Aaron Eckhart
Eckhart at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010
Born	Aaron Edward Eckhart (1968-03-12) March 12, 1968 (age 44) Cupertino, California, United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1992–present

Aaron Edward Eckhart (born March 12, 1968) is an American film and stage actor. Born in California, he moved to England at the age of 13, when his father relocated the family. Several years later, he began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Sydney, Australia, for his high school senior year. He left high school without graduating, but earned a diploma through an adult education course, and graduated from Brigham Young University-Hawaii (BYUH) in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film. For much of the mid-1990s he lived in New York City as a struggling, unemployed actor.

As an undergraduate at Brigham Young, Eckhart met director and writer Neil LaBute, who cast him in several of his own original plays. Five years later Eckhart made a debut as an unctuous, sociopathic ladies' man in LaBute's black comedy film, In the Company of Men (1997). Under LaBute's guidance he worked in the director's films, Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), Nurse Betty (2000), and Possession (2002). Eckhart has chosen roles in an eclectic range of movies, from science fiction films such as The Core (2003) and Paycheck (2003) to romantic dramas like Conversations with Other Women (2006) and No Reservations (2007).

Eckhart gained wide recognition as George in Steven Soderbergh's critically acclaimed film, Erin Brockovich (2000), and in 2006 received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of Nick Naylor in Thank You for Smoking. In 2008 he starred in the big-budget studio film The Dark Knight as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Eckhart starred alongside Nicole Kidman in the film Rabbit Hole (2010).

Early life[link]

Eckhart was born in Cupertino, California, the son of Mary Eckhart (née Lawrence), a poet and children's author, and James C. Eckhart "Jim Senior", a computer executive.^[1] He is the youngest of three brothers.^[2] Eckhart was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Mormon) church, and served a two-year LDS mission in France and Switzerland.^[3][4]

Eckhart's family relocated to England in 1981,^[1][5] following his father's job in information technology.^[6] The family resided in Surrey, South East England, first in Walton-on-Thames,^[7] later moving to Cobham.^[6] While living in England Eckhart attended American Community School, now known as ACS International Schools,^[6] where he was first introduced to acting, starring in a school production as Charlie Brown.^[8][9] In 1985 he moved to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, where he attended American International School of Sydney for his high school senior year; he further developed his acting skills in productions like Waiting for Godot, where he admits that he did a "terrible" production.^[10] In the fall of his senior year^[2] Eckhart left the school in order to take a job working at a mall movie theater.^[11][12] He eventually earned his diploma through an adult education course.^[13] This also allowed Eckhart time to enjoy a year of surfing and skiing in Hawaii and the coastal waters of France.^[1][14] In 1988, Eckhart returned to the United States and enrolled as a film major at Brigham Young University–Hawaii,^[15] but later transferred to Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah.^[1] He graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.^[11][16]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

While at Brigham Young University,^[17] Eckhart appeared in the Mormon-themed film, Godly Sorrow, and the role marked Eckhart's professional debut. At this time he met director/writer Neil LaBute,^[17] who cast him in several of his own original plays.^[18] After graduating from BYU, Eckhart moved to New York City, acquired an agent, and took various occasional jobs, including bartending, bus driving, and construction work.^[9] His first television roles were in commercials. In 1994 he appeared as an extra on the television drama series, Beverly Hills, 90210.^[9][19] Eckhart followed this small part with roles in documentary re-enactments, made-for-television movies, and short-lived programs like Aliens in the Family.^[20]

In 1997 Eckhart was approached by Neil LaBute to star in a film adaptation of LaBute's stage play, In the Company of Men.^[21] He played a frustrated white-collar worker who planned to woo a deaf office worker, gain her affections, then suddenly dump her.^[22] The film, his first feature to reach theaters, was critically well received,^[23] with Desson Howe of The Washington Post reporting that Eckhart is the "movie's most malignant presence" and that he "is in chilling command as a sort of satanic prince in shirtsleeves".^[24] In the Company of Men was a critical success, winning Best First Film at the 63rd annual New York Film Critics Circle Award.^[25][26] His performance won him the Independent Spirit Award in the category of Best Debut Performance.^[27] The film was ranked as one of "The 25 Most Dangerous Movies" by Premiere magazine.^[28]

The following year Eckhart starred in another LaBute feature, Your Friends & Neighbors (1998),^[16][17] as Barry, a sexually frustrated husband in a dysfunctional marriage. For the role Eckhart was required to gain weight.^[29] In 1999 he starred opposite Elisabeth Shue in Molly, a romantic comedy-drama in which he played the self-absorbed brother of an autistic woman who was cured by surgery.^[30] Eckhart also starred that year as a football coach, an offensive coordinator in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday.^[31]

Critical success[link]

Eckhart first gained wide exposure in 2000 as George, a pony-tailed biker, in Steven Soderbergh's drama, Erin Brockovich.^[32] The film was met with reasonable reviews,^[33] and was a box office success, earning $256 million worldwide.^[34] His performance was well received by critics; Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman, wrote that Eckhart "may be playing a bit of an ideal [...] but he makes goodness as palpable as he did yuppie evil in 'In the Company of Men'."^[35] In an August 2004 interview, Eckhart claimed that he had not worked for nearly a year before he was cast in the movie. "I felt like I sort of was getting away from what I wanted to do as an actor. [...] I had nine months off, but it wasn't a vacation. Sure, I didn't earn any money for nine months, but every day I was reading scripts, I was producing my own material, I was taking meetings, I was working on my craft."^[36]

Nick Nolte, Eckhart, Joshua Michael Stern, and Alan Cumming promoting Neverwas at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.

Following the release of Erin Brockovich, Eckhart co-starred with Renée Zellweger in LaBute's Nurse Betty (2000).^[16] He next appeared in Sean Penn's mystery feature The Pledge (2001), in which he played a young detective partnered with a veteran detective, played by Jack Nicholson.^[37] The movie received generally favorable reviews,^[38] but it did not fare particularly well at the box office.^[39] The following year, he collaborated with LaBute in a film adaptation of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Possession (2002).^[40] In 2003, Eckhart co-starred with Hilary Swank in The Core, a film about a geophysicist who tries to detonate a nuclear device in order to save the world from destruction.^[41] The film was critically and financially unsuccessful.^[42][43] Also in 2003, he appeared in The Missing, in which he played Cate Blanchett's lover,^[44] and in the action-thriller Paycheck opposite Ben Affleck.^[45] Paycheck, based on a short story by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, garnered generally negative reception.^[46] Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars (out of four), saying that he "enjoyed the movie" but felt that it "exploits [Dick's story] for its action and plot potential, but never really develops it."^[47]