Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Eckhart, March 2008
Born	Aaron Edward Eckhart March 12, 1968 (1968-03-12) (age 40) Cupertino, California, United States
Years active	1992–present
Awards won Other awards Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance 1997 In the Company of Men

Aaron Edward Eckhart (born March 12, 1968) is an American film and stage actor. Born in California, he moved to England at 13 when his father relocated the family. Several years later, he began his acting career performing in school plays. Eckhart then moved to Sydney, Australia, for his high school senior year; he left without graduating but earned a diploma through an adult education course. In 1994, he graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) 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/writer Neil LaBute who cast him in several of LaBute's 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 an eclectic range of roles, from science fiction films such as The Core and Paycheck to romantic dramas like Conversations with Other Women (2006) and No Reservations (2007).

In 2000, Eckhart gained wide recognition as George in Steven Soderbergh's critically acclaimed film Erin Brockovich. In 2006, he 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 District Attorney Harvey Dent and his villainous alter-ego Two-Face.

Biography

Early life

Eckhart was born March 12, 1968 in Cupertino, California, and is the youngest of three sons born to Mary Eckhart (née Lawrence), a poet and children's author, and James C. Eckhart "Jim Senior", a computer executive.¹ His brothers are James Lawrence Eckhart (born 1963) and Adam Eckhart (born 1966).¹² Eckhart was raised as a Mormon in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France and Switzerland.³⁴

In 1981, the Eckhart family moved to England⁵⁶ where they resided in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey,² and where Eckhart attended American Community School,⁷ where he had his first acting experiences, starting in a school production as Charlie Brown.⁸⁹ In 1985, he moved to Sydney, 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.¹ In the fall of his senior year,² Eckhart left the school in order to take a job working at a mall movie theater.¹⁰¹¹ He eventually earned his diploma through an adult education course when he returned to the United States.⁵ This also allowed Eckhart time to enjoy a year surfing in Hawaii and the coastal waters of France.¹¹² In 1988, Eckhart returned to the United States and enrolled as a film major at Brigham Young University (BYU).⁵ He graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.¹⁰¹²

Career

Early work

Eckhart at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival

While at Brigham Young,¹³ Eckhart appeared in the Mormon-themed film Godly Sorrow. At this time he met director/writer Neil LaBute,¹³ who cast him in several of LaBute's original plays, the role marked Eckhart's professional theatrical debut.¹¹⁴ After graduating from BYU, Eckhart moved to New York City and worked odd jobs, including bartending, bus driving, and construction work.⁹¹⁵ Eckhart's first television roles were in commercials; in 1994, he appeared as an extra on Beverly Hills, 90210.⁹¹⁶ He followed this small part with roles in documentary re-enactments, made-for-television movies, and short-lived programs like Aliens in the Family.¹

In 1997, Eckhart was approached by Neil LaBute to star in a film adaptation of LaBute's stage play In the Company of Men.¹⁷ Eckhart played a frustrated white-collar worker who planned to woo a deaf office worker, gain her affections, then suddenly dump her.¹⁸ Eckhart's performance was well-received by critics. Paul Tatara of CNN.com wrote, "Eckhart's Chad even has a couple of sarcastic diatribes that mock Cristine's halting, hollow-voiced way of speaking."¹⁹ In the Company of Men was a critical success, winning Best First Film at the 63rd annual New York Film Critics Circle Award.²⁰²¹ Eckhart's performance won him the Independent Spirit Award in the category of Best Debut Performance.²²²³

The following year, Eckhart starred in another LaBute film, Your Friends & Neighbors (1998),¹²¹³ as Barry (a sexually frustrated husband in a dysfunctional marriage). For the role, Eckhart was required to gain weight.²⁴ In 1999, he played a football coach, an offensive coordinator in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday.²⁵ That same year, he starred in the lead role of Molly, in which he played the brother of an autistic woman who was cured by surgery.²⁶

