Ed Harris

Ed Harris

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Early and personal life

Harris was born in Tenafly, New Jersey, the son of Margaret, a travel agent, and Robert L. Harris, who sang with the Fred Waring chorus and worked at the bookstore of the Art Institute of Chicago.[1] He has an older brother, Robert, and a younger brother, Spencer. Harris was raised in a middle class Presbyterian family.[2][3][4] He graduated from Tenafly High School in 1969, where he played on the football team, serving as the team's captain in his senior year.[5][6] He was a star athlete in high school and competed in athletics at Columbia University in 1969. Two years later his family moved to New Mexico and he followed after having discovered his interest in acting in various theater plays. He enrolled at the University of New Mexico to study drama. After several successful roles in the local theater, he moved to Los Angeles, California, and enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts.

Harris has been married to actress Amy Madigan since 1983. They have a daughter named Lily.

Career

Harris's first important film role was in Borderline with Charles Bronson. In Knightriders he played the king of a motorcycle-riding renaissance-fair troupe in a role modeled after King Arthur.

In 1983, the actor became a star, playing astronaut John Glenn in The Right Stuff. Twelve years later, a film with a similar theme led to Harris being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of NASA mission director Gene Kranz in Apollo 13.

Further Oscar nominations arrived in 1999, 2001 and 2003, for The Truman Show, Pollock and The Hours, respectively. More recently, he appeared as a vengeful mobster in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence and as a police officer alongside Casey Affleck and Morgan Freeman in Gone, Baby, Gone, directed by Ben Affleck. In 2007, he appeared in National Treasure: Book of Secrets as Mitch Wilkinson.

Along with theatrical films, he has starred in television adaptations of Riders of the Purple Sage (1996) and Empire Falls (2005).

Harris made his cinema directing debut in 2000 with Pollock, in which he starred as the acclaimed American artist Jackson Pollock. He also has portrayed such diverse real-life characters as William Walker, a 19th Century American who became president of Nicaragua in the film Walker; Watergate figure E. Howard Hunt in the Oliver Stone biopic Nixon and composer Ludwig von Beethoven in the film Copying Beethoven.

Harris has directed a number of theater productions as well as having an active stage acting career. Most notably, he starred in the production of Neil LaBute's one-man play Wrecks at the Public Theater in New York City. Wrecks premiered at the Everyman Theater in Cork, Ireland and then in the US at the Public Theater in New York. He has been nominated for several major awards for this role.[citation needed]

Currently, Harris and wife Amy Madigan are starring together in Ash Adams' upcoming indie crime drama Once Fallen, alongside Michael Madsen and Dennis Hopper. It is set for release in 2009.

Trivia

He won an Obie for "Fool For Love."

Educated at Columbia University, New York.

Graduated from Tenafly High School in Tenafly, New Jersey.

Daughter Lily Dolores Harris born on 3 May 1993.

He and Amy Madigan were married by a justice of the peace in Waxahachie, Texas during the filming of Places in the Heart (1984).

His father was a singer with the Fred Waring chorus.

Often called "the thinking woman's sex symbol".

To learn how to paint in Jackson Pollock's style and portray his art in the film, he had a studio built on his property and spent some time painting and working on Pollock pieces.

Credits acting for helping him get over his shyness as a young man.

Was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People (2001)

Due to injuries he sustained while filming The Abyss (1989), he was almost unable to accept the role of Frankie Flannery in _State of Grace (1990)_.

Originated the role of "Eddie" in the stage production of "Fool for Love" by Sam Shepard. He later worked with Shepard himself in The Right Stuff (1983) and then Shepard went on to succeed him in the film adaptation of the play.

Was set to star in the Danny Boyle's firefighter drama "Worcester Cold Storage" with Woody Harrelson, but the project never came to fruition.

In 1973, he moved to California and entered the California Institute of the Arts, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1986 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for "Precious Sons."

He has a brother living in Norman, Oklahoma - where Ed attended the University of Oklahoma.

Son-in-law of John Madigan.

Has appeared in 3 films based on Stephen King stories: Creepshow (1982), Needful Things (1993) and "The Stand" (1994).

Has three films on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time. They are: A Beautiful Mind (2001) at #93, The Right Stuff (1983) at #19, and Apollo 13 (1995) at #12.

Good friends with Fred Ward.

Received an honorary diploma from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003.

One of his favorite books is The Grapes Of Wrath.

He says his most embarrassing moment was modeling tuxedos at the Oklahoma State Fair in 1971.

An veteran stage actor, he made his European debut in Ireland in 2006 with Neil LaBute's Wrecks.

Filmography

... aka National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (South Africa: English title: DVD box title) (USA: DVD box title) ... aka National Treasure 2 (Australia)

... aka Klang der Stille (Germany)

  • [[ Two Tickets to Paradise (2006) .... Melville

... aka Life's a Trip (Europe: English title) ... aka Two Tickets to Paradise (USA: new title)

... aka A History of Violence (Germany)

... aka Couleur du mensonge, La (France) ... aka Menschliche Makel, Der (Germany)

... aka Army Go Home! (Germany) ... aka Buffalo Soldiers - Army Go Home! (Germany: DVD title)

... aka Duell - Enemy at the Gates (Germany)