Harris has appeared in numerous leading and supporting roles, including in Creepshow (1982), The Right Stuff (1983), The Abyss (1989), State of Grace (1990), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), The Firm (1993), Needful Things (1993), Nixon (1995), The Rock (1996), Stepmom (1998), The Truman Show (1998), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Radio (2003), A History of Violence (2005), Gone Baby Gone (2007), National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), Snowpiercer (2013), Mother!

Harris was born at Englewood Hospital in Englewood, New Jersey, and grew up in the New York City suburb of Tenafly, New Jersey,[1] the son of Margaret (née Sholl), a travel agent, and Robert L. "Bob" Harris (1922–2014), who sang with the Fred Waring chorus and worked at the bookstore of the Art Institute of Chicago.

[6][7] A star athlete in high school,[1] Ed Harris played varsity football at Columbia University and was a teammate of future United States Attorney General Eric Holder.

In 1981, Harris played the lead as motorcycler William "Billy" Davis, (a role modeled after King Arthur), in Knightriders, directed by George A. Romero.

[19][20][21] Also in 1984 he co-starred along with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell in the Jonathan Demme directed World War II biopic Swing Shift[22] and in 1985 played abusive husband Charlie Dick to Jessica Lange's Patsy Cline in the HBO film Sweet Dreams.

[23] In 1986, he received a Tony Award nomination in the Best Actor in a Play category for his role in George Furth's Precious Sons.

[28] In 1988, he acted in Agnieszka Holland's To Kill a Priest, starring Christopher Lambert, based on Jerzy Popiełuszko and his murder under the Polish communist regime.

[29] In 1989, his role as David "Dave" Flannigan in Jacknife earned him his first Golden Globe Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.

[31] In 1992, Harris co starred as Dave Moss in the drama film Glengarry Glen Ross, based on the play of the same name by David Mamet.

[42] Two years later, Harris was nominated for his fourth Academy Award (third in the Best Supporting Actor category) for his role as Richard Brown in the British American drama film The Hours.

[43] In between the two Oscar nominated roles, he appeared in the biographical drama A Beautiful Mind (2001)[44] and portrayed German sniper Major Erwin König in the war thriller Enemy at the Gates (2001).

[49] Harris then co-starred as antagonist Mitch Wilkinson in National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), alongside Nicolas Cage.

[52] He then won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his performance as Senator John McCain in the HBO made for television drama Game Change.

[53] In 2013, he appeared in the western thriller Sweetwater,[54] and starred opposite Annette Bening in the romantic drama film The Face of Love.

[55] Harris then voiced Mission Control in Alfonso Cuarón's space epic Gravity (2013), starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

[57] In 2016, he appeared alongside Madigan and Taissa Farmiga in The New Group's revival of Sam Shepard's Buried Child, for which he was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play.

[58][59] In 2016, he also began playing the villainous Man in Black in HBO's sci-fi thriller series Westworld,[60] and had a co-starring role in the ensemble cast of Warren Beatty's romantic comedy drama Rules Don't Apply, with Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich.

[61] Harris had been previously set to star in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Starz drama series The One Percent with Hilary Swank and Ed Helms.

[68] On March 20, 2012, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) merged to form a new union, SAG-AFTRA.