Ed Harris

Biography

By transforming into his characters and pulling the audience in, Ed Harris has earned a reputation as one of the most talented actors of our time.

Ed Harris was born in Tenafly, New Jersey, to Margaret (Sholl), a travel agent, and Robert Lee Harris, a bookstore worker who also sang professionally. Both of his parents were originally from Oklahoma. Harris grew up as the middle child. 

After graduating high school, he attended New York's Columbia University, where he played football. After viewing local theater productions, Harris took a sudden interest in acting. He left Columbia, headed to Oklahoma, where his parents were living, and enrolled in the University of Oklahoma's theater department. 

After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles to find work. He started acting in theater and television guest spots. Harris landed his first leading role in a film in cult-favorite George A. Romero's Knightriders (1981). 

Two years later, he got his first taste of critical acclaim, playing astronaut John Glenn in The Right Stuff (1983). Also that year, he made his New York stage debut in Sam Shepard's "Fool for Love", a performance that earned him an Obie for Outstanding Actor. 

Harris's career gathered momentum after that. In 2000, he made his debut as a director in the Oscar-winning film Pollock (2000).

Became a father for the 1st time at age 42 when his wife Amy Madigan gave birth to their daughter Lily Dolores Harris on May 3, 1993.

Admitted in a Movieline interview that he would have loved to play Jesus Christ in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

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

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

Plays the antagonist to Nicolas Cage in The Rock (1996) and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007). In both films, he redeems himself in death.