Hayley Smith (American Dad!)

Hayley Dream-Smasher Smith is the daughter of Stan and Francine Smith on the animated television series, "American Dad!". She is voiced by Rachael MacFarlane, the younger sister of one of the series co-creators, Seth MacFarlane. Hayley and Stan were the first two characters that were conceived and created for the series.

Biography and personality

Hayley Smith is the daughter of Stan Smith, a CIA agent, and Francine Smith, a housewife. Hayley was born while her parents were on a safari in Africa, due to Stan refusing to believe the OB-GYN when she said Francine shouldn't travel. Prior to her birth, Stan had been attempting to find Oliver North's gold hidden under their house; because her birth made him too busy to pursue this hobby, he gave her the middle name "Dream-Smasher." Growing up, she and Stan were very close, due to their similar personalities and, at the time, similar beliefs; as Hayley grew up and became rebellious, they grew apart.

Unlike her father and her brother, Steve Smith, Hayley is ultra-liberal and possibly a member of the Green Party.cite episode
title = Stan Knows Best
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series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman. Directed by Pam Cooke
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network = FOX
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number = 3
minutes =] She is a casual marijuana user, often helps the homeless, and in favor of gun control. [cite episode
title = Stannie Get Your Gun
episodelink =
series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Brian Boyle. Directed by John Aoshima
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network = FOX
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number = 14
minutes =] This causes a great amount of distrust for Stan, consistently having views being polar opposite of hers. When she was younger, Hayley and Stan got along very well, and indeed, they have similar personality traits, such as stubbornness and distrust of those they disagree with. She still lives with her parents and goes to Groff Community College, though she moved out temporarily after a bitter argument with Stan. As a college student, Hayley also majors in women's history [cite episode
title = Roger n' Me
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series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Rick Wiener and Kenny Schwartz. Directed by Anthony Lioi
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Hayley is very often the rational and open-minded member of the family. For example, she helped to unionize the homeless men Stan paid to fight each other, [cite episode
title = Threat Levels
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series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by David Zuckerman. Directed by Brent Woods
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network = FOX
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number = 2
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title = Tears of a Clooney
episodelink =
series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Chris McKenna and Matt McKenna. Directed by Brent Woods
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network = FOX
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season = 1
number = 23
minutes =] and is the one most likely to stand up for people's rights when her family tries to exploit people. Nevertheless, she is also sometimes seen as hypocritical and has moments of weakness---for example, in "Camp Refoogee" she went to an African refugee camp and swore to help the starving people during the short time she expected to be there; however, after finding out they would be there for a few weeks, she went to the spa-like U.N. aid base and went so far as to eat steak, [cite episode
title = Camp Refoogee
episodelink =
series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Josh Bycel and Jonathan Fener. Directed by Albert Calleros
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network = FOX
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season = 2
number = 24
minutes =] despite being a vegetarian. She even admits to having thrown away more food than she ate.cite episode
title = Stan of Arabia: Part 1
episodelink =
series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Nahnatcka Khan. Directed by Rodney Clouden
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network = FOX
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season = 1
number = 12
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title = American Dream Factory
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series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Nahnatchka Khan. Directed by Rodney Clouden
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network = FOX
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season = 2
number = 34
minutes =] Other members of the household seem to find her annoying, even Roger, one of the more apolitical characters, once shouted at her to just "let it go!" as she was ranting about his voting for President George W. Bush. Hayley replies: "Never!" [cite episode
title = All About Steve
episodelink =
series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Chris McKenna and Matt McKenna. Directed by Mike Kim
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network = FOX
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season = 1
number = 10
minutes =] She greatly dislikes Bush, and once attempted to create a scandal that would result in him being ejected from office.

