Biography of actor Anthony Michael Hall

In the 1980s the young Anthony Michael Hall was a member of the prestigious clique known as the Brat Pack. Hall, along with several other young and sexy celebrities such as Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy ruled the streets of Hollywood.

Together, they were a force to be reckoned with, starring in several movies together such as The Breakfast Club in 1985 and Sixteen Candles in 1984. Each member of the Brat Pack was strategically typecast into playing stereotypical high school type roles. Anthony’s typical role became that of the geek. Unlike some of the other Brat Pack members who had trouble finding work once the decade was over, Hall has proven that there was life and work before and after The Breakfast Club.

Hall was born in 1968 in Boston, Massachusetts, to two parents who knew the entertainment business inside and out. His father was a show business manager and his mother, Mercedes Hall, was a singer and actress. He has one sister who is also an entertainer. His work on The Breakfast Club became a family affair when his real-life sister, Mary Christian, played his character’s sister in the film. Anthony began working as an actor by age eight and by the time he hit high school it had become his full time career.

He got his break into the world of TV by doing a few commercials. He then landed a role on Saturday Night Live. He is the youngest cast member to date who joined the comedy show at the age of seventeen. After his first season he chose to leave the show to go to rehab after having a substance abuse problem since the age of thirteen. His first major film was Sixteen Candles co-starring Molly Ringwald several years after his stint in rehab. At the time he also briefly dated his co-star.

Not wanting to be typecast as the typical geek, Hall began turning down roles in films such as Pretty in Pink in 1986 and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 1986. By 1990 the rule of the Brat Pack had collapsed, but Hall remained unscathed and quickly found work as the football player in Edward Scissorhands.

In an attempt to distance himself and his acting career from his Brat Pack days, Hall now goes by his given name, Michael. He currently stars in the successful show The Dead Zone on HBO, which is based on the Stephen King novel. He once cancelled production of the show due to being diagnosed with bi-polar disease. That incident caused him to become the subject of a lawsuit for shutting down the production.

Hall is also in a band called Hall of Mirrors, in which he both writes and sings. He has also continued to get roles in major films such as Freddie got Fingered in 2001, Funny Valentine in 2005, and Aftermath in 2006. He has also tried his hand at directing with the film Hail Caesar in 1994, in which he also played the lead role. Hall has also directed a couple episodes of his show The Dead Zone.  Hall has been such a major icon of teen movies that his name was referenced in the parody Not another Teen Movie (2001). In the film, the school cafeteria was name Anthony Michael Dining Hall.  

YUDDY