How Michael C. Hall Made A Killing Playing Dexter
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Fans are eagerly waiting for the moment of Michael C. Hall’s return as Dexter Morgan, a forensic blood spatter analyst for the fictious Miami-Metro Police Department and vigilante serial killer on the side.
Hall made his fortune, with a net worth of $25 million, primarily from the Showtime hit “Dexter” and the 10-episode limited series addition is set to air this winter.
For those viewers who watched each episode through it 2006-2013 original run, or those just recently catching up, fans were less than thrilled with the series finale. However, Hall and executives at Showtime have said several times over the years, the finale leaves the door open for a reboot.
Co-President of Entertainment at Showtime, Gary Levine, told Deadline they would only revisit a reboot for perhaps their most popular character if they could find a “worthy” creative take on the subsequent episodes.
Lucky for fans, they found it. According to Hall, the new series picks up several years down the road, as if just has much time has passed for Dexter as it has for viewers.
Hall’s Humble Beginnings
Born in Raleigh, NC, Hall’s early years were wrought with painful circumstances. His older sister died during her infancy and his father passed from cancer with Hall was 11, leaving a profound gap in what Hall has said is desire to have strong male relationships, according to Looper.
He found his niche on the stage however and though Hall planned to attend law school, he made a switch after discovering the drama club. A high school chorus member and cast in productions like “The Sound of Music”, “Oklahoma” and “Fiddler on the Roof”, Hall continued his love for theatre through college and began an acting career Off- Broadway.
After taking the stage at the New York Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theatre and the Manhattan theatre Club, Hall was cast in his first Broadway role in 1999, according to Celebrity Net Worth, in “Cabaret”. By 2001, he had moved from the stage to television starring as David Fisher in five seasons of “Six Feet Under”.
It’s Showtime
Straight from “Six Feet Under”, Hall landed the role his most well known for; in 2006, he began starring in “Dexter”. His performance earned Hall five Emmy Award nominations, and a Golden Globe nomination. In 2010, he took home the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor- Television Series Drama and also won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.
Ironically, Hall will return as Dexter Morgan for the limited series, despite being vocal about the toll the character took on his acting skills.
In the roll of a serial killer, Hall originally found the lack of emotion and empathy required for the part an “interesting challenge”, however, after the series concluded, he found it took time to regain the lessons he learned at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
In fact, Hall specifically steered away from television when selecting roles after the “Dexter” series, intent on not becoming typecast and interested in delving into different genres and roles as a whole.
He had roles in films such as “Paycheck”, “The Trouble with Bliss” and “The Gettysburg Address” and several independent films. Hall did a few short series for Netflix, not only for the interesting scripts, but for the promise of not being tied down to a long-term series like “Dexter” had been. He also returned to his roots in Broadway, for productions in “The Realistic Joneses” and “Hedwig and The Angry Inch”.
Along the Way
In 2010, Hall was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and after treatment, announced he was in full remission. In 2011, he began working with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, raising funds and awareness with a variety of campaigns.
According to Looper, Hall said if it weren’t for his work, he may not have made it through the cancer treatment, citing the ability to focus on “being someone else” for a time as a welcome distraction.
Hall joined a band, Princess Goes to the Butterfly Museum with two Broadway colleagues, Matt Katz-Bowen and Peter Yanowitz. He’s also recorded his first audio book; the unabridged version of Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery.
Despite a series of failed marriages to Amy Spanger from 2002 to 2006 and “Dexter” co-star Jennifer Carpenter from 2008 to 2010, it seems that Hall has finally found love. He’s currently married to Morgan Macgregor, an associate editor at the “Los Angeles Review of Books” and they reside in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Sources: Deadline, Celebrity Net Worth, Looper
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