Original, intense, bloody and fascinating - that’s how the Dexter series can be described in a few words, the first season of which was presented to the public in 2006. Actor Michael Carlisle Hall, who played such an unusual character as Dexter Morgan, instantly became a star. What is known about this man and his role?
A few words about the plot
At first glance, Dexter Morgan may seem like an ordinary person. He lives in Miami, works in the police, meets with a single mother. However, the psychological trauma received in early childhood turned him into an insensitive maniac. The charming forensic expert is a serial killer, who enjoys the sight of blood and torment, successfully hiding his dark side from others.
Dexter Morgan - not the one who can be called a classic maniac. Its victims are only people who have committed serious crimes, to which official justice has not reached. That he did not spill the blood of the innocent, at one time he took care of his adoptive father Harry. The policeman who adopted the child after the brutal murder of his mother managed to detect his pathology in a timely manner and direct it in the "right direction". Harry taught the boy not only to kill criminals, but also to successfully hide the traces of his deed.
Dexter Morgan: Who is He?
The central character of the series, the image of which Michael Carlisle Hall skillfully embodied, is a real predator. Dexter Morgan is not able to experience the emotions typical of ordinary people. Love, hate, fear, sympathy - feelings that are unknown to him. The only meaning of the life of a maniac-forensic expert is murder. He carefully prepares for his every "hunt", makes an attack on the victim, clearly following the once-established ritual. Also methodically, he gets rid of the bodies of dead people.
Thanks to the lessons of his adoptive father, Dexter learned to hide his insensibility from others. It is for this reason that he maintains friendly relations with colleagues, meets with a girl, communicates with his sister, portraying a caring brother. However, some of his acquaintances nevertheless note oddities in his behavior.
Michael Hall about his character
How did it happen that Michael Hall agreed to embody the image of such an unusual character as Dexter Morgan? The script for the future series, based on the novel "Dexter's Sleeping Demon," the actor received immediately after his work on the television project "The Client is Always Dead" was completed. It is interesting that Hall planned to arrange a long vacation, but the plot of the new project captured him, making him forget about the rest.
Michael claims that he was attracted by the originality of the story, its gloomy humor. The proposal to embody the image of a forensic maniac who lives on murders, but tries to seem like an ordinary person, seemed to him a challenge. The actor wanted to check if he could play such an unusual personality, try on the role of an individual without emotion.
Actor Biography
Michael Carlisle Hall is the person to whom the Dexter series gave star status. Morgan remains the most famous character played by the actor. The performer of the role was born in the small American town of Riley, it happened in February 1971. In the first years of his life, the boy lost his father, whose life claimed cancer. The closest friend to Michael in childhood was a mother, forced to raise her son alone.
Hall found an interest in creativity quite early. At the age of five, the child became a member of the church choir, then school plays entered his life, in which he often played leading roles. The actor admits that he chose his profession under the influence of a desire to always be in the spotlight.
First successes
What kind of education did Dexter Morgan get? The actor graduated from college in Richmond, then moved to New York, where he acquired a bachelor of arts. He successfully combined his studies at the university with playing in Broadway theater productions. The following performances with his participation enjoyed the greatest success among the audience: “Henry the Fifth”, “Light of the Sky”, “Timon of Athens”, “Macbeth”.
Michael's first professional achievement was a small role in the musical Cabaret, for the performance of which he received positive reviews from critics.
“The customer is always dead”
The next achievement of the Hall was getting on the set of the famous TV show "The client is always dead." In this Gothic series, he successfully embodied the image of David Fisher - a colorful representative of sexual minorities and an employee of the funeral home. The very first season of the series brought Michael a nomination for an Emmy Award, but the prize went to another applicant.
When the creator of the series, Alan Ball was asked why he chose this actor for the role of Fisher, he explained that he needed a young man who had the appearance of a “vicious sanctuary”. Michael met this requirement perfectly, which allowed him to get around other applicants at the casting.
The busy shooting schedule did not force the actor to abandon his personal life. In 2002, he married a girl named Amy, whom he met during the Shakespeare Theater Festival, held in New York. The feelings of young people quickly flared up and died out just as quickly, just five years after the wedding, they announced their separation.
