caption years_active birth_place name birth_date image article_title birth_name occupation
hall in manhattan . at the 2013 wizard world new york experience 1980 -- present west roxbury , boston , massachusetts , u.s. anthony michael hall 14 april 1968 6.28.13anthonymichaelhallbyluiginovi1.jpg anthony michael hall
 michael anthony hall actor , producer , director , musician
anthony michael hall

michael anthony hall -lrb- born april 14 , 1968 -rrb- , known professionally as anthony michael hall , is an american actor , film producer , and director who starred in several teen-oriented films of the 1980s .
hall began his career in commercials and on stage as a child , and made his screen debut in 1980 .
his films with director-screenwriter john hughes , beginning with the popular 1983 comedy `` national lampoon 's vacation '' and the coming-of-age comedy `` sixteen candles '' , shaped his early career .
hall 's next movies with hughes were the teen classics `` the breakfast club '' and `` weird science '' , both in 1985 .
hall diversified his roles to avoid becoming typecast as his geek persona , joining the cast of `` saturday night live '' -lrb- 1985 -- 1986 -rrb- and starring in films such as `` out of bounds '' -lrb- 1986 -rrb- , `` johnny be good '' -lrb- 1988 -rrb- , `` edward scissorhands '' -lrb- 1990 -rrb- and `` six degrees of separation '' -lrb- 1993 -rrb- .
after a series of minor roles in the 1990s , he starred as microsoft 's bill gates in the 1999 television film `` pirates of silicon valley '' .
he had the leading role in the usa network series `` the dead zone '' , from 2002 to 2007 .
during its run , the show was one of the highest-rated cable television series .