Romance

Hayley has a on-and-off boyfriend named Jeff, who is a vegetarian as well, though apparently less so than Hayley. They sometimes go hiking and use marijuana together. She once dumped Jeff, because he agrees with everything that she says. During this time, she slept with Stan's boss, Deputy-Director Bullock, a conservative. This happened after they had an argument; he apologized and she ended up sleeping with him at his house. At first, Stan was outraged, but he later ignored their relationship and decided it was a great chance to be promoted to "Deputy-Deputy Director". Hayley later dumped Bullock before announcing Stan's promotion. Bullock learned that a more assertive Jeff came back into her life. Being very upset, Bullock promised Stan the promotion if he killed Jeff. Stan didn't kill Jeff, but ended up battling his boss upon him insulting Hayley. Before Stan finished him off, Bullock gave him the job. [cite episode
title = Bullocks to Stan
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series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Alison McDonald. Directed by Brent Woods
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number = 12
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When the Smith family was relocated to Saudi Arabia, Hayley also slept with a guy named Kazim who claimed to be a tormented, conflicted member of Al Qaeda [cite episode
title = Stan of Arabia: Part 2
episodelink =
series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. Directed by Anthony Lioi
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network = FOX
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number = 13
minutes =] , but who was really a vendor for the restaurant chain Shawarma King who lied about his job in order to appear more interesting to women. She presumably did not tell Jeff of her infidelity. In "Dungeons and Wagons" the two are shown dating, but again Hayley dumps Jeff for being too clingy; he then goes on to develop a hobby of playing "Dragon Scuffle" (an MMORPG in a similar vein to World of Warcraft) with Steve instead of begging Hayley to get back together, as she had suspected he would. She becomes jealous and, with Klaus' help, kills Steve in the game. Rather than winning Jeff back, however, this makes Jeff horrified at how mean Hayley is, by destroying Steve in the one thing he was good at. Hayley tries to win Jeff back by finding a way to bring Steve's character back to life. The two of them succeed in resurrecting Steve's character, but then she loses interest in Jeff just when he wants to get back together with her and decides to date another player she met in the game instead. [cite episode
title = Dungeons and Wagons
episodelink =
series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Michael Shipley and Jim Bernstein. Directed by Anthony Lioi and Kurt Dumas
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network = FOX
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season = 2
number = 28
minutes =] They are a couple again in the second season finale, [cite episode
title = Joint Custody
episodelink =
series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Keith Heisler. Directed by Joe Daniello
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season = 2
number = 42
minutes =] though she breaks up with him yet again in season three. [cite episode
title = Haylias
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season = 3
number = 47
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She has also turned to exotic dancing in order to pay for her erased tuition and prostitution to supplement the family's income during hard times. [cite episode
title = Failure is Not a Factory-installed Option
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series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Etan Cohen. Directed by Rodney Clouden
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number = 26
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Recently, in "Haylias," she has expressed interest in having a love affair with a woman in a passing comment to her parents; whether this was sincere, or possibly merely meant to shock them, is unconfirmed at this time. While under mind-control, she also marries Dill Shephard, a rich senator's son, in this episode, their marriage is annulled shortly after the wedding as he is clearly gay.

In several episodes, it is implied she is into BDSM-type sex, likely as a dominant. Usually, it is shown that Jeff is her partner at the time, taking the role as the submissive. Although it is not clarified, it is implied that this is her fantasy more so than it is his.

Religion

In the episode "Roger Codger", Hayley is clearly an Atheist at the beginning, saying that God is fake. However, in later in the episode, when Francine Smith started to become an atheist, Hayley was trying hard to revive Francine's faith in God; [cite episode
title = Roger Codger
episodelink =
series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Dan Vebber. Directed by Albert Calleros
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network = FOX
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number = 5
minutes =] it is unclear if Hayley was acting out of some sense of faith herself or if she merely wanted to help Francine's sense of bitter disappointment. Two episodes later in "Deacon Stan, Jesus Man", when Roger asked how church was, she said it was a waste of time. [cite episode
title = Deacon Stan, Jesus Man
episodelink =
series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Nahnatchka Khan. Directed by John Aoshima
writers =
network = FOX
station =
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airdate =
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season = 1
number = 7
minutes =] This could mean she's not a devout Christian, that she is still an Atheist, or that she simply does not like the institution of church, particularly the family's church with its completely apathetic pastor. In "Tears of a Clooney," however, after contracting a terminal disease (presumably cancer), she makes a "promise to God" to call child services and stop Roger from enslaving orphans if she survives, which may mean that her sickness revived a sense of faith in her, at least temporarily (although she would usually call Child Services anyway). She once called on "Gaia" to help her protect a tree from destruction, [cite episode
title = Fianaces With Wolves
episodelink =
series = American Dad!
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credits = Written by Neal Boushell and Sam O'Neal. Directed by Albert Calleros
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network = FOX
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season = 1
number = 18
minutes =] which may indicate a Neopagan or Wiccan belief. In the episode "Dope & Faith," however, Hayley reaffirmed herself as an Atheist, as she was seen mocking the reverend's preachings. [cite episode
title = Dope and Faith
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series = American Dad!
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network = FOX
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season = 3
number = 5
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Notes and references