'Dexter' Star Michael C. Hall Says He's Not 'All the Way Heterosexual'

Michael C. Hall is getting candid about his sexual orientation.

In a new interview with The Daily Beast, the 47-year-old actor revealed that he's "not all the way heterosexual" even though "as a rule I am heterosexual."

The topic came up while Hall discussed some of his past roles as prominent LGBTQ characters, including David in Six Feet Under and two iconic Broadway parts: the Emcee in Cabaret and Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

"I think there's a spectrum," Hall said. "I am on it. I'm heterosexual. But if there was a percentage, I would say I was not all the way heterosexual."

"I think playing the emcee required me to fling a bunch of doors wide open because that character I imagined as pansexual," he added. "Yeah, I made out with Michael Stuhlbarg every night doing that show. I think I have always leaned into any fluidity in terms of my sexuality."

Asked if he had ever been attracted to a man, Hall said he felt that was toward John Cameron Mitchell when he saw the director and actor in Hedwig, but "as a rule, I am heterosexual."

That doesn't mean he hasn't been "craving for emotional intimacy with a man." The feeling stems from the death of his father when he was just 11.

"I've never had an intimate relationship with a man. I think, maybe because of an absent father, there has been craving for emotional intimacy with a man," Hall told The Daily Beast. "I don't mean to suggest that an emotional relationship between a father and son is homoerotic. I mean an emotional intimacy or connection that, at least in the milieu I grew up in, was considered fey. I had an appetite to have emotional connections with men beyond beer, sports, and fist-pumping that were considered 'gay.'"

Hall is married to Morgan MacGregor, whom he wed in February 2016. He has had two previous marriages: one to Dexter co-star Jennifer Carpenter (from 2008 to 2011) and another to actress Amy Spanger (from 2002 to 2007).

Married life with MacGregor has been "great," he said. "She's just an incredible friend and is a remarkable combination of intelligence and kindness, and she's able to tell me the truth in a way that I can stomach."

The two have discussed having children. "It's no news to anyone, but it's a crazy world, and bringing somebody into that world for a front-row seat is something that gives me pause," Hall said. "But it's also something we talk and think about."

In the meantime, the two live low-key lives in New York City. Hall is currently starring in the Off-Broadway play Thom Pain (based on nothing). Though he's done theater and picked up a few television roles here and there (including a part on The Crown), Hall has stayed away from booking another series — and told The Daily Beat he would "think long and hard" about doing so.

"When Six Feet Under ended, I thought I should quit because how do you top that? Then Dexter came along. I was very fortunate," Hall said. "What gives me pause now is I know what the commitment to such a show entails, and there is some sort of high bar that has been set."

"The shows were exhausting at times. Inevitably, if you do something for that long, no matter how developed or evolved it feels, it feels like you're tilling soil that is no longer as fertile as it once was," he added. "There were 13 straight years of constant work, and I enjoy catching my breath periodically. Whatever work I do is better served if I do that. If I'm simulating what it's like to be a person, it's good to live an actual life aside from all the simulation."