# Michael C. Hall

Michael Carlyle Hall (born February 1, 1971) is an American actor and musician. He is known for playing the titular character in the Showtime series Dexter and David Fisher in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under. He won a Golden Globe Award for the former, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and received six total nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, which ties the record for most nominations in the category without a win. He reprised his role of Dexter Morgan in the miniseries Dexter: New Blood and Dexter: Original Sin.
Born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, Hall graduated from New York University's graduate acting program at the Tisch School of the Arts in 1996. He began his acting career on Broadway in the revival of Cabaret and appeared in a variety of shows throughout the 1990s. Aside from his roles on Six Feet Under and Dexter, he starred in the Broadway musical Hedwig and The Angry Inch and in films including Paycheck, Gamer, Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House, Game Night, and In the Shadow of the Moon.

## Early life

Michael C. Hall was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. His mother, Janice (née Styons) Hall, is a mental health counselor at Lees-McRae College, and his father, William Carlyle Hall, was a systems engineer manager for IBM. Hall had one older sister who died in infancy before his birth. His father died of prostate cancer in 1982 at the age of 39 when Hall was 11 years old. He has said of this, "There was a very one-on-one, immediate family relationship, my mom and I." In a 2004 interview, Hall spoke about his experience in the wake of his father's death: "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."
Hall discovered acting early in life: he performed in What Love Is when he was in second grade at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, North Carolina. In fifth grade, he began singing, first in a boys' choir, and later, in high school, in musicals, performing in standards such as The Sound of Music, Oklahoma!, and Fiddler on the Roof. Hall graduated from Ravenscroft School in 1989 and enrolled at Earlham College, a liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. At Earlham, Hall continued acting, starring in Cabaret and other productions. Hall graduated from Earlham College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1993. While he has said that he had planned to become a lawyer, he later acknowledged that he had never formed a serious intent to go to law school. Additionally, Hall graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from New York University's graduate acting program at the Tisch School of the Arts in 1996.

## Career
### Early work

Hall's professional acting career began in the theater. Off-Broadway, he appeared in Macbeth and Cymbeline at the New York Shakespeare Festival; in Timon of Athens and Henry V at The Public Theater; The English Teachers at the Manhattan Class Company (MCC); and the controversial play Corpus Christi at the Manhattan Theatre Club. He also performed the role of Paris Singer in the workshop production of a Stephen Sondheim musical (titled Wise Guys at the time, and in later versions, Bounce and then Road Show. His character's songs and function were transferred to the character Hollis Bessamer in the final version.) In Los Angeles, Hall appeared in Skylight at the Mark Taper Forum. As part of the Texas Shakespeare Festival in the summer of 1995, he played Lancelot in Camelot, Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing. In 1998, Hall performed in William Shakespeare's Cymbeline, in the role of Posthumus Leonatus, which ran from August 4 to 30. In 1999, director Sam Mendes cast Hall as the flamboyant Emcee in the revival of Cabaret; this was Hall's first Broadway role. Hall's film credits from this period include the thriller Paycheck (2003) and the science fiction thriller Gamer (2009).

### 2000s

Mendes suggested Hall for the role of closeted David Fisher, when Alan Ball began casting the TV drama Six Feet Under. "Everything opened up for me in Cabaret," but, Hall reported in a 2004 interview, "It slammed shut for David." Hall's work in the first season of Six Feet Under was recognized with a nomination for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and for an AFI Award nomination for Actor of the Year in 2002. In addition, he shared in the Screen Actors Guild nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series all five years that the show was in production, winning the award in 2003 and 2004. In 2003, Hall toured as Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago. In 2005, he returned to off-Broadway theater in the premiere of Noah Haidle's Mr. Marmalade, playing the title character, an emotionally disturbed little girl named Lucy's imaginary friend.
Hall starred in and co-produced the Showtime television series Dexter, in which he played Dexter Morgan, a psychopathic blood-spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department, who moonlights as a serial killer/vigilante. Jennifer Carpenter played his adoptive sister, Debra Morgan. The series premiered on October 1, 2006, and ended its run in 2013. After months of rumors, on April 18, 2013, Showtime announced via social media that season eight would be Dexter's final season. Hall also voiced Dexter Morgan in the animated web series Dexter: Early Cuts. For his work on Dexter, Hall was nominated for five Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series from 2008 to 2012. The show itself was also nominated for Emmy citations in the Drama Series category in the same years. He won the 2007 Television Critics Association award for Individual Achievement in Drama at the 23rd TCA Awards. Hall was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Drama in 2007 and 2008, and won in 2010 at the 67th Golden Globe Awards. Also in 2010, he won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series at the 16th Screen Actor's Guild Awards.

