Aaron Eckhart
Encyclopedia
Aaron Edward Eckhart 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
(BYU) 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 film
s 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).
, the son of Mary Eckhart (née
Lawrence), a poet and children's author, and James C. Eckhart "Jim Senior", a computer executive. He is the youngest of three brothers. Eckhart was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints whose members are commonly known as Mormons, and served a two-year mission
in France and Switzerland.
Eckhart's family relocated to England in 1981, following his father's job in information technology. The family resided in Surrey
, South East England, first in Walton-on-Thames
, later moving to Cobham
. While living in England Eckhart attended American Community School
, now known as ACS International Schools, where he was first introduced to acting, starring in a school production as Charlie Brown
. 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. In the fall of his senior year Eckhart left the school in order to take a job working at a mall movie theater. He eventually earned his diploma through an adult education course. This also allowed Eckhart time to enjoy a year of surfing
and skiing
in Hawaii
and the coastal waters of France. In 1988, Eckhart returned to the United States and enrolled as a film major at Brigham Young University–Hawaii, but later transferred to Brigham Young University
(BYU) in Provo, Utah
. He graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
degree.
, who cast him in several of his own original plays. 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. His first television roles were in commercials. In 1994 he appeared as an extra on the television drama series, Beverly Hills, 90210
. Eckhart followed this small part with roles in documentary re-enactments, made-for-television movies, and short-lived programs like Aliens in the Family.
In 1997 Eckhart was approached by Neil LaBute to star in a film adaptation of LaBute's stage play, In the Company of Men
. He played a frustrated white-collar worker
who planned to woo a deaf office worker, gain her affections, then suddenly dump her. The film, his first feature to reach theaters, was critically well received, 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". In the Company of Men was a critical success, winning Best First Film at the 63rd annual New York Film Critics Circle Award
. His performance won him the Independent Spirit Award in the category of Best Debut Performance. The film was ranked as one of "The 25 Most Dangerous Movies" by Premiere
magazine.
The following year Eckhart starred in another LaBute feature, Your Friends & Neighbors
(1998), as Barry, a sexually frustrated husband in a dysfunctional marriage. For the role Eckhart was required to gain weight. 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. Eckhart also starred that year as a football coach, an offensive coordinator
in Oliver Stone
's Any Given Sunday
.
's drama, Erin Brockovich
. The film was met with reasonable reviews, and was a box office success, earning $256 million worldwide. 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'." 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."
Following the release of Erin Brockovich, Eckhart co-starred with Renée Zellweger
in LaBute's Nurse Betty
(2000). 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
. The movie received generally favorable reviews, but it did not fare particularly well at the box office. The following year, he collaborated with LaBute in a film adaptation of the Man Booker Prize
-winning novel Possession (2002). 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. The film was critically and financially unsuccessful. Also in 2003, he appeared in The Missing
, in which he played Cate Blanchett
's lover, and in the action-thriller Paycheck
opposite Ben Affleck
. Paycheck, based on a short story by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick
, garnered generally negative reception. 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."
The following year, away from film, Eckhart guest starred in two episodes of NBC
's comedy sitcom Frasier
, where he played a boyfriend of Charlotte, Dr. Frasier Crane
's love interest. His next film role was in E. Elias Merhige
's thriller Suspect Zero
, a movie about an FBI agent who tracks down a killer who murders serial killers. Upon release, the movie received broadly negative reviews. Despite the reception, Eckhart's performance was favored by critics; Newsday
wrote that Eckhart was a "classically handsome leading man ... but Merhige demands of him complexity and anguish." Suspect Zero was a box office disappointment, earning $11 million worldwide. 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. For this performance, Eckhart received favorable critical reviews. In 2005, returning to film, Eckhart appeared in Neverwas
as a therapist who takes a job at a rundown mental hospital that once treated his father (Nick Nolte
). The feature was never given a full theatrical release, eventually being released straight to DVD in 2007.
in 2005. It had a limited release in March 2006 and was released worldwide the following month. For his performance, Eckhart received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
. A contributor of USA Today
wrote that he gave a "standout, whip-smart performance" citing that as Nick Naylor he kept him "likable even in his cynicism." In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
review of the film, it was reported that "Under his chummy but compassionless smile" Eckhart radiated charm and "Naylor's true joys: manipulating arguments, steering debate, cooking words."
In this same year, he starred with Helena Bonham Carter
in Conversations with Other Women
(2006). While promoting this film, Eckhart revealed that he wishes not to be typecast or repeat himself, saying he does not want to play any more villains. He appeared in the 2006 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". The film premiered at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival
. Reception for the movie was mixed, but many critics enjoyed Eckhart's performance; Time Out magazine praised Eckhart and co-star Hillary Swank for their performances, writing "...both [are] great in their secondary roles."
