Hardy grew up in Sanford, Florida and graduated from Seminole High School after high school served in the Navy, then attended Seminole State College. It was here where he did his first play and went on to Florida Atlantic University and got a BFA. In 1978 his father passed away and he went home to Orlando and got his first commercial and later went to UCLA. He then went on to NYC where he lived for thirty tears and did numerous commercials all thru the 1980s. In the 1990s he starred as Pete's Dad Don Wrigley on the Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete and Pete, one of his favorite roles.