Ed Harris

When we first saw him on the screen, dressed as an astronaut ready to conquer space in Chosen for Glory , it seemed that we had known him all our lives. Immediately we found a sincere face not devoid of a certain complicity. That’s how it has been throughout his intense career, more than forty titles, acting in secondary roles with such poise and confidence that they have made him gain unusual prominence.

The second in a family of three brothers, Edward Allen Harris was born 57 years ago in New Jersey. His father was a singer and his mother was a travel agent. During school age he stood out as an athlete, which earned him a scholarship to study at Columbia University. After moving to Oklahoma for family reasons, his interest in theater and acting appears for the first time, in view of which he enrolls in the drama college. He later travels to California in search of work and studies at the art institute, graduating in Fine Arts. He ventures steadily into the world of theater; he goes on to act on Broadway and is even nominated for a Tony Award. Later, in 1977, he leaves the theater and appears briefly in The Incredible Howard Hughes ., a television biopic about the aforementioned Hollywood producer. On the big screen, he began with brief roles in low-budget films until, thanks to Philip Kaufman , he rose to fame in Chosen for Glory , where he was part of the first group of astronauts to reach space. We then see him in minor but somewhat successful titles, such as Abyss , a science fiction film directed by James Cameron ;  Glengarry Glen Ross (Success at Any Price) , starring none other than Jack Lemmon and Al Pacino ; and the thriller The Cover . But it will be in 1993 when he gets his first Oscar nomination for his role as head of NASA in Apollo 13 . He was the first to hear that “Houston, we have a problem.”

From that moment on, nomination in hand, he began to play roles in blockbuster films, such as Causa Justa , Nixon , or La Roca , where he would play the mythical General Hummel, capable of kidnapping the island of Alcatraz to demand the rights of war veterans. In 1998 he received his second Oscar nomination thanks to his performance as Christof, creator of the most popular “reality show” on television in The Truman Show . In the year 2000 he tries to get behind the camera. The film, the complex Pollock, is a biopic of the controversial painter Jackson Pollock, and received critical and public acclaim. Ed Harris plays the title role and reaches his third Oscar nomination. Later we see him again in renowned films, such as Enemy at the Gates , by Jean-Jacques Annaud , and The Hours , directed by Stephen Daldry , for which he received his fourth Oscar nomination, this time as a supporting actor. in the role of a prestigious poet with AIDS.

Then Agnieszka Holland , a Polish director with whom he had already worked on The Third Miracle , gave him the co-starring role in the wonderful Copying Beethoven , where he achieves a memorable performance incarnating the great German composer, a complex personality capable of making the leap from classicism to romanticism. , which faces his 9th symphony with the help of an exceptional copyist ( Diane Kruger , with whom he would meet again in the second installment of The Search ).

In 1983 Ed Harris participated with Sally Field in the movie In a Place of the Heart , but the one that really filled his heart that same year was Amy Madigan . They met on set and were happily married. They have shared roles together in some movies, have a daughter and are one of the most famous and stable couples in Hollywood.

At present, Harris has returned to occupy the director’s chair in a western titled Appaloosa , based on the novel of the same name by writer Robert B. Parker , which he himself with the help of Robert Knott   has adapted. The film features an all-star cast, led by Viggo Mortensen , Renée Zellweger , and himself.