Internationally viewed as a sex symbol
, he was named one of People
magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2006. The following year, Eckhart was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
. 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. The film was met with mixed reviews and was unfavorably compared to the original film. Eckhart starred in the 2008 comedy Meet Bill, in which he played the eponymous character, a sad executive working at his father-in-law's bank. He gained 30 pounds and donned a fat suit for the role.
Also 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
. 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. He 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." The Dark Knight was a big financial and critical success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America. With revenue of $1 billion worldwide, it became the fourth highest grossing film of all time, and the highest grossing film of Eckhart's career. Roger Ebert opined that Eckhart did an "especially good job" as his character in the feature, while Premiere
magazine also enjoyed his performance, noting that he "makes you believe in his ill-fated ambition ... of morphing into the conniving Two-Face."
Following the success of The Dark Knight, Eckhart next appeared in Alan Ball
's Towelhead
(2008), an adaption of the Alicia Erian novel of the same name, in which he played a Gulf War Army reservist who sexually abuses his 13-year-old Arab-American neighbor. The film was screened under the name Nothing is Private at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. When he was first approached for the role, Eckhart revealed that he did not want to play a "pedophile". 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], 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." Towelhead was critically and financially unsuccessful.
He next co-starred with Jennifer Aniston
in the romantic drama, Love Happens, released in September 2009, as a motivational speaker coming to terms with his own grief. The movie received ambivalent reviews, with a contributor of the Orlando Sentinel
reporting that Eckhart plays "broken" for the whole movie. The following year he starred alongside Nicole Kidman
in Rabbit Hole
(2010), an adaption of David Lindsay-Abaire
's 2005 drama of the same name
. The feature premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
. In 2011, Eckhart starred in Jonathan Liebesman
's science fiction film Battle: Los Angeles
, which was set in modern day Los Angeles and followed a platoon of U.S. Marines during a global alien invasion, who are joined by an Airman and some Army infantry. He appeared alongside Johnny Depp
, Richard Jenkins
, and Amber Heard
in Hunter S. Thompson
's novel adaptation The Rum Diary
, directed by Bruce Robinson
. In the film, Eckhart played Sanderson, a wealthy landowner, who believes everything has a price and introduces Paul Kemp (Depp) to a different standard of living. For the future, among the actors Eckhart hopes to work with are Jeff Bridges
and Angelina Jolie
.
, Kristyn Osborn, from 2006-2007. He appeared in the group's video for their hit, "I'm Taking the Wheel".
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." In other interviews he has divulged that, through hypnosis, he quit drinking, smoking, and partying, and that in his spare time, he enjoys photography. In an interview with Parade
magazine, Eckhart revealed that before he discovered acting, he wanted to become a songwriter.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 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
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, 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
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
(BYU) in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
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
Neil LaBute
Neil N. LaBute is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright.-Early life:LaBute was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Marian, a hospital receptionist, and Richard LaBute, a long-haul truck driver. LaBute is of French Canadian, English and Irish ancestry, and was raised in Spokane,...
, who cast him in several of his own original plays. Five years later Eckhart made a debut as an unctuous, sociopathic
Psychopathy
Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
ladies' man in LaBute's black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
film, In the Company of Men
In the Company of Men
In the Company of Men is a 1997 Canadian/American black comedy written and directed by Neil LaBute and starring Aaron Eckhart, Matt Malloy, and Stacy Edwards...
(1997). Under LaBute's guidance he worked in the director's films, Your Friends & Neighbors
Your Friends & Neighbors
Your Friends & Neighbors is a 1998 comedy-drama film written and directed by Neil LaBute and starring Amy Brenneman, Aaron Eckhart, Catherine Keener, Nastassja Kinski, Jason Patric, and Ben Stiller in an ensemble cast. This film was the first to be reviewed on the website Rotten Tomatoes...
(1998), Nurse Betty
Nurse Betty
Nurse Betty is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Neil LaBute starring Renée Zellweger as a sweet Kansas waitress who undergoes a nervous breakdown after witnessing her husband's murder, and starts obsessively pursuing her favorite soap actor....
(2000), and Possession (2002). Eckhart has chosen roles in an eclectic range of movies, from science fiction film
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
s such as The Core
The Core
The Core is a 2003 American disaster film loosely based on the novel Core by Paul Preuss. It concerns a team that has to drill to the center of the Earth and set off a series of nuclear explosions in order to restart the rotation of Earth's core...
(2003) and Paycheck
Paycheck (film)
Paycheck is a 2003 film adaptation of the short story of the same name by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The film was directed by John Woo and stars Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman and Aaron Eckhart...
(2003) to romantic dramas like Conversations with Other Women
Conversations with Other Women
Conversations with Other Women is 2005 comedy drama film directed by Hans Canosa, written by Gabrielle Zevin, starring Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter....
(2006) and No Reservations
No Reservations (film)
No Reservations is a 2007 American romantic drama film directed by Scott Hicks. The screenplay by Carol Fuchs is an adaptation of an original script by Sandra Nettelbeck, which served as the basis for the 2001 German film Mostly Martha.-Plot:...
