Anthony Michael Hall (born April 14, 1968 in West Roxbury, Massachusetts) is a U.S. movie actor who became famous playing a nerd in several successful, teenage Brat Pack films of the 1980s.
After his early success at playing a geek (National Lampoon's Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science), Hall avoided playing similar roles to escape the nerdy typecast.
He appeared as a regular on Saturday Night Live at the age of 17, the youngest cast member ever. After a string of bizarre behavior, a tour in rehabilitation for alcoholism, and late puberty, a far more athletic Hall appeared in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990), this time playing the part of a villainous football player.
Hall has denied he was ever in rehab saying the closest he got was visiting friend Robert Downey Jr. in jail. Hall has been diagnosed as bi-polar and was the subject of a lawsuit for shutting down "Dead Zone" due to his illness.
Hall starred in Hail Caesar, a film about a would-be rock star who works in a pencil eraser factory, which Hall also directed. Hall continues to appear regularly in major films in a variety of roles such as Bill Gates in Pirates of Silicon Valley and baseball player Whitey Ford in 61*. He also stars in The Dead Zone, a hit television series based on the Stephen King novel.
Hall writes and sings for his band, Hall of Mirrors. His sister is also a singer using the stage name of Mary C., his mother Mercedes Hall is a cabaret singer who has her own space at www.myspace.com.
