American actor Aaron Eckhart, who also performs on stage, gained worldwide recognition in 2000 for his role in the hugely popular movie “Erin Brockovich.”
Aaron Eckhart’s Date of Birth and Age
Mary Martha Eckhart, a poet and children’s book author, and James Conrad Eckhart, a computer executive, welcomed Aaron Edward Eckhart into the world on March 12, 1968, in California. He comes from a mixed-ancestry household and has two older brothers.
He was brought up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and before relocating to England, he served a two-year LDS mission in France and Switzerland.
Aaron Eckhart’s Education
Eckhart attended the American Community School in England. The acting bug hit him while he was a student at the school. The acting was first introduced to him in a school play.
He moved to Sydney in 1985. His passion for acting received more support when he was there, where he attended the American International School of Sydney.
He participated in the school’s theatrical plays, developing his acting abilities. Nevertheless, he had little interest in studying and left to work at the Warringah Mall movie theater.
After returning to the US in 1988, he gradually saw the necessity of a formal professional degree and enrolled as a film major at Brigham Young University-Hawaii.
Later, he changed schools and attended Brigham Young University (BYU), where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1994. During his time at college, he participated in a variety of theatrical plays.
Aaron Eckhart’s Career
Aaron Eckhart moved to New York City after receiving his degree but initially had difficulty in obtaining significant acting roles, mainly landing modest parts in TV shows or advertisements.
He performed a variety of additional jobs to make ends meet, including the bus driver, bartender, and construction worker.
When the director/writer Neil LaBute, who was already familiar with Eckhart, gave him a part in the movie version of LaBute’s stage play “In the Company of Men,” he had a little breakthrough. In his first movie, Eckhart received positive reviews for his role as a dissatisfied office worker.
He played a sexually frustrated guy trapped in an unhappy marriage in LaBute’s 1998 dark comedy “Your Friends & Neighbors,” another of the director’s works. He performed as Nick in “Thursday” the same year.
Aaron Eckhart didn’t have his first taste of popular stardom until 2000. In the critically praised biographical film “Erin Brockovich,” which starred Julia Roberts, he played George. After playing this character, he started to find it easier to get significant offers.
He acted in many films during the next several years, including “The Pledge” (2001), “Possession” (2002), “The Missing” (2003), and “Suspect Zero” (2004). He also performed at the Garrick Theatre in David Mamet’s “Oleanna” in 2004.
He received a lot of praise for his work in the theatrical play. Aaron Eckhart had a very fruitful year in 2006. He played Sgt. Lee Blanchard in the murder thriller movie “The Black Dahlia” and Nick Naylor in the comedy-drama “Thank You for Smoking.”
He was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his work in the earlier film.
In the superhero criminal thriller movie “The Dark Knight” from 2008, which also starred Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Heath Ledger as The Joker, Aaron Eckhart was cast as Harvey Dent.
Eckhart was specially picked for the role of Dent by producer Christopher Nolan because of his exceptional talent for playing “gray” characters.
In the drama movie “Rabbit Hole” in 2010, he co-starred alongside Nicole Kidman as Howie, a young father who must deal with the loss of his newborn kid. The film received favorable reviews. Eckhart was chosen by Kidman herself to represent her spouse in this film.
Aaron Eckhart starred in Jonathan Liebesman’s epic military science fiction war movie “Battle: Los Angeles” in 2011. He played a retired Marine Staff Sergeant named Michael Nantz who was forced to return to service in order to command a platoon of American troops and troopers from the U.S. Air Force during a major outer space invasion.
His more recent movies include “My All American,” “Olympus Has Fallen,” and “I, Frankenstein” (2015). He had an appearance in the critically and commercially successful 2016 movie “Sully.” He played Kevin Rooney in the film “Bleed for This” the same year.