(2007).
Eckhart gained wide recognition as George in Steven Soderbergh's critically acclaimed film, Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich (film)
Erin Brockovich is a 2000 biographical film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film is a dramatization of the story of Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, who fought against the US West Coast energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Roberts won the Academy Award, Golden Globe,...
(2000), and in 2006 received a Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
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
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
as Harvey Dent/Two-Face
Two-Face
Two-Face is a fictional comic book supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. and is an enemy of Batman. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #66 , and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger....
. Eckhart starred alongside Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
in the film, Rabbit Hole
Rabbit Hole (film)
Rabbit Hole is a 2010 drama film starring Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, and Dianne Wiest, and directed by John Cameron Mitchell; the screenplay is an adaptation by David Lindsay-Abaire of his 2005 play of the same name. Kidman produced the project via her company, Blossom Films. The film premiered...
(2010).
Early life
Eckhart was born in Cupertino, CaliforniaCupertino, California
Cupertino is an affluent suburban city in Santa Clara County, California in the U.S., directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 58,302 at the time of the 2010 census. Forbes...
, the son of Mary Eckhart (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Lawrence), a poet and children's author, and James C. Eckhart "Jim Senior", a computer executive. He is the youngest of three brothers. Eckhart was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints whose members are commonly known as Mormons, and served a two-year mission
Missionary (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
in France and Switzerland.
Eckhart's family relocated to England in 1981, following his father's job in information technology. The family resided in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, South East England, first in Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames is a town in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey in South East England. The town is located south west of Charing Cross and is between the towns of Weybridge and Molesey. It is situated on the River Thames between Sunbury Lock and Shepperton Lock.- History :The name "Walton" is...
, later moving to Cobham
Cobham, Surrey
Cobham is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, about south-west of central London and north of Leatherhead. Elmbridge has been acclaimed by the Daily Mail as the best place to live in the UK, and Cobham is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt...
. While living in England Eckhart attended American Community School
ACS International Schools
ACS International Schools is a group of three schools based in England and one in Qatar. Until 2005, the organisation was known as American Community Schools. The four campuses are located in Cobham and Egham in Surrey and in the London Borough of Hillingdon and Doha, Qatar which is due to open in...
, now known as ACS International Schools, where he was first introduced to acting, starring in a school production as Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown
Charles "Charlie" Brown is the protagonist in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.Charlie Brown and his creator have a common connection in that they are both the sons of barbers, but whereas Schulz's work is described as the "most shining example of the American success story", Charlie...
. In 1985 he moved to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, where he attended American International School of Sydney
American International School of Sydney
The American International School of Sydney was an international school located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.The school operated, in part, under the sponsorship of the United States Ambassador to Australia and awarded the American High School Diploma, which all graduates received upon...
for his high school senior year; he further developed his acting skills in productions like Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
, where he admits that he did a "terrible" production. In the fall of his senior year Eckhart left the school in order to take a job working at a mall movie theater. He eventually earned his diploma through an adult education course. This also allowed Eckhart time to enjoy a year of surfing
Surfing
Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...
and skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and the coastal waters of France. In 1988, Eckhart returned to the United States and enrolled as a film major at Brigham Young University–Hawaii, but later transferred to Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
(BYU) in Provo, Utah
Provo, Utah
Provo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...
. He graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
degree.
Early work
While at Brigham Young University, 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 LaButeNeil LaBute
Neil N. LaBute is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright.-Early life:LaBute was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Marian, a hospital receptionist, and Richard LaBute, a long-haul truck driver. LaBute is of French Canadian, English and Irish ancestry, and was raised in Spokane,...
, who cast him in several of his own original plays. 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. His first television roles were in commercials. In 1994 he appeared as an extra on the television drama series, Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
. Eckhart followed this small part with roles in documentary re-enactments, made-for-television movies, and short-lived programs like Aliens in the Family.
In 1997 Eckhart was approached by Neil LaBute to star in a film adaptation of LaBute's stage play, In the Company of Men
In the Company of Men
In the Company of Men is a 1997 Canadian/American black comedy written and directed by Neil LaBute and starring Aaron Eckhart, Matt Malloy, and Stacy Edwards...
. He played a frustrated white-collar worker
White-collar worker
The term white-collar worker refers to a person who performs professional, managerial, or administrative work, in contrast with a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor...
who planned to woo a deaf office worker, gain her affections, then suddenly dump her. The film, his first feature to reach theaters, was critically well received, with Desson Howe
Desson Thomson
Desson Patrick Thomson is a speechwriter in the Obama Administration and a former movie critic for The Washington Post.-Biography:Thomson attended boarding schools in England from the age of 7 until 17. He went to the Abbey School in East Grinstead, Sussex, and the City of London Freemen's School...
of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
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". In the Company of Men was a critical success, winning Best First Film at the 63rd annual New York Film Critics Circle Award
New York Film Critics Circle Awards 1997
The 63rd New York Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in film for 1997, were announced on 11 December 1997 and given on 4 January 1998.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Peter Fonda - Ulee's Gold*Best Actress:...
