Batt was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Gayle (Mackenroth), an amateur Actress, Dancer, and civic Activist, and John Batt. His family founded and ran the Pontchartrain Beach amusement park. He attended and graduated from Isidore Newman School, a preparatory school in New Orleans and Tulane University where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. While Batt played a closeted character in Mad Men, the actor is openly gay. He has played gay roles on film (Jeffrey and Kiss Me, Guido) and stage (La Cage aux Folles). In 2005, Batt told Playbill that he used to worry about the effect of coming out on his career:
Bryan Batt lives with his partner, Tom Cianfichi, an event planner. Batt and Cianfichi have been together more than 21 years; they met while performing Evita in Akron, Ohio. Batt was playing Che and Cianfichi was the understudy for Magaldi. Batt and Cianfichi own a home decor and furnishings store, Hazelnut, on Magazine Street in New Orleans. In 2010 Batt published a memoir about his mother entitled She Ain't Heavy, She's My Mother; she died in December 2010. In 2011 Clarkson Potter published his second book, Big, Easy, Style, which focuses on interior design and home furnishings.
