Aaron Edward Eckhart (created March 12, 1968) is an American movie and stage performer. Produced in California, he moved to England in the age of 13, when his father relocated the family. For much of the mid-1990s, he lived in NYC as a fighting, unemployed actor. Five years after Eckhart made a debut as an unctuous, sociopathic ladies’ man in LaBute’s black comedy movie, “In the Company of Men” (1997). Under LaBute’s guidance he worked in the director’s movies, “Your Friends & Neighbors” (1998), “Nurse Betty” (2000), and “Possession” (2002).
Eckhart attained great recognition as George in Steven Soderbergh’s critically acclaimed movie, “Erin Brockovich” (2000), as well as in 2006 received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor because of his portrayal of Nick Naylor in “Thank You for Smoking”. Another mainstream breakout happened in 2008 when he starred in the hit Batman movie “The Dark Knight” as District Attorney Harvey Dent. Other key functions include “The Pledge” (2001), “The Heart” (2003), “Rabbit Hole” (2010) and “Olympus Has Dropped”(2013).
Brigham Young University–Hawaii, Brigham Young University
Nationality
United States of America
Parents
Mary Eckhart, James C. Eckhart
Nicknames
Aaron E. Eckhart , Aaron Edward Eckhart
Awards
Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance, Satellite Special Achievement Award for Outstanding New Talent, People's Choice Award for Favorite Cast
Nominations
Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance (1998), Satellite Special Achievement Award (1998), People's Choice Award for Favorite Cast (2009)
Movies
“The Dark Knight” (2008), “In the Company of Men” (1998), “Rabbit Hole”, “The Rum Diary” (2011), “Olympus Has Fallen” (2013), “London Has Fallen” (2016), “My All-American” (2015), “Sully” (2016), “Bleed For This” (2016)
Star Sign
Pisces
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Trademark
1
Chin dimple
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Quote
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[on cigars] Non-smokers think it's the most unhealthy, unattractive thing they've ever seen. I was in Australia one time, by a bridge, smoking a cigar and taking some pictures. These runners went by and this woman just had a visceral reaction, made a noise like 'Eeeerugaah'. And I said: 'Here I am standing in piss and vomit from last night and that's OK, but God forbid I smoke a cigar and have a little bit of peace.'
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[on cigars] Say I'm dating a girl and at first she'll have whatever concept of a cigar, and then let's say we are intimate and so we kiss and stuff like that. By a week or two she will be begging to smoke a cigar before we kiss. It's incredible! It's an habitude. It becomes part of the intimacy, which is extremely weird because you'd think it would be revolting. I mean, if you polled the public whether it was worse to beat your grandmother or smoke a cigar I don't know who would win. People freaking hate cigars. And there's a stigma with it, that you're a certain kind of a person.
3
[on cigars] They're excellent to study to. You can put 'em down, pick 'em up - they keep you company while you're thinking. They're a good thinking man's tool. With cigars it's inherent in the mechanics that you're going to sit down for a long time. You plan your day around it.
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[re his affection for Cary Grant] I always feel like he's so good that he was not regarded as an actor. Maybe he didn't have the range that people expect a modern actor to have, but there's never been anybody like him.
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(2011 quote, on quitting drinking) I couldn't be happier with that decision. I recommend it to anybody. I did not go to AA...I haven't had a drink for seven or eight years. I've changed my lifestyle. I don't go out. That's not just because of drinking, it's because of getting older. I've outgrown it, plus all my friends are married and have kids. I'm very interested in my health and I want to live the rest of my life very healthily. I feel 100 per cent in command of myself, so, when I get up, I never have to ask, 'where have I been? What have I said?'
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[on working with Heath Ledger] My experience was wonderful. It was the experience of...loving to act myself, to watch somebody who loved his character and had the discipline to make a bold creation. I found myself trying to keep up with him and I was also admiring him at the same time. I watched him off-camera and on-camera, as an actor, to see his process. After the day was over, I shook his hand and said, 'That's why I'm an actor - 'cos of guys like you'. So I treasure that time with him...He was brilliant, he was brilliant to watch, he was brilliant to see on a daily basis, on set in the makeup trailer, when we were putting on our makeup together. I was doing Harvey's and he was doing the Joker's and trying to figure it out. If you would have said to Heath, 'Hey dude, this is a superhero movie, why don't you chill?' You just wouldn't say that to him. And I don't think that the movie would be as special if he did, so I think we all have to strive to those standards.
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I'm not prone to doing science fiction, it's not my bag.
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[on his job working at a movie theater in Sydney, Australia) I thought Crocodile Dundee (1986) was an inspirational film, I loved that movie. I'm serious. I saw it hundreds of times.
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(On his nomadic upbringing) I came back from summer camp and my dad said: 'Boys we're moving to England' and I said 'No we're not' But dad said 'I don't care about the expense or whatever, you guys can travel as much as you want when we get there.' So I'd ski in Europe, I'd go to Greece, Spain, Moscow, I played soccer in Paris and rugby in Munich. We did everything.
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(2011, on mentally visualizing your goals) I believe if you contextualize something then it will manifest in your life. I have done that with houses, cars, jobs. It absolutely works and it's not hocus-pocus. I believe everything in life has a spiritual component and everything's fair game.
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[on working with Nicole Kidman on Rabbit Hole (2010)]: "She was irritated with me and I was irritated with her. But that's the way movie-making is. For one day, are we not allowed? For half a day even? It's so surprising to me when people are surprised that movie making is sometimes tense and uncomfortable because inherently it's going to be. You're around tens of people or hundreds of people working on things that are imaginary and that come from the soul. You could be dealing with subject matter like prostitution, death, drugs, blah, blah, blah. How could you expect that not to be uncomfortable?"
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Yeah, I've done a lot of smaller stuff before, so it's nice to be in something that people actually see - on the outstanding success of The Dark Knight (2008).
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[on his height] Normal...About 6 feet tall and a buck seventy.
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Fact
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Co-starring in "Oleanna" at the Garrick Theater in London with Julia Stiles. [June 2004]
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Aaron is of German descent on his father's side, and has English, Scottish, German, and Northern Irish (Scots-Irish) ancestry on his mother's side. Some of his father's ancestors were ethnic Germans who lived in Russia.
Was considered for the role of "Leonard" in Memento (2000).
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Is the first and, to date, only live-action actor in the Batman film series to play both "Harvey Dent" and his villainous alter-ego, "Two-Face". Previously, Billy Dee Williams played "Harvey Dent" in Batman (1989), while Tommy Lee Jones played "Two-Face" in Batman Forever (1995). Richard Moll played both roles in Batman: The Animated Series (1992), which was animated.
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Appears in The Dark Knight (2008) - the first film in the new Batman series to feature The Joker. Prior to that, he appeared in The Black Dahlia (2006), in which a major plot element is the film The Man Who Laughs (1928), which provided the inspiration for The Joker.
Was Darren Aronofsky's choice for James Gordon for the doomed Batman: Year One project.
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Enrolled as a film major at Brigham Young University, graduating in 1994.
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Took three years off after high school to surf in Hawaii and served a religious mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Switzerland and France. He has since lapsed out of Mormonism.
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Bought a motorcycle after learning to ride one for Erin Brockovich (2000).
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Was engaged to actress Emily Cline, but separated from her in 1998.
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Was raised in Cupertino, California and as a teenager, lived with his family in England and Sydney, Australia.
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His father is a computer executive, his mother is a children's book author, and he has two brothers.
$25 Million
$3 Million