. His performance won him the Independent Spirit Award in the category of Best Debut Performance. The film was ranked as one of "The 25 Most Dangerous Movies" by Premiere
Premiere (magazine)
Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007. The original version of the magazine, Première , was started in France in 1976 and is still being published there.-History:The magazine originally...
magazine.
The following year Eckhart starred in another LaBute feature, Your Friends & Neighbors
Your Friends & Neighbors
Your Friends & Neighbors is a 1998 comedy-drama film written and directed by Neil LaBute and starring Amy Brenneman, Aaron Eckhart, Catherine Keener, Nastassja Kinski, Jason Patric, and Ben Stiller in an ensemble cast. This film was the first to be reviewed on the website Rotten Tomatoes...
(1998), as Barry, a sexually frustrated husband in a dysfunctional marriage. For the role Eckhart was required to gain weight. In 1999 he starred opposite Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
in Molly
Molly (film)
Molly is a 1999 romantic comedy-drama film about a 28 year old woman with autism who came into the custody of her neurotic executive brother...
, a romantic comedy-drama in which he played the self-absorbed brother of an autistic woman who was cured by surgery. Eckhart also starred that year as a football coach, an offensive coordinator
Offensive coordinator
An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of a gridiron football team who is in charge of the offense. Generally, along with his defensive counterpart, he represents the second level of command structure after the head coach...
in Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's Any Given Sunday
Any Given Sunday
Any Given Sunday is a 1999 American drama film directed by Oliver Stone depicting a fictional professional American football team. The film features an ensemble cast, consisting of Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, James Woods, LL Cool J, Matthew Modine, John C...
.
Critical success
Eckhart first gained wide exposure in 2000 as George, a pony-tailed biker, in Steven SoderberghSteven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
's drama, Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich (film)
Erin Brockovich is a 2000 biographical film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film is a dramatization of the story of Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, who fought against the US West Coast energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Roberts won the Academy Award, Golden Globe,...
. The film was met with reasonable reviews, and was a box office success, earning $256 million worldwide. His performance was well received by critics; Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is an American film critic for Entertainment Weekly, a position he has held since the magazine's launch in 1990. From 1981–89, he worked at the Boston Phoenix....
, 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'." 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."
Following the release of Erin Brockovich, Eckhart co-starred with Renée Zellweger
Renée Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire , and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary ...
in LaBute's Nurse Betty
Nurse Betty
Nurse Betty is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Neil LaBute starring Renée Zellweger as a sweet Kansas waitress who undergoes a nervous breakdown after witnessing her husband's murder, and starts obsessively pursuing her favorite soap actor....
(2000). He next appeared in Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
's mystery feature The Pledge
The Pledge (film)
The Pledge is a 2001 American mystery film directed by Sean Penn. It is based on the 1958 novella Das Versprechen: Requiem auf den Kriminalroman , by Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt...
(2001), in which he played a young detective partnered with a veteran detective, played by Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
. The movie received generally favorable reviews, but it did not fare particularly well at the box office. The following year, he collaborated with LaBute in a film adaptation of the Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
-winning novel Possession (2002). In 2003, Eckhart co-starred with Hilary Swank
Hilary Swank
Hilary Ann Swank is an American actress. Swank's film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid , as Julie Pierce, the first female protégé of sensei Mr. Miyagi...
in The Core
The Core
The Core is a 2003 American disaster film loosely based on the novel Core by Paul Preuss. It concerns a team that has to drill to the center of the Earth and set off a series of nuclear explosions in order to restart the rotation of Earth's core...
, a film about a geophysicist who tries to detonate a nuclear device in order to save the world from destruction. The film was critically and financially unsuccessful. Also in 2003, he appeared in The Missing
The Missing
The Missing is a 2003 Western thriller film directed by Ron Howard, based on Thomas Eidson's 1996 novel The Last Ride.This Western thriller set in 1885 New Mexico Territory is notable for the authentic use of the Apache language by various actors, some of whom spent long hours studying it...
, in which he played Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
's lover, and in the action-thriller Paycheck
Paycheck (film)
Paycheck is a 2003 film adaptation of the short story of the same name by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The film was directed by John Woo and stars Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman and Aaron Eckhart...
opposite Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...
. Paycheck, based on a short story by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
, garnered generally negative reception. Film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
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."
The following year, away from film, Eckhart guest starred in two episodes of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's comedy sitcom Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, where he played a boyfriend of Charlotte, Dr. Frasier Crane
Frasier Crane
Frasier W. Crane, M.D., Ph.D., A.P.A. is a fictional character on the American television sitcoms Frasier and Cheers. He was played by Kelsey Grammer for 20 years, tying the record for the longest-running character on prime-time American television, which was set by James Arness, who played Marshal...
