IMDB, Hayes has had a string of film and television appearances since she began her professional career in 2001. In addition to her former starring role on Kevin Can Wait, she portrayed Pam Dawber in the 2005 television biopic about Mork and Mindy, and appeared on several episodes of such shows as Worst Week, Children’s Hospital, and Notes from the Underbelly. Her film appearances include They Came Together (opposite Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd), It’s a Disaster (opposite America Ferrera and David Cross), and Band Aid (opposite Zoe Lister-Jones and Fred Armisen).
4. She’s sometimes mistaken for Minka Kelly.
Ranker noticed that Erinn Hayes looks very much like model Minka Kelly. In fact, the listicle site noticed that Erinn not only looks so much like Minka Kelly that it’s “scary,” but she actually looks a lot like actress Leighton Meester, too! However, no matter how much all three lovely women look alike, none of them are related to one another.
5. She’s getting great reviews for her role on Huge in France.
Despite the fact that she’s no longer on Kevin Can Wait — which is, arguably, her biggest role to date — she’s bounced back nicely from this setback and is getting great reviews for her role on Huge in France.
The Atlantic, in fact, thinks she’s the best part of the show.
“Gad comes offstage to the screams of thousands of fans, plays piano in his dressing room, wanders disconsolately down the street while being pestered for selfies. “But what’s it for?” he asks his manager. When he gets a phone call from his ex-partner, Vivian (Erinn Hayes), asking him to sign over parental guardianship to his Los Angeles–based son, Luke (Jordan Ver Hoeve), Gad sees an opportunity: He’ll leave Paris, fly to L.A., reconnect with his child, and rediscover his raison d’être,” the outlet said.
Sounds like Erinn Hayes is well on her way to the superstardom she’s worked so hard to achieve!
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. Find her online at www.bernadettegiacomazzo.com and www.longlivetheuprising.com.