--- name: "Jeff Hiller" canonical: "https://film.one/person/jeff-hiller" fi1m_id: "jeff-hiller" imdb_id: "nm1865598" tmdb_id: 143236 wikidata_id: "Q6174074" roles: ["Actor"] born: "7 December 1976" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 82 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-17T17:12:00.669549+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." --- # Jeff Hiller ## Identity Jeff Hiller - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/jeff-hiller - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** jeff-hiller - **IMDb ID:** nm1865598 - **TMDB ID:** 143236 - **Wikidata ID:** Q6174074 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Hiller, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6174074, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1865598/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/143236 Actor. Born 7 December 1976 in San Antonio, Texas, United States. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 7 December 1976, San Antonio, Texas, United States - **Active:** 2022–present - **Primetime Emmy Awards:** 1 Emmy (1 won) - **Average Fi1m score:** 82, as actor, over 2 titles - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Hiller, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6174074, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1865598/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/143236 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*Somebody Somewhere*](https://film.one/tv/somebody-somewhere.md) (85) - **Apple TV:** [*Widow's Bay*](https://film.one/tv/widows-bay.md) (80) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Jeff Hiller > Jeff Hiller spent most of two decades playing the waiter, and then *Somebody Somewhere* let him play a man. What he does there, listening, hoping, refusing to be cute, is the reason to watch it, and the best thing we have seen him do. The scene to start with is the end of the first episode of *Somebody Somewhere* (2022). Sam, played by Bridget Everett, stands up at a cabaret night in a shopping-centre church and sings for the first time in years, and the camera keeps going back to Joel, the colleague who talked her into coming. Hiller does almost nothing. He watches, and his face does the work of a man seeing a friend remember she is alive. We were in tears, and it was not the song that did it. It was him. He had been waiting a long time to be looked at that closely. Hiller started in improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York in 2001 and taught it for a decade while picking up the parts that improvisers pick up: waiters, clerks, the Channel 9 producer in *Morning Glory* (2010). The timing he learned in those rooms shows in every guest spot he has done, and for most of two decades that was all anyone asked of him. Then Everett, who created *Somebody Somewhere* and leads it, cast him as Joel, and the series ran three seasons. Joel is devout, tidy, hopeful and a little lonely, and Hiller never asks us to find him adorable. That is why the character works. He and Everett talk over each other and about nothing, in parked cars, for minutes at a time, and it is the most convincing friendship we have seen on television in years. Hiller has said that playing Joel "felt very like something I really knew how to do", and we believe him: the warmth is not put on. The risk with a performer this likeable is that nothing ever costs him anything, and the series knows it. Joel's hopes are small and specific, and Hiller lets each disappointment land before Joel tidies it away. Since then he has been offered different things. He took a recurring dramatic part in *American Horror Story: NYC* (2022), turned up in *Pluribus* (2025), and joined *Widow's Bay* (2026) as Dale, a part that grew from a guest spot into a regular one. We liked *Widow's Bay* a good deal, but our attention went to Matthew Rhys and Kate O'Flynn, and Hiller is one face in a large ensemble rather than its engine. That is not a complaint about him. It is a reminder of how particular the fit with Everett was. The caveat, then, is that we have seen him do one thing superbly and several things well. Whether anyone else writes him a Joel is out of his hands. Start with *Somebody Somewhere* and watch the first episode to the end. We did not hold out, and we do not expect anyone else to. ## Biography Jeff Hiller is an American actor and comedian. He trained at Texas Lutheran University and began performing improv comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York in 2001, where he was a member of several teams and taught improv for a decade. He is best known for playing Joel in the series *Somebody Somewhere* (2022–2024), for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2025. Other television credits include roles in *American Horror Story* (2011), *Community* (2009), *Psych* (2006), *Evil* (2019), *American Horror Stories* (2021) and *Pluribus* (2025). He appeared in the films *Morning Glory* (2010) and *Ghost Town* (2008). On stage, Hiller performed as John Quincy Adams in the Broadway production of *Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson* (2010). He has a recurring role as Dale in the series *Widow's Bay* (2026). *Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, themoviedb.org.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Widow's Bay* (2026), Fi1m 80, as Dale — [page](https://film.one/tv/widows-bay.md) - *Somebody Somewhere* (2022), Fi1m 85, as Joel — [page](https://film.one/tv/somebody-somewhere.md) ## Complete filmography (43) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Widow's Bay* (2026), series, as Dale — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/widows-bay.md) - *The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Show 2025* (2025), as Mr. Fir - *Stumble* (2025), series, as Augustus ẞlimpfh - *Lost & Found in Cleveland* (2025), as Graham Hargreaves - *Pluribus* (2025), series, as Larry — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/pluribus.md) - *Elsbeth* (2024), series, as Felix Weaver - *A2Z* (2023), series, as Comedian Panelist - *Somebody Somewhere* (2022), series, as Joel — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/tv/somebody-somewhere.md) - *Ghosts* (2021), series, as Jeff - *American Horror Stories* (2021), series, as Mr. Nevins - *First One In* (2020), as Frazzled Salesman - *FBI: Most Wanted* (2020), series, as Rudolph Varitek - *Evil* (2019), series, as Chuck - *Greta* (2019), as Maitre D' Henri - *Set It Up* (2018), as Mexican Restaurant Waiter - *That Thing with the Cat* (2017), as Rick - *Nightcap* (2016), series, as Phil - *Chasing Taste* (2016), as Chef Micah - *Crazy Ex-Girlfriend* (2015), series, as Harry — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/crazy-ex-girlfriend.md) - *The Hotwives of Las Vegas* (2015), series, as Antoine Donner - *Difficult People* (2015), series, as Subway Man - *Impastor* (2015), series, as Jeffrey - *Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt* (2015), series, as Tomathy, Tomothy — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt.md) - *The McCarthys* (2014), series, as Phillip - *Playing House* (2014), series, as Jeff - *Broad City* (2014), series, as Tim — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/broad-city.md) - *Gods Behaving Badly* (2013), as First Follower - *The Little Tin Man* (2013), as Gregg - *Gayby* (2012), as Showgirls Fan Customer - *Go On* (2012), series, as Eric the Actor - *Best Friends Forever* (2012), series, as The Host - *American Horror Story* (2011), series, as Mr. Whitely - *Death Valley* (2011), series, as Security Guard - *Morning Glory* (2010), as Sam - Channel 9 Producer - *Community* (2009), series, as Glee Club Guy — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/community.md) - *Adam* (2009), as Rom - *Ghost Town* (2008), as Naked Guy Ghost - *30 Rock* (2006), series, as Hotel Clerk, Stewart — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/30-rock.md) - *Ugly Betty* (2006), series, as Wilheldiva Fan - *Psych* (2006), series, as Dwayne - *Starved* (2005), series, as Gay Man - *Law & Order: Criminal Intent* (2001), series, as Stan - *Sing!*, as Mark · Writer ## Gallery - ![Jeff Hiller](https://film.one/media/person/22669/gallery-862dabaa7c54.jpg) Jeff Hiller — Philip Romano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/JeffHiller2023.jpg/1280px-JeffHiller2023.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Jeff Hiller](https://film.one/media/person/22669/gallery-471845a06bb2.jpg) Jeff Hiller — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Primetime Emmy Awards — 1 won - 2025: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (won), for *Somebody Somewhere* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © 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/jeff-hiller