's love interest. His next film role was in E. Elias Merhige
E. Elias Merhige
Edmund Elias Merhige, known as E. Elias Merhige, is an American film director born in Brooklyn.Merhige is best known to mainstream audiences for the 2000 film Shadow of the Vampire, and to underground audiences for the cult-classic 1991 film Begotten.As he says in his audio commentary to the...
's thriller Suspect Zero
Suspect Zero
Suspect Zero is a 2004 thriller film directed by E. Elias Merhige. It opened to decidedly mixed reviews, and failed to earn back half of its estimated $27 million production costs at the box office.-Plot:...
, a movie about an FBI agent who tracks down a killer who murders serial killers. Upon release, the movie received broadly negative reviews. Despite the reception, Eckhart's performance was favored by critics; Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
wrote that Eckhart was a "classically handsome leading man ... but Merhige demands of him complexity and anguish." Suspect Zero was a box office disappointment, earning $11 million worldwide. Also in 2004, Eckhart starred on the London stage, opposite Julia Stiles
Julia Stiles
Julia O'Hara Stiles is an American actress.After beginning her career in small parts in a New York City theatre troupe, she has moved on to leading roles in plays by writers as diverse as William Shakespeare and David Mamet...
, in David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
's Oleanna at the Garrick Theatre
Garrick Theatre
The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster. It opened on 24 April 1889 with The Profligate, a play by Arthur Wing Pinero. In its early years, it appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama, and today the theatre is a...
. The drama ran until mid-2004. For this performance, Eckhart received favorable critical reviews. In 2005, returning to film, Eckhart appeared in Neverwas
Neverwas
Neverwas is a 2005 English film written and directed by Joshua Michael Stern, starring Ian McKellen, Aaron Eckhart, Brittany Murphy and Nick Nolte.It was first shown at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival...
as a therapist who takes a job at a rundown mental hospital that once treated his father (Nick Nolte
Nick Nolte
Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...
). The feature was never given a full theatrical release, eventually being released straight to DVD in 2007.
Worldwide recognition
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." The film was screened at a special presentation at the 30th annual Toronto International Film FestivalToronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
in 2005. It had a limited release in March 2006 and was released worldwide the following month. For his performance, Eckhart received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...
. A contributor of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
wrote that he gave a "standout, whip-smart performance" citing that as Nick Naylor he kept him "likable even in his cynicism." In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
review of the film, it was reported that "Under his chummy but compassionless smile" Eckhart radiated charm and "Naylor's true joys: manipulating arguments, steering debate, cooking words."
In this same year, he starred with Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
in Conversations with Other Women
Conversations with Other Women
Conversations with Other Women is 2005 comedy drama film directed by Hans Canosa, written by Gabrielle Zevin, starring Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter....
(2006). While promoting this film, Eckhart revealed that he wishes not to be typecast or repeat himself, saying he does not want to play any more villains. He appeared in the 2006 film noir The Black Dahlia
The Black Dahlia (film)
The Black Dahlia is a 2006 neo noir crime film directed by Brian De Palma. It is based on the novel of the same name by James Ellroy, writer of L.A. Confidential and starred Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank. The story is based on the murder of Elizabeth Short...
—based on a real 1947 crime
Black Dahlia
"The Black Dahlia" was a nickname given to Elizabeth Short is an American woman and the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. She acquired the moniker posthumously by newspapers in the habit of nicknaming crimes they found particularly colorful...
—as Sergeant Leland "Lee" Blanchard, a detective investigating the murder of Elizabeth Short, later dubbed the "Black Dahlia". The film premiered at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival
63rd Venice International Film Festival
The 63rd Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was opened on 30 August 2006 with Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia and was closed on 9 September 2006...
. Reception for the movie was mixed, but many critics enjoyed Eckhart's performance; Time Out magazine praised Eckhart and co-star Hillary Swank for their performances, writing "...both [are] great in their secondary roles."
Internationally viewed as a sex symbol
Sex symbol
A sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...
, he was named one of People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2006. The following year, Eckhart was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
. He starred in No Reservations
No Reservations (film)
No Reservations is a 2007 American romantic drama film directed by Scott Hicks. The screenplay by Carol Fuchs is an adaptation of an original script by Sandra Nettelbeck, which served as the basis for the 2001 German film Mostly Martha.-Plot:...
(2007), a remake of the 2001 German romantic comedy, Mostly Martha
Mostly Martha (film)
Bella Martha is a 2001 German romantic comedy drama film directed by Sandra Nettelbeck. The American movie No Reservations is heavily based on this. It is about a skilled chef in Hamburg, Germany. When her sister dies, she is left taking care of her niece, who gives her problems...
. He starred opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
as an up-and-coming hotshot chef. The film was met with mixed reviews and was unfavorably compared to the original film. Eckhart starred in the 2008 comedy Meet Bill, in which he played the eponymous character, a sad executive working at his father-in-law's bank. He gained 30 pounds and donned a fat suit for the role.
