Ed Harris: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

By Jeffrey Stewart / August 31, 2013

Most movie-goers would probably equate the name Ed Harris to anger and rage, defining his many villainous turns in blockbusters. However, his career is much more than what he is well-known and infamous for. Whenever a role calls for an intense, steely gazed and completely driven individual, I€™m hard-pressed to think of another American actor that could play it better.

After starring as pioneering American astronaut John Glenn in The Right Stuff in 1983, Harris became the go-to actor for anything from subdued determination, as in Enemy at the Gates, to explosively tempered in action classics like The Rock. No matter the role or screen-time the man always makes his presence and character known. The Snowpiercer star has also been nominated four times for Oscar gold in both supporting and leading roles, reinforcing that fact.

Although not always hitting it out of the park, sometimes taking the obvious €˜Paycheck€™ role, the man remains one of the finest actors working today. As Michael Bay's Pain & Gain is the biggest UK release of the weekend and we've already put Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson through the Friday column rigour, we've gone for Ed Harris for this week's spotlight, an actor who has a supporting role in the movie. So as an ode to one of my absolute favorite character actors and, actors in general, I€™ll give you Harris€™ five best roles... and five bad ones. To help show the difference when an actor is totally committed to the character and the material and when that decidedly isn't the case.