Michael C. Hall is about to reprise his deliciously dark signature role in Dexter: New Blood, a revival series arriving eight years after fans thought they'd seen the last of Dexter Morgan. Ahead of its premiere Sunday on Showtime, let's take a moment to get to know this fascinating actor who also starred in Alan Ball's sophisticated black comedy series Six Feet Under and David Bowie's fantastical stage musical Lazarus.
1. He was profoundly affected by losing his father at a young age.
"I think I behaved in ways that were pretty conformist. My dad died when I was 11. I understood implicitly that I needed to take care of my mother. The best way was not to upset her, never cause her to unnecessarily worry about me," Hall told The Times of London. "So I kept a lot under lock and key. I’ve certainly found myself working on things that have encouraged me to explore whatever is repressed or shadowy in me, and I'm glad."
2. He studied acting at New York University's super-prestigious Tisch School of the Arts.
Fellow alumni include Lady Gaga, Whoopi Goldberg, Angelina Jolie, Martin Scorsese, and Donald Glover, so it's safe to say he's in good company.
3. He has acknowledged that his sexuality isn't entirely clear-cut.
"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," Hall told The Daily Beast in 2019.
"I've never had an intimate relationship with a man. I think, maybe because of an absent father, there has definitely been a craving for an emotional intimacy with a man," he added. "I don’t mean to suggest that an emotional relationship between a father and son is any way homoerotic. I mean an emotional intimacy or connection that at least in the milieu I grew up in was considered fey. I had an appetite to have emotional connections with men beyond beer, sports, and fist-pumping that were considered 'gay.'"
4. He is the lead singer in the '80s-influenced band Princess Goes To The Butterfly Museum.
They released their debut album Thanks for Coming earlier this year – check out the pulsing electronic single "Nevertheless" below.5. He's been vegan for several years now.
"The general question that occurred to me was what I could do about the welfare of actors, the environment, and my own physical body and a desire to combat corporate corruption. All those things led me to veganism," he told The Daily Beast.
6. He believes his early experience of loss helped him relate to David, his funeral director character in Six Feet Under.
"My parents' first child died in infancy before I was born. Death was a conscious reality for me as soon as I came online. I've maybe done more than the average amount of time in funeral homes," Hall told The Guardian. "There's that scene in the pilot episode where David is preparing his father for the viewing, and his dead father appears over his shoulder [and says]: 'Oh, no, you're doing me?' That internalized critical paternal energy was something that I definitely relate to."
7. Playing David on Six Feet Under was definitely an eye-opening experience for him.
“David was so distilled, and his life was a lot more interesting than my own," Hall told The Guardian. "My real life seemed to be just driving to and from set and sleeping and eating, whereas my life as that character was always so consequential and fascinating."
8. He thought carefully about the British accent he adopted for the 2018 miniseries Safe.
Hall explained in a video interview with Build Series that he wanted his character, pediatric surgeon Tom Delaney, to "sound like a contemporary British person, not a Monty Python character."9. He collected a posthumous Brit Award on David Bowie’s behalf.
"If David Bowie could be here tonight... he probably wouldn't be here tonight," Hall joked as he accepted the award in February 2017, around a year after Bowie’s death.10. And finally, he’s aware of fans’ dismay at the way Dexter originally ended in 2013.
"I totally get why the eighth season finale was dissatisfying, if not infuriating, for people," Hall told USA Today. "But had it been some perfect ending, we wouldn't be talking Dexter right now. In a way, it set the stage for what we hope is a more satisfying return."
Are you looking forward to watching Michael C. Hall in Dexter: New Blood?