Two-Face
Two-Face is a fictional comic book supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. and is an enemy of Batman. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #66 , and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger....
, in Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Jonathan James Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer.He received serious notice after his second feature Memento , which he wrote and directed based on a story idea by his brother, Jonathan Nolan. Jonathan went to co-write later scripts with him,...
's The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
, the sequel to the 2005 film Batman Begins
Batman Begins
Batman Begins is a 2005 American superhero action film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson,...
. 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. He 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." The Dark Knight was a big financial and critical success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America. With revenue of $1 billion worldwide, it became the fourth highest grossing film of all time, and the highest grossing film of Eckhart's career. Roger Ebert opined that Eckhart did an "especially good job" as his character in the feature, while Premiere
Premiere (magazine)
Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007. The original version of the magazine, Première , was started in France in 1976 and is still being published there.-History:The magazine originally...
magazine also enjoyed his performance, noting that he "makes you believe in his ill-fated ambition ... of morphing into the conniving Two-Face."
Following the success of The Dark Knight, Eckhart next appeared in Alan Ball
Alan Ball (screenwriter)
Alan E. Ball is an American writer, director, actor and producer for film, theatre and television.-Early life:Ball was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Frank and Mary Ball, an aircraft inspector and a homemaker...
's Towelhead
Towelhead (film)
Towelhead is a 2007 black comedy film written and directed by Alan Ball and based on Alicia Erian's novel of the same name. The film made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on September 8, 2007 under the name Nothing is Private...
(2008), an adaption of the Alicia Erian novel of the same name, in which he played a Gulf War Army reservist who sexually abuses his 13-year-old Arab-American neighbor. The film was screened under the name Nothing is Private at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. When he was first approached for the role, Eckhart revealed that he did not want to play a "pedophile". 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], 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." Towelhead was critically and financially unsuccessful.
He next co-starred with Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress, film director, and producer, best known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Aniston has also enjoyed a successful film career,...
in the romantic drama, Love Happens, released in September 2009, as a motivational speaker coming to terms with his own grief. The movie received ambivalent reviews, with a contributor of the Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008...
reporting that Eckhart plays "broken" for the whole movie. The following year he starred alongside Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
in Rabbit Hole
Rabbit Hole (film)
Rabbit Hole is a 2010 drama film starring Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, and Dianne Wiest, and directed by John Cameron Mitchell; the screenplay is an adaptation by David Lindsay-Abaire of his 2005 play of the same name. Kidman produced the project via her company, Blossom Films. The film premiered...
(2010), an adaption of David Lindsay-Abaire
David Lindsay-Abaire
David Lindsay-Abaire is an American playwright and lyricist. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 for his play Rabbit Hole, which also earned several Tony Award nominations.-Early life and education:...
's 2005 drama of the same name
Rabbit Hole
Rabbit Hole is a play written by David Lindsay-Abaire. It was the recipient of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play was originally commissioned by South Coast Repertory and first presented at its Pacific Playwrights Festival reading series in 2005...
. The feature premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
2010 Toronto International Film Festival
The 35th annual Toronto International Film Festival, was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 9 and September 19, 2010. The opening night gala presented Score: A Hockey Musical, a Canadian comedy-drama musical film. Last Night closed the festival on September 19.2010 TIFF included...
. In 2011, Eckhart starred in Jonathan Liebesman
Jonathan Liebesman
Jonathan Liebesman is a South African film director.-Personal life:Liebesman was born in Johannesburg, South Africa...
's science fiction film Battle: Los Angeles
Battle: Los Angeles
Battle: Los Angeles is a 2011 American military science fiction war film directed by Jonathan Liebesman, and starring Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Ramon Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Ne-Yo and Michael Peña...
, which was set in modern day Los Angeles and followed a platoon of U.S. Marines during a global alien invasion, who are joined by an Airman and some Army infantry. He appeared alongside Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, Richard Jenkins
Richard Jenkins
Richard Dale Jenkins is an American stage, film, and television actor. After beginning his career in theatre, Jenkins made his film debut in 1974, and appeared in supporting roles in numerous film productions in the 1980s and the 1990s. His breakthrough came in the 2000s for playing the deceased...
, and Amber Heard
Amber Heard
Amber Laura Heard is an American actress and model. She played the lead and title character in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006. Heard's first starring role came in 2007 on the CW television show Hidden Palms...
in Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
's novel adaptation The Rum Diary
The Rum Diary (film)
The Rum Diary is a 2011 film based on the novel of the same name by Hunter S. Thompson. The film is directed by Bruce Robinson and stars Johnny Depp. Filming began in Puerto Rico in March 2009...
, directed by Bruce Robinson
Bruce Robinson
Bruce Robinson is an English director, screenwriter, novelist and actor. He is arguably most famous for writing and directing the cult classic Withnail and I , a film with comic and tragic elements, set in London during the 1960s which drew on his experiences as 'a chronic alcoholic and resting...
