Paul Walter Hauser

Paul Walter Hauser (born October 15, 1986) is an American actor. He starred as murderer Larry Hall in the 2022 true crime miniseries Black Bird, for which he won a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, and is also known for his portrayal of Stingray in the Netflix series Cobra Kai. His breakout performance was as the title character in Clint Eastwood's drama film Richard Jewell in 2019. He has also provided the voice of Embarrassment in Pixar's Inside Out 2 in 2024. The following year, he portrayed Bruce Springsteen's recording engineer in Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere. As an occasional professional wrestler, Hauser is signed to Major League Wrestling.

Hauser was raised in Saginaw, Michigan. His parents are Deborah and Rev. Paul Hauser, a Lutheran minister.

He attended Valley Lutheran High School, a private parochial school in Saginaw. He attended Concordia University Chicago before dropping out to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.

Hauser portrayed Shawn Eckhardt in the 2017 film I, Tonya, Dale in the 2010 film Virginia, and Keith in the television series Kingdom. Hauser was initially cast as an extra for Virginia as his acting debut, and complimented director Dustin Lance Black for his speech after winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2009 for Milk (2008); this led to Black writing him a larger role in the movie.

He had the recurring role of Deshawn in the Amazon web series Betas, and in 2018 appeared as Lonnie Laloush in Super Troopers 2 and as Ivanhoe in BlacKkKlansman. He has also appeared as a guest star on the television series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Night Shift, Superstore, Key & Peele, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Community, Blunt Talk, I Think You Should Leave, Bupkis, and Cobra Kai. In 2019, he starred in Clint Eastwood's Richard Jewell, portraying the title role, Richard Jewell, the real life security guard who spotted the bomb at the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. In 2020, he starred in Songbird, a film based on the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, Hauser played Horace Badun in the crime comedy-drama Cruella, a Disney live-action prequel/spin-off of One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

Hauser also starred as Raymond Porter, better known by his nickname Stingray, in Cobra Kai. He appeared as a recurring character in Season 2, and a major anti-hero in Seasons 4 & 5.

Although known for his comedic turns, Hauser gained broad recognition and critical praise for his portrayal of the serial killer Larry Hall in the 2022 Apple TV+ true crime miniseries Black Bird, adapted from James Keene's memoir In with the Devil. Critic Nick Schager wrote of Hauser's performance, "even in a sea of maniacal villains, his Larry Hall stands out as a uniquely cunning madman, so unpredictable and unnerving as to be downright unforgettable."