Michael C. Hall
Michael C. Hall | |
|---|---|
 Hall at the 2011 Comic-Con | |
| Born | Michael Carlyle Hall February 1, 1971 Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actor Executive Producer |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Spouse(s) |
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Michael Carlyle Hall (born February 1, 1971) is an American actor whose television roles include David Fisher on the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and Dexter Morgan on the Showtime series Dexter. In 2009, Hall won a Golden Globe award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his role in Dexter.[1]
Early life
Hall was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. His mother, Janice Styons Hall, is a high school guidance counselor in Wake Forest, and his father, William Carlyle Hall, worked for IBM.[2] Hall grew up an only child, a sister having died in infancy before his birth. He has said of growing up a single child, that "There was a very one-on-one, immediate family relationship, my mom and I". His father died of prostate cancer in 1982, when Hall was 11 years old.[3] In a 2004 interview, he stated
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.[4]
Hall attended Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, graduating in 1989.[5] He graduated from Earlham College in 1993 and had planned to become a lawyer. He later attended New York University's Master of Fine Arts program in New York City.
Career
Early on in life Hall discovered acting, performing in “What Love Is” while in the second grade at Ravenscroft School. When he was in fifth grade, he began singing in a boy's choir, then graduated to musicals in high school, performing in standards such as The Sound of Music, Oklahoma! and Fiddler on the Roof
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 New York 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 in the workshop production of what was then known as Sondheim's Wise Guys, later versions of which were titled Bounce and, finally, Road Show. He sang the role of Paris Singer; this character's songs and function in the play were transferred to the character Hollis Bessamer in the final version of the play. In Los Angeles, he appeared in Skylight at the Mark Taper Forum.
Stage
In 1999, director Sam Mendes cast Hall as the flamboyant Emcee in the revival of Cabaret, his first Broadway role.
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's imaginary friend.
Six Feet Under
Mendes suggested Hall for the role of closeted David Fisher when Alan Ball began casting the TV drama Six Feet Under. "Everything I opened up for Cabaret," Hall reported in a 2004 interview, "I slammed shut for David."[4]
Hall's work in the first season of Six Feet Under was recognized by an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and for an AFI Award nomination for Actor of the Year in 2002 for his role as David Fisher. 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.[6]
Dexter
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Hall is currently starring in and co-producing the Showtime television series Dexter, in which he plays the titular character, a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a vigilante serial killer. The series also casts Hall's ex-wife, Jennifer Carpenter as his foster sister, Debra Morgan. The series premiered on October 1, 2006 and its fifth season began on September 26, 2010. For his work on Dexter, Hall has been nominated for three more Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The show itself was also nominated for a 2008, 2009 and 2010 Emmy in the Drama Series category.[7] He won the 2007 Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Drama.[8] Hall was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Drama in 2007, and again in 2008 [9] finally winning the award at the 67th Golden Globe Awards in 2010.[10] Also in 2010, he won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series. On December 4, 2010, Showtime announced that Dexter would be renewed for a sixth season and stated that a seventh season was possible.[11][12] Season 6 will premiere October 2, 2011.
Film
Hall's film credits include the 2003 thriller Paycheck, the 2009 science fiction thriller Gamer, the 2011 comedy Peep World and 2011 East Fifth Bliss.
Commercials
In 2009, Hall began doing voice-overs for some Dodge commercials, including the Challenger, Charger, Durango, Grand Caravan, and Journey, as well as the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Personal life
On May 1, 2003, Hall 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 in 2005 and filed for divorce in 2006. On December 31, 2008, he eloped with Jennifer Carpenter, who plays the character of Dexter Morgan's foster sister, Debra Morgan, on Showtime's Dexter. They dated for a year prior to getting married.[13][14] On December 18, 2010, Carpenter filed for divorce from Hall. The filing states that the two had been separated since August 2010.[15]
Cancer
On January 13, 2010, his agent and spokesman confirmed that he was undergoing treatment for a treatable form of Hodgkin's lymphoma. The cancer was in remission and he was continuing treatment.[16] Many castmates and friends made their concerns known to the media, some even admitting they had no idea Hall was battling Hodgkin's lymphoma because he never showed any signs of the disease. He 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 due to chemotherapy.[17] On April 25, 2010, Carpenter announced that Hall was fully cured[18] and was set to get back to work for a new season of Dexter.[19]
Charity
Hall is proud to lend his name to charities whose work he admires. He is currently the face of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light The Night campaign. Recently, he has also worked with Kiehl's skin care line to do a limited edition line that benefits the Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental nonprofit that works towards clean and safe water worldwide.[20]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Paycheck | Agent Klein | |
| 2004 | Bereft | Jonathan | |
| 2009 | Gamer | Ken Castle | |
| 2010 | Peep World | Jack | |
| 2011 | East Fifth Bliss | Morris Bliss |
See also
References
- ^ "2009 Golden Globe Nominees". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ^ Tallmer, Jerry (2005-10-26). "Take a girl in a tutu, a man in a suit, and just add writer". The Villager. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Yahoo biography
- ^ a b Stockwell, Anne (2004-06-08). "Hall of love and death". The Advocate. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
- ^ Alumni News & Events
- ^ The Hollywood Reporter, Volume 401 Publisher Hollywood Reporter Inc., 2007
- ^ "Emmy Nominees: The Class of 2008". 2008-07-17. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
- ^ "NBC Triumphs at TCA Awards". Television Critics Association. 2007-07-21. Retrieved 2007-11-24.
- ^ "Hollywood Foreign Press Association 2008 Golden Globe Awards For The Year Ended December 31, 2007". HFPA. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
- ^ 2009 Golden Globe Nominees HFPA Nominations and Winners
- ^ "Showtime Gives Dexter Another Season". December 4, 2010. Retrieved December 4, 2010.
- ^ "Dexter Picked Up for a Sixth Season!". December 4, 2010. Retrieved December 4, 2010.
- ^ Dexter siblings Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter are now real-life spouses
- ^ Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter are Married E! online, January 10, 2009
- ^ "Michael C. Hall's Wife Files for Divorce". ThirdAge. 17 December 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
- ^ Elber, Lynn (2010-01-13). "Dexters Michael C. Hall Has Cancer". People. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
- ^ "New York Times blogger mocks Michael C. Hall's cap without knowing he had cancer". PerthNow.com.au. 20 January 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
- ^ "Michael C. Hall – Cancer in Remission & Back to Work on "Dexter"". National Ledger. Apr 27, 2010. Retrieved Apr 28, 2010.
- ^ "Dexter star Hall over cancer". BBC News. April 25, 2010.
- ^ "Limited Edition Rare Earth Pore Cleansing Masque by Michael C. Hall". Waterkeeper Alliance. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
External links
- 1971 births
- Living people
- Actors from North Carolina
- American film actors
- American stage actors
- American television actors
- Cancer survivors
- Earlham College alumni
- New York University alumni
- Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (television) winners
- Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners
- Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners
- People from Raleigh, North Carolina