Bill Hader's 3 Kids: All About Hannah, Harper and Hayley (2024)

Bill Hader has played many characters over the course of his career, but his kids only know him as “Dad.”

The Saturday Night Live alum is a proud father to three daughters, Hannah, Harper and Hayley, who he shares with his ex-wife, director and screenwriter Maggie Carey. The former couple welcomed Hannah in 2009, and Harper followed in 2012. Two years later, their youngest, Hayley, joined the family. In 2018, Hader and Carey split.

While Hader has kept his kids out of the spotlight, the actor has shared some anecdotes about his daughters, including what it's like to be outnumbered by girls.

“I’ll say, ‘I’m doing this!’ And, to me, masculinity is like, ‘I am watching TCM right now!’ ” Hader joked to PEOPLE in 2014. “They’re like, ‘No, we’re watching Peppa Pig.’ And I go, ‘Alright, Peppa Pig it is.’ ”

He added, “I grew up with my two sisters and my mom, so it’s my lot in life to be surrounded by women.”

Even though dad life can sometimes be overwhelming, Hader noted that his daughters make it fairly easy on him. "They’re just very smart and sweet and patient,”he said.

Here is everything there is to know about Bill Hader’s kids.

Hader first became a dad in 2009

Hader and Carey welcomed their first daughter together, Hannah Kathryn, on Oct. 6, 2009. Prior to her birth, Hader told PEOPLE, “I’m really excited [about parenthood]. I think it’s going to be awesome.”

Their second daughter, Harper, joined the family on July 28, 2012, and Hayley Clementine soon followed on Nov. 15, 2014.

They’re not impressed by his work

While Hader has lent his voice to several animated children’s movies, including Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Inside Out, Finding Dory and Toy Story 4, his foray into voice work didn’t earn him any brownie points with his daughters.

“They just want me to be dad,” he explained on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2019. He added, laughing, “I remember one time I had a small part in Finding Dory and I took my daughters to go see [it] and my voice came up as one of the fish and my middle daughter just stood up and walked out of the theater.”

Hannah, Harper and Hayley were also not fazed by their dad's Emmy wins for his series Barry. After winning outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for the second year in a row in 2019, Hader told PEOPLE that his daughters “don’t care” that he wins awards, which he’s happy about.

“My daughter was like, ‘Why aren’t we seeing you tonight?’ and I was like, ‘Because I’m going to the Emmys,’ ” he explained. “She goes, ‘You already have an Emmy.’ I go, ‘That’s not wrong.’ "

They do impressions

Hader is notorious for his spot-on impressions and it appears this talent has been passed down to his daughters. During a 2014 appearance on Conan, Hader shared that his daughter Harper unknowingly did an adorable impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger when she was just 2½ years old, which entailed grabbing her dad’s face and insisting she was actually 4½ years old in a voice that resembled The Terminator.

Harper’s older sister Hannah may also have a future in comedy. During a 2015 appearance on The Tonight Show, Hader explained to host Jimmy Fallon that his eldest daughter was very into princesses at the time and would walk around the house imitating a royal attitude. However, she put her own spin on it based on mannerisms she may have picked up from her father.

“She’ll walk in and I’ll go, ‘Oh hello Hannah,’ and she will say, ‘I am going to make my breakfast now,’ ” Hader said with a posh accent. “Then she walked into our pantry and she saw that we had no cereal and I just hear her go, ‘F---!’ ”

He continued, laughing, “She came out going ‘Where are the Fruity Pebbles?’ And then I went in and saw we had no Fruity Pebbles and go, ‘F---! Where are the Fruity Pebbles?!’ ”

They love to play pranks on him

The girls’ sense of humor isn't limited to impressions and curse words — they also enjoy playing practical jokes on their dad.

During a 2022 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Hader recounted a run-in he and his daughters had with Chris Pratt while out to dinner. His youngest daughter, Hayley, insisted she knew Pratt’s son, Jack, and asked if they could go talk to him.

“She was like ‘Dad, can I please go over and say hi?' ” Hader recalled. “We walk over there, I tap him on the shoulder and go, ‘Hey Chris, Bill Hader ... sorry but my daughter knows your son.’ "

He continued, “My daughter goes, ‘I don’t know his son, you wanted to meet Chris Pratt!’ ”

“I wanted to strangle her, but I was also never more proud of a kid in my life ... I was like, ‘You’re going to make me so much money,’ ” Hader added, laughing.

D'Arcy Carden was their nanny

Being around famous actors is something the girls are used to. Hader's daughters even had The Good Place star D’Arcy Carden as their nanny.

“The oldest one in particular, I like hung out with every day ... we were best friends,” Carden shared of her relationship with Hannah during a 2018 appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers. “I think she took after me too much.”

Being away from his kids has been difficult for Hader

Hader’s career keeps him very busy and he has been candid about his struggles with work-life balance. After eight seasons on Saturday Night Live, the comedian made the decision to leave the sketch comedy show in 2013 to focus on his family.

“Once our second child was born, I had to leave SNL,” he said in a 2019 interview with Variety. “It was hard with one kid, let alone two. Because I was just never around."

By the summer of 2018, his career had picked up speed again and the actor was busy working on the second season of Barry and filming his role as adult Richie Tozier in It: Chapter Two.

“I think I saw my kids a total of five days all summer,” he told the outlet. “It was terrible. So I’m going, ‘Next summer I’m taking off. And I’m going to spend every day with them.’ ”

He continued, “It’s this weird thing where when you’re in this industry, you don’t have time to be with them, and it’s really, really difficult. I’m getting emotional right now talking about it.”

In the summer of 2019, Hader vowed to slow down his work and stay home with his kids. “They can see me all day if they want,” the actor told Variety. “They can really get sick of me.”

He keeps them out of the spotlight

Aside from the occasional funny story, Hader typically shies away from speaking about his daughters publicly — he has not shared photos of them online, nor does he bring them along to industry events.

Hader is very private about most aspects of his personal life, including his romantic relationships. Since splitting from Carey, he has been linked to Rachel Bilson, Anna Kendrick and Ali Wong. However, in a 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he declined to discuss his dating life to protect the privacy of his daughters.

“They just want me to be their dad," Hader said. "They just want me to sit and watch Encanto over and over and over again. So that's what I do."