Ed Harris (born
November 28,
1950) is an American actor. Born
Edward Allen Harris in
Englewood, New Jersey, he was a star athlete in high school and won an athletic scholarship to
Columbia University, but after two years, when his family moved to
Oklahoma, he left Columbia and enrolled in
Oklahoma University[?], where he studied drama. After several successful roles in local theater, he moved to
Los Angeles, California, and enrolled at the
California Institute of the Arts.
His first important film role was in Borderline[?] with Charles Bronson, where he played a killer. In Knightriders[?], he played a motorcycle stunt rider in a role modeled after that of King Arthur. In 1983 he became a star, playing John Glenn in The Right Stuff.
Harris is married to actress Amy Madigan[?].