Former child actor Anthony Michael Hall made his feature debut in "Six Pack" (1982), starring country singing star Kenny Rogers (in his debut too), and then landed the role of Rusty in "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983), catching the attention of the film's screenwriter John Hughes, who was about to make the jump to directing. His performance as the scrawny, braces-wearing king of the freshman geeks in Hughes' "Sixteen Candles" (1984), along with follow-up variations on the role in Hughes' "The Breakfast Club" and "Weird Science", established him as the 80s nerd-of-choice, as well as a member in good standing of Hollywood's Brat Pack. Offers flooded in, but Hall and his management (stepfather Thomas Chestaro) were ill-equipped to sort through them and make savvy decisions. A deadly combination of booze ("I was drinking vodka by the quart every day") and arrogance prompted him to pass on parts written for him by Hughes in "Pretty in Pink" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (both 1986). He was also the first choice for the lead role in Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" (1987, the director reportedly called his work with Hughes the most promising debut since Jimmy Stewart's) until negotiations broke off.
Instead of capitalizing on his adolescent persona, Hall mistakenly decided it was time to change directions and grow up, a formula for disaster in his case. Doffing his braces, he became at the age of 17, the youngest regular ever to join the cast of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" (for one season), finding out quickly he was no stand-up comedian ("It was difficult as they didn't know how to work with me . . . what to write for me"). Worse yet were his movie choices (and on-set demeanor), "Out of Bounds" (1986, crew members referred to him as 'Anthony Michael Moron' or simply 'The Brat') and "Johnny Be Good" (1988), after which his once promising career lay in ruins. Hall, however, sobered up and survived, sandwiching a few acclaimed roles (an almost unrecognizable, beefy bully in "Edward Scissorhands" 1990, the gay lover of Will Smith in "Six Degrees of Separation" 1993) amidst a steady diet of forgettable feature and TV appearances until roaring back into the spotlight as the Grandest Geek of All, Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, in TNT's highly-praised "Pirates of Silicon Valley" (1999). His unassuming and restrained portrayal revitalized his career, and his mature behavior with the press showed how far he had come since his bratty 80s hey day.
Hall continued to expand his horizons with his next project, “A Touch of Hope” (NBC, 1999), playing real-life hands-on healer Dean Kraft, a young man who discovered an ability to cure with his touch after comforting the victim of an automobile accident. After a brief appearance in the straight-to-cable erotic thriller, “Fallen Angel” (TMC, 2000), Hall played renowned music producer Robert “Mutt” Lange in “Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story” (VH1, 2001), an inside look at the turbulent history of the British hard rock band who made good in the United States. He next starred in the camp satire “Hitched” (USA, 2001), playing a luggage salesman whose wife (Sheryl Lee) hatches a revenge plot when she discovers his extramarital affairs, only to have the tables turned on her. For his next role—one of Hall’s favorite—he played famed New York Yankees pitcher Whitey Ford in “61*” (HBO, 2001), the true-to-life telling of the off-the-field friendship between Roger Maris (Barry Pepper) and Mickey Mantle (Thomas Jane), and their on-the-field competition to break Babe Ruth’s single season home run record in 1961.
Returning to features, Hall had a cameo as a famous actor in the futuristic romantic comedy, “Happy Accidents” (2001), then had a supporting role in “The Photographer” (2001), a wry independent drama about a struggling photographer (Reg Rogers) on the hunt for ten missing pictures that could save his floundering career. He next played a Hollywood executive who stifles the animation dreams of a former cheese factory worker (Tom Green) in the irritating comedy, “Freddy Got Fingered” (2001). In “Caveman’s Valentine” (2001), Kasi Lemmons’ dull and disjointed sophomore feature, he was a well-to-do bankruptcy lawyer who helps a former concert pianist-turned-mad hermit (Samuel L. Jackson), offering the delusional homeless man a bath, new clothes and a chance at a new life. He then made a cameo in the crime comedy “All About the Benjamins” (2002), appearing in the opening scene as a scruffy fugitive whose Florida shack is busted in upon by a freelance bounty hunter (Ice Cube) and is subdued with a long shock from a stun gun to the scrotum.
In 2002, Hall began his first regular series role, starring in the supernatural drama, “Dead Zone” (USA, 2002- ), adapted from Stephen King’s best-selling novel that was first turned into a feature in 1983 with Christopher Walken. Hall played Johnny Smith, a high school teacher who gets into a car accident and falls into a coma for six years. When he awakens, Johnny finds that his wife has married another man and is raising the son he never got the chance to know. The accident triggered a side of his mind that grants him strange psychic powers that prove to be both a blessing and a curse. “The Dead Zone” premiered to strong reviews and quickly developed a loyal audience while often being credited with reviving interest in supernatural dramas. Meanwhile, Hall earned a nomination for 2003 Saturn Award for Best TV Actor by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.