### 2010s

Hall's film credits include the 2011 drama The Trouble with Bliss (2011), the comedy Peep World (2012), and Kill Your Darlings (2013). Hall performed in a film adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale's cult novel Cold in July, directed by Jim Mickle. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Hall portrayed Abraham Lincoln's advisor, Leonard Swett, in the documentary film The Gettysburg Address. In 2014, he returned to Broadway in the play The Realistic Joneses, starring in the role of John Jones. He assumed the title role in Hedwig and The Angry Inch on Broadway on October 16, 2014, and performed the role until January 18, 2015. Hall returned to the role of Hedwig from February 17–21, 2015, to replace John Cameron Mitchell, who had a knee injury.
At the end of 2015 and the start of 2016, Hall starred as Thomas Newton in the NYTW stage production of Lazarus, created by David Bowie and Enda Walsh. Hall performed the song "Lazarus", which appeared on Bowie's final album, Blackstar (2016), on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in December 2015. He later appeared in the London production from October 25, 2016, until January 22, 2017. In 2017, Hall played US President John F. Kennedy in season two, episode eight, "Dear Mrs Kennedy", of the Netflix historical drama The Crown, alongside actress Jodi Balfour as First Lady Jackie Kennedy.
Hall starred as Tom Delaney, a British widower and doctor, in Safe, an eight-part Netflix original crime drama which premiered on May 10, 2018. Also in 2018, Hall starred as Thom Pain in the off-Broadway production of Thom Pain (based on nothing), a one-man show written by Will Eno. The show was directed by Oliver Butler for the Signature Theatre Company in New York City, and it ran from October 23, 2018, to December 9, 2018, after being extended twice. Also in 2018, Hall narrated the audiobook version of Stephen King's horror novel Pet Sematary. Since 2018, Hall has written for and performed in the NYC band, Princess Goes (formerly Princess Goes to the Butterfly Museum), alongside Matt Katz-Bohen and Peter Yanowitz. Hall met drummer Yanowitz while performing together in Hedwig and The Angry Inch. They struck up a friendship and soon began collaborating on songs with Katz-Bohen, who was also a member of the Hedwig cast.
On February 3, 2019, Hall starred as a fictionalized version of himself in the half-hour-long, one-time-only Broadway musical, Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical. That same year, Hall starred as Holt in the Netflix thriller film In the Shadow of the Moon. Hall voices the character Toffee in Daron Nefcy's Star vs. the Forces of Evil and also voiced Batman in Justice League: Gods and Monsters. Also in 2019, Hall starred alongside Martha Plimpton and Hamish Linklater in an episode of the theatre podcast Playing on Air, titled "Nudity Rider". In 2019, Princess Goes filmed their first music video for their song, "Ketamine", in Tarrytown, New York. The audio for the song was featured in the end credits for Dexter: New Blood episode 5 "Runaway", and "Ketamine" has been remixed by several artists on the Ketamine EP.

