Guide Note

Ed Harris is an American actor, director and producer who hails from New Jersey. He has received multiple Academy Award nominations. He has appeared in such movies as Apollo 13, The Rock, A Beautiful Mind, The Abyss and The Firm.

Harris' first major role came in 1980 in the movie Borderline. The following year he was cast in Knightrider as a motorcycle stunt rider.

In 2008 and 2009 he stars in Touching Home, Appaloosa and Once Fallen.

Fast Facts

1. Full Name: Edward Allen Harris
2. Born: November 28, 1950
3. Born in Tenafly, New Jersey
4. Studied drama at the University of Oklahoma
5. Best Supporting Actor nomination Apollo 13
6. Spouse: Amy Madigan
7. One daughter named Lily

1. "Yeah, King Arthur on motorcycles. It sounded totally bizarre to me. But I had always been a major Camelot fan; I played King Arthur in a production in Oklahoma City when I was first starting out." — Ed Harris on his role in Knightrider
2. "I’m not a piano player. I’m not from Germany. I didn’t live in 1827. I’m an actor from New Jersey, born in 1950, so for me, it seemed like a stretch. A good one." — Ed Harris on his role in Copying Beethoven
3. "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." — Ed Harris on artist Jackson Pollock