Michael C. Hall

Michael: (About the character of Dexter) I think Dexter is a man who…a part of himself is very much frozen, or arrested in a place that is pre-memory, pre-conscious, pre-verbal. Something very traumatic happened to him, he doesn't know what that is. And I think on some level he wants to know. He denies his humanity, he describes himself as someone who is without feeling, and yet I think that he maybe suspects - in a way that maybe isn't even conscious yet when we first meet him - that he is in fact a human being. Dexter's a unique killer in that his father saw his dark impulses, shined a light on them, and told Dexter that he saw them, he accepted them, that Dexter is good and that he is worthy of love. And I think that's what enables him to focus his energies in this unique way.

Michael C. Hall: I don't think closeted homosexual morticians have the market cornered on self-loathing or sense of shame.

Michael C. Hall: In a strange way, playing David during the first season (of Six Feet Under) required me to get in touch with my homophobia. He had such internalized loathing for who he was. I certainly have moved forward in my life, in my own relationship to my self-loathing, by having played David.

Michael C. Hall: Ultimately, I'm a mess. I don't mean I'm a mess, like, emotionally--I mean, I think probably everybody's a mess. David's a mess. But. I'm talking about ... I'm messy.

Michael C. Hall: I'm definitely not as fastidious as David (Six Feet Under).

Michael C. Hall: I certainly know there are people in positions of power in the business who lack imagination and, perhaps as a result of that, think of me as David (Six Feet Under). But I wouldn't really want to work with those people, you know?

Michael C. Hall: (About his Golden Globe nomination for "Dexter") The show has momentum, it's captured people's imagination.... I won't deny that it's a thrill to be recognized in this way. I'll bring as many people [to the Jan. 15, 2007, Globes ceremony] as I can, based on how many tickets they give me.

Michael C. Hall: (In reference to Hall's character Dexter) He's obviously a very cunning and capable guy, but in certain instances there's an innocence about him that is potentially funny, potentially endearing. I like the guy. Would that we all took such responsibility for our shadow sides.

Michael C. Hall: I'm very focused on "Dexter" right now. I want to make it as good of a show as we can.

Michael C. Hall: It's interesting to play a role where you don't really have to preoccupy yourself with any need to convince yourself that you're not acting.

Michael C. Hall: My mother is a survivor who's had a lot of things happen in her life that have been very trying.

Michael C. Hall: I think I had a shyness about me, I think I discovered acting as a way to break out of that and as a way of belonging, a sense of being special.

Michael C. Hall: I like to think I am well-mannered. If I have the option at a breakfast place, I'll go with the grits. That's how Southern I am.

Michael C. Hall: People feel like they know me from the work I have done, but it's not me.

Michael C. Hall: I never really considered acting as a career until I moved to New York.