A handsome blonde performer capable of transforming himself as the role requires, Aaron Eckhart first caught moviegoers' attention in his film debut as the unctuous businessman Chad in college classmate Neil LaBute's wicked black comedy "In the Company of Men" (1997). Playing off his chiseled good looks, the California native etched a memorably villainous character, one minute seductive and charming, the next sadistic and cruel. In Eckhart's skillful portrayal, Chad emerged as a fully-rounded, if deeply flawed, human being. Eckhart spent part of his formative years living in England, and, after dropping out of high school, in Sydney, Australia. Eventually earning his high school equivalency, he enrolled at Brigham Young University where he met future collaborator LaBute. Following graduation, Eckhart joined the ranks of unemployed actors in Manhattan until he enjoyed a taste of success with a beer commercial that cast him as a construction worker. Returning to California, he began landing small roles, including a turn as Samson in the 1993 CBS special, "Ancient Secrets of the Bible, Part II". After his star-making turn in "In the Company of Men", the actor was offered an opportunity to demonstrate his astonishing range and versatility in LaBute's "Your Friends and Neighbors" (1998). Cast as an overweight, impotent and unhappily married man, Eckhart was virtually unrecognizable.
Eckhart finally landed a more conventional role playing the title character's overprotective brother in "Molly" (1999). All that was a warm-up, though, for his turn as the pony-tailed biker who eventually wins the heart of Julia Roberts' "Erin Brockovich" (2000). In what amounted to his first full-blown romantic role, Eckhart exhibited an affable, easygoing nature and magnetic screen charisma. Reuniting with LaBute, he switched gears and returned to the sleazy side as a used-car salesman who neglects his sweet-natured spouse in "Nurse Betty" (also 2000). Sean Penn then tapped Eckhart to play a young detective partnered with a grizzled veteran on the verge of retirement in "The Pledge" (2001) before the actor once again played De Niro to LaBute's Scorsese in "Possession" (2002). In the latter, he was cast opposite Gwyneth Paltrow as an academic attempting to reconstruct the relationship between two Victorian-era authors. Eckhart then portrayed a geophysicist who, along with Hilary Swank and Bruce Greenwood, set off to detonate a nuclear device and save the world from destruction in the low-thrills sci-fi thriller "The Core" (2003).
The actor continued to search for the right role to elevate him to A-List leading man status, underutilized as Cate Blanchett's ranch hand/lover in Ron Howard's unsatisfying Western "The Missing" (2003) and Ben Affleck's mysterious employer in John Woo's middling "Paycheck" (2003). After a recurring stint in 2004 on the final episodes of the NBC sit-com "Frasier" in which he displayed his able comedic abilities as the oblivious boyfriend of Dr. Crane's matchmaker love interest (Laura Linney) who openly befriends his rival, Eckhart took center stage in the big-screen thriller "Suspect Zero" (2004) as a disgraced FBI agent tracking a serial killer who is murdering other serial killers. He next starred in the independently made Conversations with Other Women (2006), playing an unnamed man whose encounter with a seeming stranger (Helena Bonham Carter) leads to a sexually-charged battle of wits, revealing a deep-rooted passion and a love affair they had two decades ago.
Eckhart was gleefully provocative in Thank You for Smoking (2006), playing a spokesman and lobbyist for Big Tobacco who spins and schemes his way through a maze of overzealous health advocates and opportunistic politicians while defending the rights of smokers. Eckharts brash performance in Jason Reitmans satire earned big laughs at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, generating enough buzz for a good showing in its theatrical release. After a cameo in Neil LaButes The Wicker Man (2006), Eckhart starred in The Black Dahlia (2006), Brian De Palmas take on James Ellroys complicated and richly-textured noir thriller about two hard-edged cops (Eckhart and Josh Hartnett) who descend into obsession, corruption and sexual degeneracy as they investigate the brutal murder of would-be actress Elizabeth Short, who was found tortured and vivisected in a vacant lot in Los Angeles. Though Eckhart gave a strong performance as an ex-pugilist-turned-homicide detective nicknamed Mr. Fire, audiences were left cold by De Palmas empty direction. Meanwhile, Eckhart was cast to star in Alan Balls untitled directorial debut, an adaptation of Alicia Erians novel Towelhead about a 13-year-old girl fending off sexual obsession by a bigoted Army reservist under the oppressive eye of her Lebanese father during the 1991 Gulf War.
Copyright © Baseline 2007.