Pop singer Hayes Warner has made her professional acting debut after Ryan Murphy cast her as Debbie Schaffer in FX’s forthcoming adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s The Shards. The role matters because Warner secured a leading part despite having no previous professional screen credits, illustrating the unusually persistent route she took from music into television.

Warner, 27, studied musical theatre at university and has performed as a singer at events including Lollapalooza, but had no acting portfolio when she pursued the role. She made an early self-tape with her father, auditioned in New York in April 2025, met co-stars Igby Rigney and Graham Campbell, and later screen-tested in Los Angeles before writing Murphy a letter after believing she had lost the part.