--- name: "Jay Harrington" canonical: "https://film.one/person/jay-harrington" roles: ["Actor"] born: "15 November 1971" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 updated: "2026-09-17T00:25:58.044693+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Jay Harrington Actor. Born 15 November 1971 in Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 15 November 1971, Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA - **Active:** 2009–present - **Also known as:** 제이 해링턴, Джей Харрінгтон, جِی هرینگتون ## Fi1m on Jay Harrington > Jay Harrington is the reasonable man in the building, the one who notices the joke or the danger and declines to make a fuss about either. It is a useful, unshowy trade, and *Better Off Ted* remains the best case for it. The thing Jay Harrington does best is stand still while everyone around him behaves badly. In *Better Off Ted* (2009) he plays Ted Crisp, head of research and development at Veridian Dynamics, a company that will make anything for anyone, and every few minutes he turns to the camera to tell us what it has just done. He does not roll his eyes. He reports it, dry and a little tired, and leaves the outrage to us. Most actors would reach for the laugh themselves; Harrington lets Portia De Rossi have it, and the show is funnier for that. He came up through guest and recurring television work in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including *The Division*, and was noticed on *Desperate Housewives* (2005–2006) as Dr Ron McCready. Ted was his first lead. After it he was a regular on *Benched* (2014) and then, for eight seasons, Sergeant David "Deacon" Kay on *S.W.A.T.* (2017–2025), the married, steady veteran of the team, a part he played for 163 episodes on a series he has also directed for. Television knows what it wants from him, and it is usually the same thing. That thing is harder than it looks. In *Better Off Ted* Ted is written as the only reasonable person in the building, and reasonable people get fewer lines, so Harrington has to stay present in scenes that belong to Jonathan Slavin and Malcolm Barrett in the basement or to De Rossi's Veronica upstairs. He manages it by listening, and by letting us see the half-second in which Ted decides not to say anything. We were surprised, over 26 episodes, by how much we came to rely on that face; when Veronica said something monstrous the joke landed once on her line and again on his reaction, and the second landing was often the bigger one. His likeability tempts the writers, and whenever the show stops to attend to Ted's heart it goes soft. That is the show's fault, not his, but he is the reason it keeps happening. The career is not flattering to the people who commission television. The two series built around him were short: *Better Off Ted* got 26 episodes and *Benched* a single year, both well reviewed. The supporting part in a network procedural ran for eight seasons. We have not reviewed *S.W.A.T.* and will not judge it, but staying believable for 163 episodes is not nothing. He has since carried Deacon into *S.W.A.T. Exiles* (2026), of which he said, "I did not have a spinoff on my bingo card, for sure." If you know him only as the steady one in the tactical vest, go back to *Better Off Ted*. It is 26 episodes, and it is the best argument anyone has made for him, mostly because it trusted him to do less than everyone else on the payroll. ## Biography Jay Harrington is an American actor and director. Born James H. Harrington III on 15 November 1971 in Wellesley, Massachusetts, he studied theatre at Syracuse University. He is known for playing Ted Crisp in the ABC sitcom *Better Off Ted* (2009–2010) and Sergeant David 'Deacon' Kay in the CBS series *S.W.A.T.* (2017–2025), reprising the role in the spin-off *S.W.A.T. Exiles* (2026). Other television credits include recurring roles in *Desperate Housewives* (2006) as Dr. Ron McCready, *Hot in Cleveland* (2012–2014), *Benched* (2014) and *Suits* (2017). He has also appeared in films such as *American Reunion* (2012). Harrington has directed episodes of *S.W.A.T.*. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Better Off Ted* (2009), Fi1m 80, as Ted Crisp — [page](https://film.one/tv/better-off-ted.md) ## Also credited on (not yet reviewed) - *S.W.A.T. Exiles* (2026), Actor ## Also known for - *Suits* (2011), Mark Meadows - *American Reunion* (2012), Dr. Ron - *Desperate Housewives* (2004), Dr. Ron McCready - *Ghost Whisperer* (2005), Mark Powell - *S.W.A.T.* (2017), David 'Deacon' Kay, Director - *Star Trek: Voyager* (1995), Ravoc - *Burn Notice* (2007), Erik Luna - *Private Practice* (2007), Dr. Wyatt Lockhart --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/jay-harrington