Aaron Eckhart

While at Brigham Young University,[24] 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,[24] who cast Eckhart in several of LaBute's original plays.[25] 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.[14] His first television roles were in commercials. In 1994, he appeared as an extra on the television drama series Beverly Hills, 90210.[14][26] 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.[27]

In 1997, Eckhart was approached by Neil LaBute to star in a film adaptation of LaBute's stage play In the Company of Men.[28] He played a frustrated white-collar worker who planned to woo a deaf office worker, gain her affections, then suddenly dump her.[29] The film, his first feature to reach theaters, was critically well received,[30] 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".[31] 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.[32][33] His performance won him the Independent Spirit Award in the category of Best Debut Performance.[34] The film was ranked as one of "The 25 Most Dangerous Movies" by Premiere magazine.[35]

The following year Eckhart starred in another LaBute feature, Your Friends & Neighbors (1998),[21][24] as Barry, a sexually frustrated husband in a dysfunctional marriage. For the role Eckhart was required to gain weight.[36] 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.[37] Eckhart also starred that year as a football coach, an offensive coordinator in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday.[38]

Eckhart first gained wide exposure in 2000 as George, a ponytailed, goateed biker, in Steven Soderbergh's drama Erin Brockovich.[39] The film was met with reasonable reviews,[40] and was a box office success, earning $256 million worldwide.[41] 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'."[42] 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."[43]

Nick Nolte, Eckhart, Joshua Michael Stern, and Alan Cumming promoting Neverwas at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.

Following the release of Erin Brockovich, Eckhart co-starred with Renée Zellweger in LaBute's Nurse Betty (2000).[21] 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.[44] The movie received generally favorable reviews,[45] but it did not fare particularly well at the box office.[46] The following year, he collaborated with LaBute in a film adaptation of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Possession (2002).[47] 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.[48] The film was critically and financially unsuccessful.[49][50] Also in 2003, he appeared in The Missing, in which he played Cate Blanchett's lover,[51] and in the action-thriller Paycheck opposite Ben Affleck.[52] Paycheck, based on a short story by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, garnered generally negative reception.[53] 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."[54]

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.[55][56] 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.[57][58] Upon release, the movie received broadly negative reviews.[59] 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."[60] Suspect Zero was a box office disappointment, earning $11 million worldwide.[61] 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.[62] For this performance, Eckhart received favorable critical reviews.[43][63] 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.[64]

Eckhart's next project was Thank You for Smoking, in which he played Nick Naylor, a tobacco lobbyist whose firm 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."[65] The film was screened at a special presentation at the 30th annual Toronto International Film Festival in 2005.[66][67] It had a limited release in March 2006 and was released worldwide the following month.[68][69] For his performance, Eckhart received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.[70] 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."[71] 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."[72]

In this same year, he starred with Helena Bonham Carter in Conversations with Other Women (2006).[73] 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.[5] 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".[74][75] The film premiered at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival.[76][77] Reception for the movie was mixed,[78] but many critics enjoyed Eckhart's performance; Time Out magazine praised Eckhart and co-star Hilary Swank for their performances, writing "...both [are] great in their secondary roles."[79]

Eckhart signing autographs for fans during promotion of The Dark Knight in 2008.

Internationally viewed as a sex symbol, he was named one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2006.[80][81] The following year, Eckhart was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[82] 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.[83] The film was met with mixed reviews and was unfavorably compared to the original film.[84] 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.[85][86] He gained 30 pounds and donned a fat suit for the role.[28][87]

Eckhart at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2013

Also in 2008, Eckhart portrayed the comic book character Harvey Dent in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, the sequel to the 2005 film Batman Begins.[88][89] 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.[90][91] 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."[90][91] 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,[92] it became the fourth highest-grossing film of all time,[93] 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,[94] 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."[95]

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.[96][97] The film was screened under the name Nothing is Private at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.[98] When he was first approached for the role, Eckhart revealed that he did not want to play a "pedophile".[97] 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."[99] Towelhead was critically and financially unsuccessful.[100][101]

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.[102][103] The movie received ambivalent reviews,[104] with a contributor of the Orlando Sentinel reporting that Eckhart plays "broken" for the whole movie.[105] 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.[106][107] The feature premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.[108] In 2011, Eckhart starred in Jonathan Liebesman's science fiction film Battle: Los Angeles, in which he portrayed a combat veteran Marine platoon sergeant. The film was set in modern-day Los Angeles during a global alien invasion, and followed a platoon of U.S. Marines who are joined by an Air Force special operations sergeant and some Army infantry soldiers in combat operations against the alien enemy.[109] He appeared alongside Johnny Depp, Richard Jenkins, and Amber Heard in Hunter S. Thompson's novel adaptation The Rum Diary, directed by Bruce Robinson.[110][111] 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.[110][111] He starred as a U.S. President who is taken hostage, in the 2013 action thriller Olympus Has Fallen, opposite Gerard Butler, and reprised the role in its 2016 sequel London Has Fallen.[112]

On November 8, 2019, he starred in Roland Emmerich’s blockbuster movie Midway, which also starred Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Mandy Moore, Nick Jonas, Dennis Quaid and Woody Harrelson.[113][114][115][116][117][118]