. In the film, Eckhart played Sanderson, a wealthy landowner, who believes everything has a price and introduces Paul Kemp (Depp) to a different standard of living. For the future, among the actors Eckhart hopes to work with are Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
and Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
.
Personal life
Eckhart once was engaged to actress, Emily Cline, whom he met during filming of In the Company of Men, but they separated in 1998. He always has been reluctant in speaking about his relationships in interviews. Eckhart dated Country Music songwriter and member of SHeDAISYSHeDAISY
SHeDAISY is an American country music group founded in the late 1980s by sisters Kristyn Robyn Osborn , Kelsi Marie Osborn , and Kassidy Lorraine Osborn from Magna, Utah...
, Kristyn Osborn, from 2006-2007. He appeared in the group's video for their hit, "I'm Taking the Wheel".
In various interviews Eckhart has talked about his beliefs, his way of life, and his future career ambitions. Talking to Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
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." In other interviews he has divulged that, through hypnosis, he quit drinking, smoking, and partying, and that in his spare time, he enjoys photography. In an interview with Parade
Parade (magazine)
Parade is an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 500 newspapers in the United States. It was founded in 1941 and is owned by Advance Publications. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., Parade has a circulation of 32.2 million and a readership of nearly 70...
magazine, Eckhart revealed that before he discovered acting, he wanted to become a songwriter.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | In the Company of Men In the Company of Men In the Company of Men is a 1997 Canadian/American black comedy written and directed by Neil LaBute and starring Aaron Eckhart, Matt Malloy, and Stacy Edwards... |
Chad | Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance Satellite Award for Outstanding New Talent |
| Slaughter of the Innocents | Ken Reynolds | ||
| 1998 | Your Friends & Neighbors Your Friends & Neighbors Your Friends & Neighbors is a 1998 comedy-drama film written and directed by Neil LaBute and starring Amy Brenneman, Aaron Eckhart, Catherine Keener, Nastassja Kinski, Jason Patric, and Ben Stiller in an ensemble cast. This film was the first to be reviewed on the website Rotten Tomatoes... |
Barry | |
| Thursday | Nick | ||
| 1999 | Molly Molly (film) Molly is a 1999 romantic comedy-drama film about a 28 year old woman with autism who came into the custody of her neurotic executive brother... |
Buck McKay | |
| Any Given Sunday Any Given Sunday Any Given Sunday is a 1999 American drama film directed by Oliver Stone depicting a fictional professional American football team. The film features an ensemble cast, consisting of Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, James Woods, LL Cool J, Matthew Modine, John C... |
Nick Crozier | ||
| 2000 | Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich (film) Erin Brockovich is a 2000 biographical film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film is a dramatization of the story of Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, who fought against the US West Coast energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Roberts won the Academy Award, Golden Globe,... |
George | |
| Nurse Betty Nurse Betty Nurse Betty is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Neil LaBute starring Renée Zellweger as a sweet Kansas waitress who undergoes a nervous breakdown after witnessing her husband's murder, and starts obsessively pursuing her favorite soap actor.... |
Del Sizemore | ||
| Tumble | "Man" | ||
| 2001 | The Pledge The Pledge (film) The Pledge is a 2001 American mystery film directed by Sean Penn. It is based on the 1958 novella Das Versprechen: Requiem auf den Kriminalroman , by Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt... |
Stan Krolak | |
| 2002 | Possession | Roland Michell | |
| 2003 | The Core The Core The Core is a 2003 American disaster film loosely based on the novel Core by Paul Preuss. It concerns a team that has to drill to the center of the Earth and set off a series of nuclear explosions in order to restart the rotation of Earth's core... |
Dr. Josh Keyes | |
| The Missing The Missing The Missing is a 2003 Western thriller film directed by Ron Howard, based on Thomas Eidson's 1996 novel The Last Ride.This Western thriller set in 1885 New Mexico Territory is notable for the authentic use of the Apache language by various actors, some of whom spent long hours studying it... |
Brake Baldwin | ||
| Paycheck Paycheck (film) Paycheck is a 2003 film adaptation of the short story of the same name by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The film was directed by John Woo and stars Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman and Aaron Eckhart... |
James Rethrick | ||
| 2004 | Suspect Zero Suspect Zero Suspect Zero is a 2004 thriller film directed by E. Elias Merhige. It opened to decidedly mixed reviews, and failed to earn back half of its estimated $27 million production costs at the box office.-Plot:... |
Thomas Mackelway | |
| Vapor | Nathaniel Powers | ||
| 2005 | Neverwas Neverwas Neverwas is a 2005 English film written and directed by Joshua Michael Stern, starring Ian McKellen, Aaron Eckhart, Brittany Murphy and Nick Nolte.It was first shown at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival... |
Zach Riley | Co-producer |
