- Born
- Birth nameEdward Allen Harris
- Height5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
- 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' career gathered momentum after that. In 2000, he made his debut as a director in the Oscar-winning film Pollock (2000).- IMDb mini biography by: Michael Arreola
- SpouseAmy Madigan(November 21, 1983 - present) (1 child)
- Children
- ParentsMargaret HarrisBob L. Harris
- RelativesRobert Harris(Sibling)Spencer Harris(Sibling)
- Deep commanding voice
- Bright blue eyes
- Usually plays characters that have dramatic backgrounds, even in comedies
- Has a reputation of being very serious on set.
- 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).
- Has appeared in three films based on Stephen King stories: Creepshow (1982), Needful Things (1993) and The Stand (1994).
- [on painter Jackson Pollock]: One thing I learned about Mr. Pollock's art, which any art student knows I'm sure, but was indeed a revelation to me, is that Jackson fully believed and lived by "Don't use the accident, because I deny the accident." One cannot even approximate Pollock's work unless every stroke, every pour, every slap, every fling, every shake, every splash, every splatter and every flick has a specific intention.
- As soon as I went on stage, I wanted to do nothing else with my life but act. I always liked the attention that playing sports had brought, but acting fulfilled that need even better.
- I was very happy playing sports until I was 18, and then there were a couple of years where I really didn't know what I wanted to do. I saw some theatre in Oklahoma and made a decision to learn about acting. It wasn't really with an eye on making films or even making a living; it was really about trying to focus on something that had the potential of taking the place of sport in terms of something to penetrate.
- I don't intentionally choose movies that aren't going to be successful commercially. It just happens that the most interesting scripts I read are outside the mainstream. I like characters who have an edge to them, who are going to do something unexpected.
- Acting is not a competition to me. One of the first things I learned about acting was, the only person you compete against is yourself.
- Westworld (2016) - $250,000 /episode (Season 3)
- Absolute Power (1997) - $2 .5,000,000
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