### 2020s

Hall previously stated he would be open to returning for a Dexter spinoff series, but said: "I can't even wrap my mind around that. And it's all just theoretical until there is some sort of script reflecting somebody's idea of where it could possibly go. But it's hard for me to imagine what that would be. Yeah, as far as playing Dexter again for an undefined amount of time, that's a little daunting to consider. But doing another television series—there's a lot of amazing stuff on TV. I don't want to do that right away. But I wouldn't say never to that." He has said he would consider revisiting his role as the serial killer if something was written that he deemed "worth pursuing". Showtime president David Nevins said there had been discussions for a Dexter spinoff series that would take the character in a different direction and not continue the previous series. Nevins said they would only do the show if Hall agreed to return. In October 2020, Showtime confirmed that Hall would reprise his role of Dexter Morgan in a 10-episode limited series titled Dexter: New Blood, with Clyde Phillips returning as showrunner. The series premiered on November 7, 2021 and ended on January 9, 2022. The series finale was the most watched finale in the history of the network, it also set streaming records as well.
Princess Goes to the Butterfly Museum released their eponymous debut EP on April 2, 2020. In 2021, the band self released their first full length album, Thanks for Coming. In 2023, the band released their second full length album, Come of Age through So/In De Goot Recordings, simultaneously shortening their name to Princess Goes. On September 21, 2024, the band played Riot Fest in Chicago. Princess Goes has toured all over the globe and continues to record and perform their music.

## Personal life

In 2002, Hall married actress Amy Spanger. The summer after their wedding, Hall played Billy Flynn opposite Spanger's Roxie Hart in the Broadway musical Chicago. The pair divorced in 2006. In 2007, Hall began dating his Dexter co-star Jennifer Carpenter. They eloped on New Year's Eve 2008 in California and publicly appeared together for the first time as a married couple at the 66th Golden Globe Awards in January 2009. In December 2010, Hall and Carpenter released a statement announcing that they had filed for divorce after having been separated "for some time". The divorce was granted for irreconcilable differences and finalized in December 2011; however, the two remain close friends. In September 2012, Hall began dating Morgan Macgregor, who was an associate editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books, and they married on February 29, 2016.
On January 13, 2010, Hall's agent and spokesman confirmed that Hall was undergoing treatment for a form of Hodgkin's lymphoma. In an interview, Hall said that it was upsetting to learn of his cancer when he was 38 years old, as his father had died from cancer at age 39. 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 due to chemotherapy, which he covered with a wig in season 5 of Dexter. On April 25, 2010, Carpenter announced that Hall's cancer was fully in remission and he was set to get back to work for the 6th season of Dexter.
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 organization 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.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2003 | Paycheck | Agent Klein | |
| 2009 | Gamer | Ken Castle | |
| 2011 | Peep World | Jack Meyerwitz | |
| 2012 | The Trouble with Bliss | Morris Bliss | |
| 2013 | Kill Your Darlings | David Kammerer | |
| 2014 | Cold in July | Richard Dane | |
| 2015 | Justice League: Gods and Monsters | Kirk Langstrom / Man-Bat | Voice, direct-to-video |
| 2016 | Christine | George Peter Ryan | |
| 2016 | After Adderall | Director | |
| 2017 | Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House | John Dean | |
| 2018 | Game Night | The Bulgarian | |
| 2019 | The Report | Thomas Eastman | |
| 2019 | In the Shadow of the Moon | Det. Holt | |
| 2021 | John and the Hole | Bradley Shay | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1999 | As the World Turns | Jerry Klein | 1 episode |
| 2001–2005 | Six Feet Under | David Fisher | 63 episodes |
| 2004 | Bereft | Jonathan | Television film |
| 2006 | Mysteries of the Freemasons | Narrator | Television film |
| 2006–2013 | Dexter | Dexter Morgan | 96 episodes; also executive producer |
| 2009–2010 | Dexter: Early Cuts | Dexter Morgan | Voice; 24 episodes |
| 2011 | Vietnam in HD | Narrator | 6 episodes |
| 2012 | Ruth & Erica | Tom | 3 episodes |
| 2014 | Years of Living Dangerously | Himself | Episode: "A Dangerous Future" |
| 2015 | Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles | Kirk Langstrom / Man-Bat | Voice, episode: "Twisted" |
| 2015–2019 | Star vs. the Forces of Evil | Toffee | Voice, 11 episodes |
| 2017 | The Crown | John F. Kennedy | Episode: "Dear Mrs. Kennedy" |
| 2018 | Safe | Dr. Tom Delaney | Also executive producer |
| 2019 | Documentary Now! | Billy May "Dead Eyes" Dempsey | Episode: "Any Given Saturday Afternoon" |
| 2020 | The Defeated | Tom Franklin | Miniseries |
| 2021–2022 | Dexter: New Blood | Dexter Morgan / Jim Lindsay | Limited series; sequel to Dexter |
| 2024–present | Dexter: Original Sin | Dexter Morgan | 10 episodes; prequel to Dexter |
| 2025 | Dexter: Resurrection | Dexter Morgan | Sequel to Dexter |

