Background
Hickey was born in Plano, Texas, and graduated from Plano Senior High School in 1981.
Hickey was born in Plano, Texas, and graduated from Plano Senior High School in 1981.
He attended Texas State University - San Marcos from 1981–1983, where he was active in the theater department.
He earned his bachelor"s degree in English at Fordham University in 1985. On Broadway, he originated the role of Arthur in Terrence McNally"s play Love! Valour! Compassion! in 1995, a role he recreated for the 1997 film version. He played supporting roles in a number of films including The Ice Storm and The Anniversary Party.
He has also appeared in Flightplan, Flags of Our Fathers, Freedom Writers, Then She Foundation Maine, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Bet and Life with Judy Garland: Maine and My Shadows.
In that same year, he played the lead in the independent film Finding North
On Broadway, he played Reverend John Hale in the 2002 revival of Arthur Miller"s The Crucible. Hickey played American novelist and playwright Jack Dunphy in the 2006 Truman Capote biopic Infamous,
Hickey played Philip Stoddard on the short-lived gay-themed sitcom lieutenant"s All Relative.
Since lieutenant"s All Relative, Hickey has appeared on Alias, Law & Order, Brothers & Sisters, Stacked, Heartland, In Plain Sight, Law & Order: Los Angeles, and Modern Family. He has also been in a production of Mary Stuart.
Hickey starred as scientist Frank Winter on the television series Manhattan, which concluded on December 15, 2015 after two seasons and 23 episodes.
Hickey is openly gay and has been in a relationship with Modern Family writer and producer Jeffrey Richman since 2003.
He won the 2011 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Felix Turner in The Normal Heart. He played Clifford Bradshaw in the 1998 revival of Cabaret, which won the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical. He was cast in the 2011 revival of The Normal Heart, for which he earned a Tony Award. From 2010 to 2013, he starred on The Big C and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for the final season of the series, subtitled Hereafter.
