Eckhart was born March 12, 1968 in
Cupertino, California,
and is the youngest of three sons born to Mary
Eckhart (née
Lawrence), a poet and children's author, and James
C. Eckhart "Jim Senior", a computer executive.
His brothers are James
Lawrence Eckhart (born 1963) and Adam Eckhart (born
1966). Eckhart was raised as a Mormon in
The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in France and Switzerland.
In an interview with
Entertainment Weekly, in regards to his
Mormon faith, he revealed: "I'm sure people think
I'm a Mormon, but I don't know that I'm a Mormon
anymore, you know? To be honest, to be perfectly
clear, I'd be a hypocrite if I did say that I was,
just because I haven't lived that lifestyle for so
many years."
In 2000, Eckhart gained his
first wide-exposure as a pony-tailed biker, named
George, in
Erin Brockovich.
He received positive reviews on his performance.
Before he was cast in the film, Eckhart claimed that
he had not worked for nearly a year. "I felt like I
sort of was getting away from what I wanted to do as
an actor," said Eckhart. "A lot of things fell
through. 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." After Erin Brockovich,
Eckhart costarred with
Renée Zellweger in
LaBute's, Nurse Betty
(2000).
Later, he performed in
The Pledge, a 2001
film directed by Sean Penn,
in which Eckhart played a young detective partnered
with a veteran-detective, played by
Jack Nicholson. In
2002, Eckhart worked with LaBute in a
film adaptation of the
Man Booker Prize
winning novel, Possession.
By 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.
The film was met with mixed reviews; however, upon
release, it ranked at the number three position at
the box office.
In 2006, he appeared in
The Black Dahlia, a
film noir in which he
played Sergeant Leland "Lee" Blanchard, a detective
investigating the murder of
Elizabeth Short (later dubbed the Black
Dahlia). The film is based on
a real 1947 crime.
In 2008, Eckhart portrayed the
comic book character Harvey
Dent/Two-Face in
Christopher Nolan's
The Dark Knight, the sequel to the 2005
film Batman Begins.
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.
Eckhart 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."
The Dark Knight was a
financial success, setting a record worldwide,
opening-weekend gross of $158,411,483 on its opening
day.
Eckhart has been openly candid
about settling down and starting a family, stating,
"Manipulating girls is just not in me any more, it's
just no fun."
With the help of a hypnotist,
he ended his drinking, smoking, and partying habits.
In his spare time, he enjoys photography.
He is a fan of the
National Football League
(NFL) team, the Oakland
Raiders.
He owns a ranch in both
California and
Montana. In an
interview with Parade
magazine, Eckhart revealed that before he discovered
acting he wanted to become a songwriter.
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