Ed Harris Biography

Four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris is often cast in the movies as a thoughtful tough guy with a steely stare. A veteran character actor and sometime lead, his best-known early movies include The Right Stuff (1983, as astronaut John Glenn), Places in the Heart (1984, starring Sally Field) and The Abyss (1989, directed by James Cameron). A dramatic actor known for onscreen intensity, he has received three nominations as a supporting actor, for Apollo 13 (1995, as flight director Gene Kranz), The Truman Show (1998, starring Jim Carrey) and The Hours (2002, with Meryl Streep). Harris also earned an Oscar nomination for best actor for his performance as painter Jackson Pollock in the 2000 film Pollock, which also marked Harris’s debut as a director. His other films include Glengarry Glen Ross (1992, with Jack Lemmon), Absolute Power (1997, starring Clint Eastwood), Enemy at the Gates (2001, with Jude Law), A History of Violence (2005, starring Viggo Mortensen), Gone Baby Gone (2007, starring Casey Affleck) and Appaloosa (2008). Harris is married to actress Amy Madigan, with whom he has worked many times, including in the films Places in the Heart, Alamo Bay (1985), the TV movie Riders of the Purple Sage (1996) and Pollock.