What to Know About Kaia Gerber's BFF Hayes Warner, the Pop Star Making Her Acting Debut in Hulu's The Shards

Among the ensemble cast of FX and Hulu's The Shards, one name comes from a slightly different lane than the rest of the group — Hayes Warner, a rising pop singer stepping in front of the camera for the very first time.

Who Is Hayes Warner?

Warner is an American singer and now actress, born and raised in New York City and currently based in Los Angeles. She built her name in music first, breaking out in 2024 with a run of streaming hits including "Predator," "Zip," and "Oh!," alongside a cover of No Doubt's "Just a Girl." That year also saw her named one of People Magazine's "Artists to Watch," and she performed at Lollapalooza, cementing her as a genuine rising name in pop rather than a one-off viral moment.

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Her Role in The Shards

In August 2025, Warner was cast in The Shards, the FX drama series co-created by Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis and adapted from Ellis's 2023 novel of the same name. She plays Debbie Schaffer, with Wes Bentley and Evan Rachel Wood cast as her on-screen parents, alongside co-stars Kaia Gerber, Homer Gere, Igby Rigney, and Graham Campbell. The show marks Warner's first on-screen acting credit — a notable leap for an artist who'd built her public profile entirely through music up to this point.

Warner has spoken about the transition candidly, describing some of her strongest moments on set as simply learning to react to her scene partners rather than over-preparing. She's credited working alongside Wood and Bentley as a formative experience, and pointed to her real-life friendship with co-star Igby Rigney as something that made the more demanding scenes, including ones requiring intimacy coordination, feel safer to navigate. She's also said she read Ellis's novel long before knowing an adaptation was in the works, and that landing the role of Debbie felt almost surreal given how vividly she'd already pictured the story in her head.

Beyond her performance, Warner also contributed original music to The Shards, giving her a dual creative presence in the project — both in front of the camera and on the soundtrack.

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What's Next

With The Shards marking her acting debut, Warner appears to be building a genuine dual career across music and television, following a well-worn but rarely successfully executed path from pop stardom into scripted acting. Given the show's high-profile creative team and starry ensemble, it's a significant first step.