Carter Bays: Difference between revisions

Carter Bays
Born	(1975-08-12) August 12, 1975 Shaker Heights, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation(s)	television writer, composer, musician, singer
Years active	1998–present
Spouse	Denise Cox

Carter L. Bays (born August 12, 1975) is an American television writer and television producer. Along with writing partner Craig Thomas, he is best known as creator, writer, and executive producer of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. He also wrote "How I Met Your Dad" with Craig Thomas, Emily Spivey and Greta Gerwig. He has been nominated for seven primetime Emmy Awards, including Best Original Song for "Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit."

In another collaboration with Thomas, Bays co-founded the band The Solids, who perform the theme song to How I Met Your Mother, "Hey Beautiful".

Early life

Bays was born in Cleveland, Ohio to James Bays, a corporate lawyer, and Martha Bays, a librarian and Unitarian Minister. He has a younger sister, Abigail. Bays became interested in writing as a child, and often cites his idyllic boyhood in the Cleveland suburbs as inspiration. While at Shaker Heights High School, Bays won the Stephen Sondheim Young Playwrights National Competition. His award winning play was staged in New York, and featured a starring role with then unknown actress, Camryn Manheim.

Upon graduation from Shaker Heights High School in 1993, Bays went on to attend Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. While at Wesleyan, Bays indulged in his love of music by joining a band, The Testostertones, as lead singer. The Testostertones were a soul band comprised of eight fellow Wesleyan students, including his future writing partner Craig Thomas on drums. The band played at numerous parties and fraternities on and around the Wesleyan Campus.

Bays became an intern at MTV in the Fall of 1996, which would later influence his writing.

Career

Immediately after graduating from Wesleyan in 1997, Bays and Thomas became writing partners, and won a spot writing for the Late Show With David Letterman. It was at Letterman that Bays befriended fellow writer, Will Forte. When Bays moved to Los Angeles in the fall of 2012, he became Forte's roommate in Santa Monica.

Bays also wrote for American Dad, Quintuplets, and Oliver Beene. In 2013 Bays and Thomas created the TV series The Goodwin Games, starring Scott Foley, T.J. Miller, and Becki Newton.

Personal life

Bays lives in New York City and Los Angeles with his wife, Denise Cox Bays, and their three children, Pippa, Georgina, and Jack. One of his daughters appeared at the end of Trilogy Time, another one at the end of Unpause. Bays supports many philanthropies, and serves on the Board of Stephen Sondheim Young Playwrights, Inc.

References

• Carter Bays at IMDb