Aaron Eckhart

In the Company of Men was a critical success, winning Best First Film for LaBute at the 63rd annual New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

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.

Aaron Edward Eckhart (born March 12, 1968) is an American actor.

Born in Cupertino, California, Eckhart moved to the United Kingdom at an early age.

He began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Australia for his high school senior year.

Eckhart was born on March 12, 1968 in Cupertino, California, the son of Mary Martha Lawrence, a writer, artist, and poet, and James Conrad Eckhart, a computer executive.

He is the youngest of three brothers.

His father is of German-Russian descent, while his mother has English, German, Scots-Irish, and Scottish ancestry.

He was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and served a two-year mission in France and Switzerland.

Eckhart's family relocated to the United Kingdom in 1981, following his father's job in information technology.

During their time in the United Kingdom, the family moved around Surrey, England, living in towns such as Cobham, Ripley, and Walton-on-Thames.

Eckhart attended American Community School, where he was first introduced to acting, starring in a school production as Charlie Brown.

In 1985, Eckhart moved to Australia and settled in Sydney, 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 gave a "terrible" performance.

In the autumn of his senior year, Eckhart left school to take a job at the Warringah Mall movie theater.

He eventually earned his diploma through a professional education course.

This also allowed Eckhart time to enjoy a year of surfing in Hawaii and France, as well as skiing in the Alps.

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 left high school without graduating, but earned a diploma through a professional education course, and then graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah, U.S., in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film.

As an undergraduate at BYU, Eckhart met director and writer Neil LaBute, who cast Eckhart in several of LaBute's original plays.

He graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

He also studied acting at the William Esper Studio.

While at Brigham Young University, Eckhart appeared in the Mormon-themed film Godly Sorrow, and the role marked his professional debut.

At this time he met director/writer Neil LaBute, who cast Eckhart in several of LaBute's 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 (Ancient Secrets of the Bible: Samson), made-for-television movies, and short-lived programs like Aliens in the Family.

Five years later Eckhart made a debut as an unctuous, sociopathic womanizer in LaBute's black comedy film In the Company of Men (1997), followed by appearances in three more of the director's films.

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".

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.

Eckhart gained wide recognition as George in Erin Brockovich (2000), and, in 2006, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of Nick Naylor in Thank You for Smoking.

Eckhart first gained wide exposure in 2000 as George, a ponytailed, goateed biker, in Steven Soderbergh's drama Erin Brockovich.

In 2008 he played a major role in Christopher Nolan's blockbuster Batman film The Dark Knight as District Attorney Harvey Dent / Two-Face.

He went on to appear in Love Happens, Battle: Los Angeles, The Rum Diary, Olympus Has Fallen and its sequel, and Midway.