Interesting roles
Of course, Michael Carlisle Hall boasts not only the roles of a homosexual working in a funeral home, and the maniac-forensic expert, who was "set on the way" by Harry Morgan. Dexter and Fisher are his most interesting characters, but other actor roles are also worthy of attention. For example, once a star had a chance to try on the image of an FBI employee, this happened in the film “Hour of Reckoning” presented to the audience in 2003.
In the film "Gamer" Michael played in 2009, he got the role of technological genius Castle, the creator of the multiplayer game "Assassins", which began to live its own life. This film tells about a fantastic future in which the entire population of planet Earth is obsessed with games, replacing them with reality.
Personal life
After parting with his first wife in 2006, the actor did not stay alone for long. The next actress was again his chosen one. Jennifer Carpenter is a girl who is known to the general public primarily as the sister of a crazy forensic expert Deborah Morgan. “Dexter” is a series on the set of which lovers met.
The marriage of Hall and Carpenter, held in 2008, was kept secret for some time. It is possible that this was due to the fact that in the series "Dexter" the actors played brother and sister. However, this marriage of Michael was short-lived, a beautiful couple broke up at the end of 2010.
After parting with Jennifer Hall, he met with actress Vanessa Abrue for some time, not worrying about the fact that a girlfriend is 15 years younger than him. Then the actor, who played the main character in the television project “Dexter”, unexpectedly married a girl named Morgan, who was not connected with the world of cinema. Michael has no children.
Disease
The end of 2009 was a difficult period in Hall's life, the actor was diagnosed with cancer. In this regard, the shooting of the series "Dexter" had to be temporarily suspended. The treatment took several months, fortunately, the cancer was in remission. The star managed to completely defeat the disease, after which he returned to the set and again started to work.
Fans were happy that Dexter Morgan, the beloved character, returned to them. A photo of the actor in the image of a forensic maniac can be seen in this article. The final season of the series was released in 2013, then it was decided not to continue the story, the eighth season was the last, despite good ratings.
Deborah Morgan
One cannot fail to tell about another interesting character, who is the sister of the protagonist Deborah Morgan (Dexter). The name of the actress who brilliantly embodied this image is Jennifer Carpenter. Her character is the daughter of Harry, who adopted little Dexter after the murder of his mother. Deb, as her friends call her, stubbornly goes to her dream - to become an employee of the killer police department. Having achieved what she wants, she does everything possible to convince colleagues and superiors of her professionalism.
Deborah has a complex relationship with stepbrother. On the one hand, she cannot forgive him that his father always paid him more attention. On the other, he is the person closest to her. Upon learning that they and Dexter are not in consanguinity, the girl decides to admit to herself that she is in love with him. The situation is complicated when Deborah learns about the secret life of the "brother."
Jennifer Carpenter organically looks in the role of a straightforward, quick-tempered and hardworking employee of the slaughter department, in love with her work. Of course, she is known to the public not only as Deborah Morgan (Dexter). The actress, for example, played a key role in the acclaimed film "The Six Demons of Emily Rose." She can also be seen in such popular TV shows as "Fields of Darkness", "Good Wife", "Robotsyp". It is interesting that in the television project "The Areas of Darkness" she again tried on the image of a police officer.
Harry morgan
We cannot but mention another mysterious hero, who is Harry Morgan (Dexter). The actor, whose photo can be seen below, appears in the series only as a hero of the memoirs of Dexter and Deborah.
Harry is a policeman who adopted an orphan boy many years ago and then taught his adopted son how to direct his craziness in the “right direction”. Digging in his past, Dexter learns that taking him into custody of Harry was caused primarily by guilt. The deceased mother of the child was an agent who was introduced by a police officer into a criminal group related to drug trafficking. The cause of her death was his tragic mistake. Harry Morgan dies a few years before the main events of the series. A character has a heart attack when he suddenly witnesses a murder committed by an adopted son.
The image of Harry in the series "Dexter" embodied by James Remar. The talented American actor, who recently celebrated his 62nd birthday, is known to viewers mainly for his roles in popular TV shows, as he prefers to agree to work in long-playing projects. He can be seen in The Anatomy of Passion, The X-Files, Wilfred. James also starred in such films as “48 Hours,” “In Search of Adventure,” and “White Fang.”