Michael C. Hall Discusses His Own Sexual Fluidity: 'I Would Say I Was Not All The Way Heterosexual'

Michael C. Hall has been a gay heartthrob since he played the role of David Fisher in Six Feet Under 17 years ago -- a time when there was not nearly as much LGBTQ representation in TV as there is today. A year after the season finale of the hit HBO show, Hall grew to more acclaim playing the role of Dexter on Showtime's serial killer series of the same name. Following Dexter, he played the trans title character in Hedwig and The Angry Inch.

For the first time ever in an interview with the Daily Beast, Michael C. Hall opened up about the nuances of his sexuality.

"I think there's a spectrum. 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 laughed. "Yeah, like 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."

Hall, however, has never had a physical same-sex interaction outside of the stage.

"I've never had an intimate relationship with a man. I think, maybe because of an absent father, there has definitely been a craving for an emotional intimacy with a man. I don't mean to suggest that an emotional relationship between a father and son is any way 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.'"

Nevertheless, Hall said, "As a rule I am heterosexual."

Hall also tackled the hot button issue in Hollywood of straight folks playing the role of gay and transgender characters, something he has made a career out of doing.

"That was something I was aware of when David Fisher was happening," said Hall. "For me, I was playing this aspirationally iconic gay role as a straight man. I felt all the more charged to do it justice. I certainly understand anyone who takes issue with the phenomenon."

Hall continued, "How fundamental is one's sexual orientation or gender identity if both are in fact fluid, if there is some sort of spectrum and we are just moving the dial? Or is it more fundamental than that? Is my playing a gay character as absurd as my playing an African-American?"

Read the entire profile on Michael C. Hall here.