Ed Harris

Harris was born at Englewood Hospital in Englewood, New Jersey, and was raised in the New York City suburb of Tenafly, New Jersey, the son of Margaret (née Sholl), a travel agent, and Robert L. "Bob" Harris (1922–2014), who sang with the Fred Waring chorus and worked at the bookstore of the Art Institute of Chicago.

He has an older brother, Robert and a younger brother, Paul.

Harris was raised in a middle-class Presbyterian family.

His parents were from Oklahoma.

Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor and filmmaker.

He graduated from Tenafly High School in 1969, where he had played on the football team and served as the team's captain in his senior year.

A star athlete in high school, Harris played varsity football at Columbia University and was a teammate of future United States Attorney General Eric Holder.

At Columbia, where he said he succumbed to the "Morningside Heights blues" after two years, he was a resident in Carman Hall.

When his family moved to New Mexico two years later, Harris followed, having discovered his interest in acting in various theater plays.

He enrolled at the University of Oklahoma to study drama.

From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, Harris found steady work on television.

After several successful roles in local theaters (such as the Jewel Box Theater in Oklahoma City), he moved to Los Angeles and enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts, where he spent two years and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1975.

Harris began his career on the stage.

He had a role in one episode of Gibbsville (1975), in one episode of Delvecchio (1977), in one episode of The Rockford Files (1978), in one episode of David Cassidy: Man Undercover (1978), two episodes of The Seekers (1979), one episode of Barnaby Jones (1979), one episode of Paris (1980), three episodes of Lou Grant (1979, 1980, and 1981), one episode of CHiPs (1981), one episode of Hart to Hart (1981), one episode of Cassie & Co. (1981), and one episode of American Playhouse (1984).

In 1976, he played an FBI agent in the world premiere of Thomas Rickman's play Baalam at the Pasadena Repertory Theatre located at the historic The Hotel Carver.

He followed that at the Pasadena Repertory Theatre in 1976 playing Lot in the West Coast premiere of Tennessee Williams' play Kingdom of Earth (aka The Seven Descents of Myrtle).

Harris' first film role came in 1978 with a minor part in the suspense film Coma, starring Michael Douglas.

His first major role in a film came two years later with Borderline (1980), in which he starred alongside Charles Bronson.

In 1981, Harris played the lead as motorcycler William "Billy" Davis, (a role modeled after King Arthur), in Knightriders, directed by George A. Romero.

The following year, he had a small role as Hank Blaine in Creepshow, also directed by Romero.

Harris has appeared in several leading and supporting roles, including in The Right Stuff (1983), The Abyss (1989), State of Grace (1990), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), The Firm (1993), Needful Things (1993), Nixon (1995), The Rock (1996), Stepmom (1998), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Enemy at the Gates (2001), A History of Violence (2005), Gone Baby Gone (2007), National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), Snowpiercer (2013), Mother! (2017), The Lost Daughter (2021), and Top Gun: Maverick (2022).

In 1983, Harris became well known after portraying astronaut John Glenn in The Right Stuff.

In 1984, he co starred in the Robert Benton directed drama film Places in the Heart; during production of this film, Harris met and married his wife Amy Madigan.

Also in 1984 he co-starred along with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell in the Jonathan Demme directed World War II biopic Swing Shift and in 1985 played abusive husband Charlie Dick to Jessica Lange's Patsy Cline in the HBO film Sweet Dreams.

In 1986, he received a Tony Award nomination in the Best Actor in a Play category for his role in George Furth's Precious Sons.

He also won the Theatre World Award and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play for his performance.

Harris then portrayed William Walker, a 19th-century American who appointed himself President of Nicaragua, in Walker (1987).

That same year, he played Harry Nash in the HBO television thriller film The Last Innocent Man.

In 1988, he acted in Agnieszka Holland's To Kill a Priest, starring Christopher Lambert, based on Jerzy Popiełuszko and his murder under the Polish communist regime.

It was well received by critics.

In 1989, his role as David "Dave" Flannigan in Jacknife earned him his first Golden Globe Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.

Also in 1989, he portrayed Virgil "Bud" Brigman in the sci fi film The Abyss, directed by James Cameron.

In 1992, Harris co starred as Dave Moss in the drama film Glengarry Glen Ross, based on the play of the same name by David Mamet.

He won the Valladolid International Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film.

He next appeared in the films The Firm (1993) and Needful Things (1993), before portraying the lead role of Kyle Bodine in the neo noir film China Moon (1994).

His performances in Apollo 13 (1995), The Truman Show (1998), Pollock (2000), and The Hours (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Award nominations.

In television, Harris is notable for his roles as Miles Roby in the miniseries Empire Falls (2005) and as United States Senator John McCain in the television movie Game Change (2012); the latter earning him the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

In addition to directing Pollock, Harris also directed the Western film Appaloosa (2008).

He is also set to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the Disney+ series Wonder Man.

He starred as the Man in Black in the HBO science fiction-Western series Westworld (2016–2022), for which he earned a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.