### Theater

| Year | Title | Role | Venue |
| 1996 | Henry V | Earl of Warwick | Delacorte Theatre |
| 1996 | Timon of Athens | Caphis | Delacorte Theatre |
| 1996 | Skylight | Edward Sergeant | Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre |
| 1998 | Macbeth | Malcolm | The Public Theater |
| 1998 | Corpus Christi | Saint Peter | Manhattan Theatre Club |
| 1998 | Cymbeline | Posthumus Leonatus | Delacorte Theatre |
| 1999–2000 | Cabaret | Emcee | Studio 54 |
| 2002 | Chicago | Billy Flynn | Richard Rodgers Theatre |
| 2004 | R Shomon | Morito/Thief/Reporter | Williamstown Theatre Festival |
| 2005 | Mr. Marmalade | Mr. Marmalade | Laura Pels Theatre |
| 2014 | The Realistic Joneses | John Jones | Lyceum Theatre |
| 2014–2015 | Hedwig and the Angry Inch | Hedwig | Belasco Theatre |
| 2015–2017 | Lazarus | Thomas Jerome Newton | New York Theatre Workshop King's Cross Theatre |
| 2018 | Thom Pain (based on nothing) | Thom Pain | Signature Theatre Company |
| 2019 | Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical | Himself | Midtown Manhattan's Town Hall |

### Web series

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2011 | CollegeHumor Originals | Bryan | 1 episode: "Porn Rental" |
| 2023 | The Hacker Chronicles | John Doe | Voice, season 2 |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Association | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 2002 | American Film Institute Awards | Male Actor of the Year in a Television Series | Six Feet Under | Nominated |
| 2002 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series | Six Feet Under | Nominated |
| 2002 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Six Feet Under | Nominated |
| 2003 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Six Feet Under | Won |
| 2004 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Six Feet Under | Won |
| 2005 | Monte-Carlo Television Festival | Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series | Six Feet Under | Won |
| 2005 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Six Feet Under | Nominated |
| 2006 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Six Feet Under | Nominated |
| 2006 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2007 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2007 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Dexter | Won |
| 2007 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | Dexter | Won |
| 2007 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2007 | Television Critics Association Awards | Individual Achievement in Drama | Dexter | Won |
| 2008 | Astra Awards | Favorite International Personality or Actor | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2008 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2008 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2008 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2008 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2008 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2009 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2009 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2009 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2009 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2009 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2010 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Dexter | Won |
| 2010 | Monte-Carlo Television Festival | Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Won |
| 2010 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2010 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2010 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2010 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Won |
| 2010 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2011 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2011 | Monte-Carlo Television Festival | Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2011 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2011 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2011 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2012 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2012 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2012 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2013 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | Dexter | Nominated |
| 2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Ensemble Performance | The Realistic Joneses | Won |
| 2016 | Lucille Lortel Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical | Lazarus | Nominated |
| 2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance | Lazarus | Nominated |
| 2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical | Lazarus | Nominated |
| 2017 | WhatsOnStage Awards | Best Actor in a Musical | Lazarus | Nominated |
| 2022 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | Dexter: New Blood | Nominated |