After his early success at playing a geek (National Lampoon's Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science), Hall avoided playing similar roles to escape the nerdy typecast.

He appeared as a regular on Saturday Night Live at the age of 17, the youngest cast member ever. After a string of bizarre behavior, a tour in rehabilitation for alcoholism, and late puberty, a far more athletic Hall appeared in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990), this time playing the part of a villainous football player.

Hall has denied he was ever in rehab, saying the closest he got was visiting friend Robert Downey, Jr. in jail. Hall has been diagnosed as bi-polar and was the subject of a lawsuit for shutting down The Dead Zone due to his illness.

Hall starred in Hail Caesar, a film about a would-be rock star who works in a pencil eraser factory, which Hall also directed. Hall continues to appear regularly in major films in a variety of roles such as Bill Gates in Pirates of Silicon Valley and baseball player Whitey Ford in 61*. Hall starred opposite Sheryl Lee as the cheating husband Ted Robbins in the 2001 USA Cable movie "Hitched". This performance led to his starring role in The Dead Zone, a hit television series based on the Stephen King novel.

Hall writes and sings for his band, Hall of Mirrors. His sister is also a singer using the stage name of Mary C. , his mother Mercedes Hall is a cabaret singer who also has a My Space page.