Anthony Michael Hall

Known for

• The Breakfast Club (1985). One of the three John Hughes films that made his name.
• Sixteen Candles (1984). A starring role in one of his three John Hughes films.
• The Dead Zone (2002). Led the USA Network science fiction series from 2002 to 2007.
• Edward Scissorhands (1990). One of the films he made to avoid typecasting.
• The Dark Knight (2008). A supporting role in the superhero film.

Career

Hall’s mid-1980s run made him shorthand for the clever misfit: the Geek in Sixteen Candles (1984), Brian Johnson, the brain, in The Breakfast Club (1985), and Gary in Weird Science (1985). He spent the 1985 to 1986 season on Saturday Night Live, then tried to break type with Out of Bounds (1986) and Johnny Be Good (1988), neither of which landed. Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990), as the bullying Jim, showed a harder edge.

His playing of Bill Gates in TNT’s Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999) started a second act, and he led USA Network’s Stephen King adaptation The Dead Zone from 2002 to 2007. He played the TV reporter Mike Engel in The Dark Knight (2008), Tommy Doyle in Halloween Kills (2021) and the villain Zachary Beck in the third season of Reacher (2025).

Where to start

• The Breakfast Club (1985): the defining teen ensemble, with Hall as its anxious heart.
• Sixteen Candles (1984): his breakout comic performance.
• Edward Scissorhands (1990): a grown-up turn against type in a Burton fable.