| 2006 | Conversations with Other Women Conversations with Other Women Conversations with Other Women is 2005 comedy drama film directed by Hans Canosa, written by Gabrielle Zevin, starring Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter.... |
Man | |
| Thank You for Smoking | Nick Naylor | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead Nominated – St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor The St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor is one of the annual awards given by the St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association.-2000s:-2010s:... |
|
| The Wicker Man The Wicker Man (2006 film) The Wicker Man is a 2006 American remake of the 1973 British film of the same title. It was written and directed by Neil LaBute, based on a screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, and stars Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn.... |
Truck Stop Patron | ||
| The Black Dahlia The Black Dahlia (film) The Black Dahlia is a 2006 neo noir crime film directed by Brian De Palma. It is based on the novel of the same name by James Ellroy, writer of L.A. Confidential and starred Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank. The story is based on the murder of Elizabeth Short... |
Sgt. Lee Blanchard | ||
| 2007 | No Reservations No Reservations (film) No Reservations is a 2007 American romantic drama film directed by Scott Hicks. The screenplay by Carol Fuchs is an adaptation of an original script by Sandra Nettelbeck, which served as the basis for the 2001 German film Mostly Martha.-Plot:... |
Nick Palmer | |
| Towelhead Towelhead (film) Towelhead is a 2007 black comedy film written and directed by Alan Ball and based on Alicia Erian's novel of the same name. The film made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on September 8, 2007 under the name Nothing is Private... |
Mr. Vuoso | ||
| Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Richard E. Robbins, which portrays the lives and experiences of American combat soldiers who have been to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.-Production:... |
(voice) | ||
| 2008 | Meet Bill | Bill | Executive producer |
| The Dark Knight The Dark Knight (film) The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins... |
Harvey Dent/Two-Face Two-Face Two-Face is a fictional comic book supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. and is an enemy of Batman. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #66 , and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.... |
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble People's Choice Award for Favorite Cast People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show recognizing the people and the work of popular culture. The show has been held annually since 1975 and is voted on by the general public. The People's Choice Awards air on CBS and are produced by Procter & Gamble and Survivor magnate Mark Burnett... Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Scream Award for Best Villain |
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| 2009 | Love Happens | Dr. Burke Ryan | |
| 2010 | Rabbit Hole Rabbit Hole (film) Rabbit Hole is a 2010 drama film starring Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, and Dianne Wiest, and directed by John Cameron Mitchell; the screenplay is an adaptation by David Lindsay-Abaire of his 2005 play of the same name. Kidman produced the project via her company, Blossom Films. The film premiered... |
Howie Corbett | Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead Nominated – San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor San Diego Film Critics Society Awards 2010 -Best Actor:Colin Farrell – Ondine*Aaron Eckhart – Rabbit Hole*Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network*Colin Firth – The King's Speech*James Franco – 127 Hours-Best Actress:... |
| 2011 | Battle: Los Angeles Battle: Los Angeles Battle: Los Angeles is a 2011 American military science fiction war film directed by Jonathan Liebesman, and starring Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Ramon Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Ne-Yo and Michael Peña... |
SSgt. Michael Nantz | |
| The Rum Diary The Rum Diary (film) The Rum Diary is a 2011 film based on the novel of the same name by Hunter S. Thompson. The film is directed by Bruce Robinson and stars Johnny Depp. Filming began in Puerto Rico in March 2009... |
Sanderson | ||
| 2012 | The Expatriate | Ben Logan | Filming |
Additional sources
- Mitchell, Peter. "Dundee a talisman for Eckhart." The Age. May 1, 2003. Accessed December 15, 2008.
- Head, Steve. "IGN interviews Aaron Eckhart." IGN. August 24, 2004. Accessed December 30, 2008.
- Roberts, Farin. "BBC Movies - Aaron Eckhart interview." BBC Films. June 16, 2006. Accessed December 30, 2008. (Farin Roberts interviews Aaron Eckhart in discussion of Thank You for Smoking.) [Includes video clipVideo clipVideo clips are short clips of video, usually part of a longer recording. The term is also more loosely used to mean any short video less than the length of a traditional television program.- On the Internet :...
]. - Fischer, Paul. "Aaron Eckhart No Reservations Interview." Femail. Accessed December 30, 2008.
- Berkshire, Geoff. "'Dark Knight' Q&A: Aaron Eckhart." Chicago Metromix. July 14, 2008. Accessed December 15, 2008.
- Blades, Nicole. "Aaron Eckhart Interview." Women's Health. July 16, 2008. Accessed October 24, 2008.
- Mottram, James. "Aaron Eckhart interview." Marie Claire. July 28, 2008. Accessed December 30, 2008.
- Fischer, Paul. "Aaron Eckhart The Dark Knight Interview." Femail. Accessed December 30, 2008.
- Berk, Phillip. "Man of the Hour." Filmink. September 16, 2008. Accessed October 3, 2008.