2000–2006

Eckhart first gained wide exposure in 2000 as George, a pony-tailed biker, in Erin Brockovich.²⁷ His performance was well-received; Critic Owen Gleiberman wrote: "Swathed in tattoos and an overgrown foliage of goatee and sideburns, 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'."²⁸ Eckhart claimed that he had not worked for nearly a year before he was cast in the film. "I felt like I sort of was getting away from what I wanted to do as an actor," said Eckhart. "A lot of things fell through. 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."²⁹ After Erin Brockovich, he co-starred with Renée Zellweger in LaBute's Nurse Betty (2000).¹¹² Eckhart next appeared in Sean Penn's The Pledge (2001), he played a young detective partnered with a veteran detective, played by Jack Nicholson.³⁰ In 2002, Eckhart worked with LaBute in a film adaptation of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Possession.¹³¹

Eckhart filming Traveling in 2008

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.¹¹² The film was met with mixed reviews; however, upon release, it ranked number three at the box office.³² Also in 2003, Eckhart appeared in The Missing, in which he played Cate Blanchett's lover,¹³³ and in the action-thriller Paycheck opposite Ben Affleck.³⁴ Paycheck, based on a short story by science fiction writer Phillip K. Dick, garnered generally negative reviews.³⁵ Film critic Roger Ebert 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."³⁵

The following year on NBC's hit television series Frasier, Eckhart played a boyfriend of Charlotte, Dr. Frasier Crane's love interest.³⁶³⁷ He then starred in E. Elias Merhige's Suspect Zero, a thriller about an FBI agent who tracks down a killer who murders serial killers.³⁸³⁹ The movie earned mixed reviews, but Eckhart's performance was well-received. Newsday film critic Kevin Thomas wrote: "Eckhart is a classically handsome leading man... but Merhige demands of him complexity and anguish."⁴⁰ Also in 2004, Eckhart starred on the London stage, opposite Julia Stiles, in David Mamet's Oleanna at the Garrick Theatre. The drama ran until mid-2004.⁴¹ For his performance, Eckhart received favorable critical reviews.²⁹⁴²

In 2006, he appeared in the film noir The Black Dahlia, (based on a real 1947 crime), as Sergeant Leland "Lee" Blanchard, a detective investigating the murder of Elizabeth Short, later dubbed the "Black Dahlia".⁴³⁴⁴ David Jenkins of Time Out praised Eckhart and co-star Hillary Swank for their performances, writing: "...both [are] great in their secondary roles."⁴⁵ At the end of 2006, Eckhart starred with Helena Bonham Carter in Conversations with Other Women.⁴⁶ In an interview with The Guardian about this film, Eckhart noted, "The thing is I want to do movies for adults about adults, relationship movies. I think there was a switch in me that went on. [...] Yep, I want to get the girl. I don't want to be known as the bad guy."²

2006–present

Eckhart, attending an event in Barcelona, Spain in 2008

Eckhart's next project was Thank You for Smoking, in which he played Nick Naylor, a tobacco lobbyist who researched the link between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer. Eckhart said that he felt challenged playing the role: "You have to say these words that are crazy, and yet do it with a smile on your face and have the audience like you. At one point, I'm doing a talk show with a kid who's dying of cancer, and he's going through chemotherapy and the whole thing, and I spin it so the anti-smoking people are the bad guys and I'm the good guy, and I'm this guy's best friend. I mean, it's whacked out."⁴⁷ The film was screened at a special presentation at the 30th annual Toronto International Film Festival in 2005.⁴⁸⁴⁹ It had a limited release in March 2006 and was released worldwide the following month.⁵⁰⁵¹ For his performance, Eckhart received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.⁵² Claudia Puig of USA Today wrote, "Eckhart gives a standout, whip-smart performance, keeping his character likable even in his cynicism."⁵³ In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer review of the film, critic Sean Axmaker, noted, "Under his chummy but compassionless smile, Eckhart radiates charm and Naylor's true joys: manipulating arguments, steering debate, cooking words."⁵⁴

Internationally viewed as a sex symbol, he was named one of People magazines "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2006.⁵⁵⁵⁶ The next year, Eckhart was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.⁵⁷ He starred in No Reservations (2007), a remake of the 2001 German romantic comedy Mostly Martha. He starred opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones as an up-and-coming hotshot chef.⁵⁸ The film met with mixed reviews and was unfavorably compared to the original film.⁵⁹ However, Amy Biancolli of the Houston Chronicle wrote: "Eckhart excels at these spongier roles."⁶⁰

