Michael C. Hall

Michael C. Hall (born 1 February 1971) is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-nominated stage, film, and television actor. He played the title character, serial killer and blood spatter analyst Dexter Morgan, in the Showtime series DEXTER. In 2021-2022, Hall reprised his role as Dexter in Dexter: New Blood, a ten-episode special event series..

Appearances[]

Dexter (show) 2006 -2013

All 96 Episodes of Eight Seasons

Dexter: New Blood - Season One (2021 - 2022)

“Cold Snap” (2021)
“Storm of Fuck” (2021)
“Smoke Signals” (2021)
“H Is for Hero” (2021)
“Runaway” (2021)
“Too Many Tuna Sandwiches” (2021)
"“Skin of Her Teeth” (2021)
“Unfair Game (2021)
“The Family Business” (2022)
“Sins of the Father” (2022)

Director[]

Season Eight:

"Every Silver Lining..."

Producer[]

Season Three

Hall was made co-executive producer of DEXTER.

Awards[]

Dexter: For his work on Dexter, Hall was nominated for five Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. The show itself was also nominated for Emmy citations in the Drama Series category in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. He won the 2007 Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Drama. Hall was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Drama in 2007, 2008, and again in 2010. Also in 2010, he won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.

Six Feet Under: Hall's work in the first season of Six Feet Under (TV series) was recognized by a 2002 Emmy nomination for an Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and 2002 American Film Institute Award nomination for Actor of the Year. In addition, he shared in the Screen Actors Guild nomination for best ensemble cast all five years that the show was in production, winning the award in 2003 and 2004.

Quote[]

In a 2006 interview, Hall discussed his approach to the character of Dexter Morgan, saying:

"I think Dexter is a man who... a part of himself is very much frozen, or arrested in a place that is pre-memory, pre-conscious, pre-verbal. Something very traumatic happened to him, he doesn’t know what that is. And I think on some level he wants to know. He denies his humanity, he describes himself as someone who is without feeling, and yet I think that he maybe suspects -- in a way that maybe isn’t even conscious yet when we first meet him -- that he is in fact a human being. Dexter's a unique killer in that his father saw his dark impulses, shined a light on them, and told Dexter that he saw them, he accepted them, that Dexter is good and that he is worthy of love. And I think that's what enables him to focus his energies in this unique way." ^[1]

Career[]

Theatre

Hall's acting career began in the theater. Off-Broadway, he appeared in Macbeth and Cymbeline at the New York Shakespeare Festival, and in Timon of Athens and Henry V at the New York Public Theater, The English Teachers at the Manhattan Class Company (MCC), and the controversial play Corpus Christi at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In 1999, director Sam Mendes cast Hall as the flamboyant Emcee in the revival of Cabaret, his first Broadway role. Hall also toured as Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago. In 2005, he returned to Off-Broadway theatre in the premier of Noah Haidle's Mr. Marmalade, playing the title character, an emotionally disturbed little girl's imaginary friend. Hall returned to Broadway in a big way in 2014, first as John Jones in The Realistic Joneses and later playing the title role for Hedwig and The Angry Inch. Between 2015 and 2016, Hall continued on stage, starring in David Bowie's New York Theatre Workshop play Lazarus, as Thomas Newton and continued his role months later in the London production.

Film

His film credits include roles in The Shadow of the Moon (2019); The Gettysburg Address (2019, voice); In the Shadow of the Moon (2019); The Report (2019); Game Night (2018); Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (2017); After Adderall (2016); Christine (2016); Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015 video, voice); Cold in July (2014); Kill Your Darlings (2013); The Trouble with Bliss (2011); Peep World (2010); Gamer (2009); Bereft (2004); and Paycheck (2003).

Film (as Himself)

He has appeared as himself in David Bowie: The Last Five Years (2017 Documentary); The Crusader (2011); The Misfit (2011); and Showboy (2002).

TV Movies

His TV movies include Mysteries of the Freemasons (2006 documentary, Narrator).

TV Documentaries (as Himself)

He has appeared as himself in Stem Cell Universe with Stephen Hawking (2014, narrator); Years of Living Dangerously (2014 series); Le grand journal de Canal+ (2014 series); America in Primetime (2011 series); Vietnam in HD (2011 series); Inside the Game: Controlling Gamer (2010 video); Infanity (2008 series); Reinventando Hollywood (2008); Life and Loss: The Impact of 'Six Feet Under (2006); and Broadway: The American Musical (2004 mini-series, voice).

Shorts

His shorts include The River (2013); How to Spoon with Michael C. Hall (2009, Narrator); and Dexter Early Cuts (2009-2010 webseries).

Shorts (as Himself)

He has appeared in shorts as himself in Jerry Stahl Rides Dirty with Ben Stiller, Jason Schwartzman, Michael C. Hall & Flea (2013); Literary Death Match (2012); and Light the Night Walk PSA (2011).

Television

His TV credits include roles on Safe; The Crown; Star vs. the Forces of Evil (voice); Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles (voice); Ruth & Erica; CollegeHumor Originals; and Six Feet Under.

