Edmond Stages to Hollywood Sets 

Long before she appeared in major television shows and films, actress Hayley McFarland was a young Edmond performer with a love for the stage. 

McFarland began acting as a child through Michele DeLong’s acting academy in Oklahoma City. She also spent many summers performing and training with Lyric Theatre’s academy, where musical theater became central to her training. “I did musical theater classes at Lyric for most of my childhood,” McFarland said. “I loved becoming a character.” 

Around the time she was 12 or 13, an unexpected opportunity arrived. A Los Angeles manager reached out to DeLong asking if she had any students interested in auditioning for film and television roles. “She sent him a tape of me,” McFarland said. “He liked it, so I started going out to LA during pilot season.” 

At the time, pilot season meant spending several months in Los Angeles auditioning for new television shows that were hoping to be picked up by networks. McFarland would travel back and forth between Oklahoma and California for several years. 

Eventually the auditions began turning into real work. In 2008, the then sixteen-year-old and her family decided it was time to make the move permanent. “It felt like a natural transition,” she said. “I had gradually been working more and more, and my mom was starting to see it as a feasible future for me.” 

One of her earliest breakout roles came when she was 15 in the independent film “An American Crime,” starring Catherine Keener and Elliot Page. Soon after, she landed a major role on the FOX television series Lie to Me which she still considers a defining moment in her career. “That was probably my big break,” she said. 

Since then, McFarland has appeared in a wide range of projects, including the hit horror film “The Conjuring.” The movie’s massive popularity helped introduce her to a new audience. She has also appeared in single episodes of several well-known television series, including Gilmore Girls, ER, Criminal Minds, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. McFarland later returned to television with a recurring role during the final two seasons of the FX crime drama Sons of Anarchy. 

Despite the success, McFarland says the entertainment industry still comes with challenges. “The hardest part is the rejection,” she said. “It’s very hard not to take it personally, even though it rarely is.” Over time, she has learned to focus less on outcomes and more on the creative process. 

“The most rewarding thing is the creative connections you make,” she said. “When you’re just creating for creativity’s sake, it reinvigorates the joy of making things.” In recent years, those collaborations have included projects like “American Comic” with her boyfriend, comedian and actor Joe Kwaczala. McFarland also recently lent her voice to the animated series “Strip Law,” now available on Netflix. 

Even with a career centered in Los Angeles, Oklahoma still plays an important role in her story. “I’ve been able to go back and make a couple movies in Oklahoma, which has been amazing,” she said. 

For young actors hoping to follow a similar path, McFarland encourages them to focus on building genuine creative relationships. “If you can find other creative people you truly connect with, that’s the most fulfilling thing,” she said. “The reward is in doing it.” 

Follow Hayley’s career on Instagram @HayleyMcFarland.