Eckhart signing autographs during promotion of The Dark Knight in 2008

In 2008, Eckhart portrayed the comic book character Harvey Dent/Two-Face in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, the sequel to the 2005 film Batman Begins.⁶¹⁶² Nolan's decision to cast Eckhart was based on his portrayal of corrupt characters in the films In the Company of Men, The Black Dahlia, and Thank You For Smoking.⁶³⁶⁴ Eckhart noted in his depiction of the character that "[he] is still true to himself. He's a crime fighter, he's not killing good people. He's not a bad guy, not purely", while admitting "I'm interested in good guys gone wrong."⁶³⁶⁴ The Dark Knight was a financial success: with an opening day gross of $158,411,483, it set a worldwide opening-weekend record.⁶⁵⁶⁶ In the Rolling Stone review of the film, critic Peter Travers wrote: "Eckhart earns major props for scarily and movingly portraying the DA's transformation into the dreaded Harvey Two-Face."⁶⁷ Critic Eric Kohn of Premiere magazine also praised his performance, noting that "Eckhart's... performance makes you believe in his ill-fated ambition... of morphing into the conniving Two-Face."⁶⁸

Eckhart next appeared in Alan Ball's Towelhead, an adaption of the Alicia Erian novel of the same name, in which he played a Gulf War Army reservist who sexually abuses his thirteen-year-old Arab-American neighbor.⁶⁹⁷⁰⁷¹ The film was screened under the name Nothing is Private at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.⁷² When asked about the sex scenes, Eckhart said: "Those were difficult times.... The way I did it was to really trust Alan. It was in the words. I really trusted Summer [Bishil, who plays Jasira], and I tried to get her to trust me, to build a relationship when we were doing physical scenes. We'd really rehearse them mechanically, and I'd say, 'OK, I'm going to put my hand here, I'm going to do this.' ...I think I found it more difficult."⁷³ When he was first approached for the role, Eckhart noted that he did not want to play a "pedophile".⁷⁰

Eckhart's next film was the comedy Meet Bill (2008), in which he played the eponymous character, a sad executive working at his father-in-law's bank.⁷⁴⁷⁵ He gained 30 pounds and donned a fat suit for the role.¹⁷⁷⁶ He is set to appear alongside Jennifer Aniston in a romantic drama, Traveling (2008), as a motivational speaker coming to terms with his own grief.⁷⁷⁷⁸

Personal life

Eckhart was engaged to actress Emily Cline, whom he met during filming of In the Company of Men, but separated from her in 1998.¹²⁴¹ From 2006 to 2007 he was in a relationship with SheDaisy's Kristyn Osborn.⁴¹ In 2007, he dated Ashley Wicks,¹⁷⁷ though the two have ended their relationship.² During filming of No Reservations, tabloids reported that Eckhart and co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones were having an affair. On the alleged affair, he said, "Maybe they do this to sell papers or to sell the movie. In general, my life has not been interesting to gossip papers. I'm not your big movie star... Nobody follows me around. But with Catherine, yes, it was different... Well it's just not true."² He has been reluctant in speaking about his relationships in interviews.²

In various interviews Eckhart has talked about his beliefs, his way of life, and his future career ambitions. Talking to Entertainment Weekly regarding his Mormon faith, he revealed: "I'm sure people think I'm a Mormon, but I don't know that I'm a Mormon anymore, you know? To be honest, to be perfectly clear, I'd be a hypocrite if I did say that I was, just because I haven't lived that lifestyle for so many years."⁷⁹ In other interviews he has divulged that, through hypnosis, he quit drinking, smoking, and partying,²⁸⁰ that in his spare time he enjoys photography,⁸¹ and that he is a fan of the National Football League (NFL) team, the Oakland Raiders.²⁹ He owns ranches in California and Montana.⁸²⁸³ In an interview with Parade magazine, Eckhart revealed that before he discovered acting he wanted to become a songwriter.⁸ For the future, among the actors Eckhart hopes to work with are Jeff Bridges and Angelina Jolie.⁸⁴

Filmography

References