Quotes from Michael C. Hall

For me, it was more a dramatic shift to go from the stage to the screen.

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

The language surrounding cancer is not language I'm particularly comfortable with.

I'm an actor, so I think without a character to play, a story to tell, a song to sing... there's some suspicion that there's no 'there' there. Like, if I were to just strip down and present myself, I think I'd sort of just... disappear.

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'. But I wouldn't really want to work with those people, you know?

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.

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

Being in a relationship, I only appreciate when I come home from work how much I've given of myself at work or how depleted I am, and I sometimes worry that I've given all my best energy to my work, and all I can offer you is the emptied out shell.

There are no secrets in life; just hidden truths that lie beneath the surface.

It's usually good news when people call collectively.

I think we're really - we're doing a really great job doing our show, and other shows are doing a great job doing theirs, and we'll just see what people have to say.

Yes, I mean, There's nothing like it. There is an added sense of pressure because of that, but there's also nothing like the thrill you get being in the same space with that audience right there and then. And when you do it, it's over.

As time passes, I feel more and more a sense of acting being a fundamental part of who I am.

I think anybody would be hard pressed not to relate to at least one of the characters, because there's so many different multifaceted people populating this crazy world.

I mean, the competition is really created by the buzz around the Emmys. It's a totally subjective thing.

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.

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

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.

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.

Marriage, children-you never expect it to end in tragedy. Unless you're me.

I did feel that a part of my work was to empty myself out and let it move through me.

I never really considered acting as a career until I moved to New York.

So it's really nice after about a year and a half to get back on stage and flex those old muscles.

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