Reggie Hayes rose to prominence to many television audiences William Dent, the best male friend to Joan Clayton (Tracee Ellis Ross), Maya Wilkes (Golden Brooks), Toni Childs (Jill Marie-Jones) and Lynn Searcy (Persia White) on the classic long-running UPN sitcom Girlfriends. Since the show’s cancellation in 2008, many fans have wondered where is Hayes currently.

For fans of Hayes, the Chicago native is still acting and appearing in television. Most recently, Reggie Hayes appeared in the CW superhero show Black Lightning as Mayor Billy Black.  He also made an appearance on the ABC sitcom black-ish, which stars Ross.

In 2015, Hayes starred alongside Vivica A. Fox in the film Carter High as Mr. Russeau. However, Hayes has also been outspoken about his struggles in the business. In 2020, Hayes spoke in an interview with The Chicago Tribune about how he dealt with congestive heart failure and heart issues due to the wildfires that plagued California.

“I had starred on this long-running show but I wasn’t Matt LeBlanc or one of the other kids from Friends who had doors opening for them after their show ended,” he said. “Pretty much, I was just another guy.”

He also said plans for a spinoff starring him did not work, adding, “I was getting a lot of winks and nods about that, and it just didn’t work out.”

“Those were pretty awful years,” he continued. “I made it work with my little residual checks for a year and then I ended up moving into my sister’s garage for six years.” He booked a few guest roles after the show but said it wasn’t enough to get by. To make ends meet, he tried working as a bouncer, but he said “everyone in the club wanted their picture taken with me.”

However, things have turned around with his recent roles, as well as the fact that people are revisiting Girlfriends.  “With Girlfriends on Netflix and everybody talking about it again, it’s a really nice warm feeling,” he added.