Some kids’ book authors are inspired by the cuteness of puppies. Tony Hale found inspiration in his own nervous anxiety.
The 43-year-old actor — known for playing Buster on “Arrested Development” and Gary on “Veep” — wrote “Archibald’s Next Big Thing” with his pal Tony Biaggne. On sale Friday, the picture book follows a curious chicken in search of greener pastures who learns to appreciate “the now.”
“It came from a lesson that I’ve been trying to practice, being an actor for almost 20 years,” says Hale, who lives with his wife and 8-year-old daughter in LA. “You’re trained to always be looking for what’s next. I was so focused on . . . whatever the next adventure was, I was missing the adventure that I was on.”
Archibald was created by one of the book’s illustrators, Victor Huckabee, but his chicken-ness worked out well for Hale.
“Buster was the only character [on “Arrested Development”] who did not have a chicken dance — he had entirely too much respect for chickens to make fun of them,” says Hale. “I do have a special place in my heart for chickens.”
But that doesn’t mean he has experience hanging with them.
“With my allergy history . . . I was that kid on the sidelines with an inhaler in one pocket and a tissue in the other,” he says. “But I really like eggs.”
That willingness to embrace beta-male qualities has made Hale successful. Buster Bluth was the mama’s boy of all mama’s boys, and Hale’s “Veep” character takes great pride in being the female vice president’s yes man. The actor won an Emmy for the latter role last year, and is up for another at the Aug. 25 ceremony.
Hale has several movies in the works, including “Dominion” with John Malkovich. He’s unsure if he’ll write another kids’ book, but don’t expect a juicy tell-all.
“It would be so not juicy,” he says, laughing. “Every headline [about it] would be ‘Why did he write his memoir? I don’t want
to hear about his love for Trader Joe’s.’”