Actor Charlie Hunnam recently revealed that his girlfriend, Morgana McNelis, requested he stop using the voice of notorious murderer Ed Gein at home. Hunnam, who portrayed Gein in the film Monster: The Ed Gein Story, shared this insight during the 2026 Critics Choice Awards, held on Sunday night.
“She did [ask me],” Hunnam, aged 45, told E! News. “I was slipping in and out of it all the time, and she was saying, ‘Dude. You have to stop with the voice.’ At breakfast, it’s a little too much.” This lighthearted exchange highlights the challenges actors face when immersing themselves in intense roles.
In a separate interview with ExtraTV, Hunnam referred to McNelis, 42, as his wife, sharing details about their New Year celebrations. “We did it quiet,” he mentioned. “I always like to ring in the new year mainly on the 1st rather than on the 31st. So my wife and I went to bed early, got up, had a really beautiful hike, and came in, set some intentions.” Despite their long-term relationship dating back to 2005, the couple has never publicly confirmed their marital status.
Hunnam received a nomination for “Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television” for his role in Monster: The Ed Gein Story at the star-studded event. The anthology series, created by Ryan Murphy, aired its third season in October 2025, focusing on the chilling life of Ed Gein, also known as the “Butcher of Plainfield.” Gein was infamously arrested in 1957 after authorities discovered he had murdered at least two women and exhumed corpses from graveyards.
Viewers have praised Hunnam’s portrayal of Gein. One fan expressed admiration via X, stating, “As for Charlie Hunnam, I’m at a loss for words. What he delivered wasn’t just acting; it was transformation. You can feel the weight he carried in every frame. I just hope he’s doing okay (mentally) after diving that deep.” Another viewer remarked on the actor’s ability to embody the role, saying, “His voice, his facial expression, his creepiness, his awkward body movement…. Oh he is eating this role up.”
Before the show premiered on Netflix, Hunnam expressed concerns about taking on the role of the serial killer, describing it as a potential “mistake.” “I mean, it got in my head…The most in my head. Before we started shooting, during the research period, everything that’s been written about Ed has been these sort of sensationalist, grotesque litanies of just horror. And I really started to get scared that maybe I’d made a mistake and this was just going to be impossibly bleak and dark and a horrible process,” he told People last year.
A turning point for Hunnam came when he examined Gein’s medical records, which offered a less sensationalized view of the man behind the crimes. “It was just the brass facts of his mental illness, his struggles with isolation, his emotional abandonment from his mother. And I just started to see the human,” Hunnam explained.
The actor emphasized that the true aim of the project was to explore the deeper questions surrounding Gein’s actions. “Because that’s what we were really trying to do, is just find the human story within this, ask the question what creates a monster and why this man did the things that he did, and less interested in what he did, and really very interested in trying to answer the question why he did what he did.”
Ed Gein was ultimately deemed unfit to stand trial and was committed to a mental health facility, where he remained until his death in 1984 at the age of 77. His gruesome crimes have inspired numerous horror films, including Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs. The cast of Monster: The Ed Gein Story also features Laurie Metcalf, Suzanna Son, and Tom Hollander, contributing to a gripping exploration of one of history’s most infamous figures.