Television (as Himself)

He has appeared as himself on The Daily Show; CBS This Morning; The Late Show with Stephen Colbert; Late Night with Seth Meyers; Live! with Kelly; The Broadway.com Show; Watch What Happens: Live; Today; Conan; Made in Hollywood; Reel Junkie; The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson; Up Close with Carrie Keagan; Larry King Now; The Hour (uncredited); The Writers' Room; Stroumboulopoulos; Jimmy Kimmel Live!; Kevin Pollak's Chat Show; Rove LA; Late Night with Jimmy Fallon; Late Show with David Letterman; Stand Up to Cancer (2010 Special); Tavis Smiley; Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers (2009 Special, uncredited); SAG Foundation Conversations; Friday Night with Jonathan Ross; El hormiguero; The Tonight Show with Jay Leno; Entertainment Tonight; E! Live from the Red Carpet; Showtime Championship Boxing; and The View.

Animation

Hall voices the character Toffee in Daron Nefcy's Star vs. the Forces of Evil. Hall also voices Dexter Morgan in the animated Dexter: Early Cuts.

TV Award Shows (as Himself)

He has appeared on The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards (2012); The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards (2011); 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2011); The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2011); The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards (2010); 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2010); The 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2010); The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards (2009); 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2009); The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2009); Scream Awards 2008 (2008); The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards (2008); 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2007); The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2007); 10th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2004), and The 59th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2002).

Music

Hall has sung for the band Princess Goes to the Butterfly Museum since 2018, alongside Matt Katz-Bohen and Peter Yanowitz. On 3 September 2019, they filmed their first music video for their song, "Ketamine," in Tarrytown, New York. The audio for the song was released 25 October 2019, with the official music video premiering on Collider 12 December 2019. The band's eponymous debut EP was released on 2 April 2020

Video Games

2009: Dexter the Game (voice)

Personal Life[]

Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, Hall grew up an only child, a sister having died in infancy before his birth. When he was 11, his father died of cancer, and in a 2004 interview he recalled, "Certainly, for a young boy, there's no good age, but I think I was on the cusp of a time in my life where I was starting to reach puberty, to relate to my father. To have him... Something gets frozen. As you revisit it for the rest of your life, it's sort of this slow but hopefully sure crawling-out of that frozen moment." ^[2]

Hall graduated from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, in 1993. He later attended New York University's Master of Fine Arts program in New York City.

Marriages

In 2002, he married actress Amy Spanger; he played Billy Flynn opposite her Roxie Hart in the Broadway musical Chicago the summer after their wedding. The couple separated and divorced in 2006.
On 31 December 2008, he married Jennifer Carpenter, who played the character of Dexter Morgan's foster sister, Debra Morgan. They dated for a year and a half before eloping on New Year's Eve in 2008. And then in the summer of 2010, Jennifer petitioned for divorce citing irreconcilable differences. The marriage was officially over that December.
In September 2012, Hall began dating Morgan Macgregor who was an associate editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books, and they married on 29 February 2016. They live in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City.

Sexuality

In a 2018 interview with the Daily Beast, Hall stated, "I think there's a spectrum. I am on it. I'm heterosexual, but if there was a percentage, I would say I was not all the way heterosexual." Despite this, Hall says he's never been attracted to another man. However, he stated he sometimes desires emotional connections with other men that he feels would be considered gay.

Cancer

On 13 January 2010, his agent and spokesman confirmed that Hall was undergoing treatment for a treatable form of Hodgkin's lymphoma. Hall received his diagnosis while Season Four was still being shot, and he kept it a secret until shooting wrapped, beginning his treatment the next day. Many cast mates and friends made their concerns known to the media, some admitting they had no idea Hall was battling cancer because he never showed any signs of the disease. Hall expressed anxiety, mostly because he had avoided doctors since a childhood hernia operation. Hall accepted his Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award in 2010 while wearing a knitted cap over his bald head, having lost his hair to chemotherapy. On 25 April 2010, his wife, Jennifer Carpenter, announced that Hall was fully cured and was set to get back to work for a new season of Dexter. During Season Five of Dexter, Hall wore a human hair wig due to his loss of hair. The cancer is currently in remission.

Charity[]

Hall is the face of the Somalia Aid Society's Feed The People campaign. He has also worked with Kiehl's to promote a limited-edition skin care line that benefits the Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental nonprofit that works toward clean and safe water worldwide. In 2011, Hall was the celebrity spokesperson for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's "Light the Night Walk" fundraising campaign.

Trivia[]

To get in shape for his role as Dexter, Michael C Hall hired celebrity trainer Gregory Joujon-Roche. who charged $5,000 per week and came with a support team. Hall had access to a fitness trainer, masseuse, nutritionist, martial arts instructor, yoga instructor, and core trainer. His workouts included running, weightlifting, abs exercise, and practicing hand-to-hand combat.
He is a vegan.