Josh Hartnett Biography

American actor (born 1978)For the League of Legends player, see Dardoch.

Joshua Daniel Hartnett (born July 21, 1978) is an American actor. He began his career playing Michael Fitzgerald on ABC's Cracker (1997–1998), after which he became known as a teen idol through starring parts in films such as Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, The Faculty (both 1998), The Virgin Suicides (1999), Pearl Harbor, O, Black Hawk Down (all 2001), and 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002).

Hartnett continued to work steadily throughout the 2000s, with a mix of leading and supporting roles in Hollywood Homicide (2003), Wicker Park (2004), Mozart and the Whale, Sin City (both 2005), The Black Dahlia, Lucky Number Slevin (both 2006), Resurrecting the Champ, 30 Days of Night (both 2007), August (2008), and I Come with the Rain (2009). Subsequent credits include Bunraku (2010), Oh Lucy! (2017), Target Number One (2020), Wrath of Man (2021), Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, and Oppenheimer (both 2023). For his portrayal of nuclear physicist Ernest Lawrence in the latter, Hartnett was awarded—alongside his co-stars—the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast.

On television, Hartnett portrayed Ethan Chandler on the Showtime series Penny Dreadful (2014–2016), receiving nominations for three Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. He is married to actress Tamsin Egerton, with whom he has four children.

Early life and education

Hartnett was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, though some sources, he has said, erroneously cite San Francisco. The son of Daniel Thomas Hartnett and Wendy Anne (née Kronstedt), he was raised by his father, a building manager and former guitarist for Al Green, and his stepmother, Molly, an artist. He has three younger siblings named Jake, Joe, and Jessica. Hartnett was raised Roman Catholic, attending Nativity of Our Lord Catholic School. At Minneapolis South High School, he played football, but a knee injury forced him off the team when he was 16. He went on to try youth theater, where he acted in productions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Guys and Dolls and attracted attention from a talent scout. Originally interested in becoming a painter, he decided to become a film actor while working in a video rental shop, where he became acquainted with films such as Trainspotting, 12 Monkeys, and The Usual Suspects.

After Hartnett graduated from high school in 1996, he moved to New York state to attend the Conservatory of Theatre Arts & Film at the State University of New York at Purchase. He was expelled after writing a letter to the dean saying that the college's evaluation system stifled students' creativity. At the age of 19, Harnett moved to Los Angeles at the recommendation of his manager, Nancy Kremer, who had previously helped him book television commercials.

Career

Shortly after arriving to Los Angeles, he caught an improbable break, landing a part in the short-lived drama series Cracker on ABC. His first feature film was Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, in which he played the son of character Laurie Strode. Released on August 5, 1998, it performed well at the box office.

Hartnett then developed a successful film career, appearing in the major films The Faculty, Black Hawk Down, Lucky Number Slevin and Pearl Harbor. During this period, he was marketed as a teen idol and a potential megastar; his unease with this public image eventually led to his disillusionment from pursuing roles in high-profile films. He was originally scheduled to play the role of Tino in Deuces Wild but dropped out to star in Pearl Harbor. In 2002, he starred in O, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello set in an American high school, as Hugo, the film's version of Iago. In the early 2000s, Hartnett was approached several times to play the role of Clark Kent / Superman for a project originally helmed by Brett Ratner but always turned it down, not wanting to commit to a predicted ten-year role. Hartnett said of his decision, "It just wasn't the kind of movie I wanted to do. I turned down other superhero roles as well." He also turned down the role of Batman in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, which ultimately went to Christian Bale.

Hartnett was chosen as one of Teen People magazine's "21 Hottest Stars Under 21" in 1999, Teen People's "25 Hottest Stars under 25", and one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People", both in 2002. He was also voted Bliss magazine's "3rd Sexiest Male".

One of Hartnett's next films was the 2006 drama-mystery The Black Dahlia, in which he played a detective investigating the notorious real-life murder of waitress Elizabeth Short. Hartnett had been cast in the role five years before the film was produced, remaining committed to appearing in the movie because he liked the subject matter.

Among his 2007 roles were Resurrecting the Champ and the graphic novel-based 30 Days of Night, in which he played a small-town sheriff. Hartnett described the second film as "supernatural, but kind of a western". He was going to play trumpet player Chet Baker in the film The Prince of Cool but did not agree with the producer's ideas and left the project.

In 2008, Hartnett played Charlie Babbit in the theater adaptation of Barry Morrow's Academy Award-winning Rain Man at the Apollo Theatre in London's West End. He starred in the new campaign of the Emporio Armani fragrance, "Diamonds for Men", being featured in both print and TV ads for the fragrance, thus becoming the first male celebrity to represent Giorgio Armani Beauty. He has been featured on many magazine covers, such as Cosmogirl, Details, Entertainment Weekly, Girlfriend, Seventeen, Vanity Fair, GQ and Vman, in addition to being in other magazines like Vogue, Elle, People, Glamour, In Touch and InStyle.

In 2009, Hartnett directed the music video for the rapper Kid Cudi's song "Pursuit of Happiness". During this time Hartnett acted in several direct-to-DVD films and international films which received negative reviews, such as the martial arts action film Bunraku (2010), the comedy film Girl Walks into a Bar (2011), the romantic comedy Stuck Between Stations (2011), the time travel adventure film The Lovers (2013), the romantic drama Parts per Billion (2014), and Wild Horses (2015). In 2013, Hartnett was a guest of honor on Off Plus Camera.

In 2014, he was cast in the part of Ethan Chandler in the Gothic horror series Penny Dreadful, which was shot in locations around Dublin and Ireland. Later, Hartnett's character was revealed to be Lawrence Talbot / the Wolfman, who had changed his name to distance himself from his family. In 2017, he performed in Atsuko Hirayanagi's critically acclaimed independent film Oh Lucy! (2017), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. That same year, he starred in and produced the survival film 6 Below: Miracle on the Mountain, which received negative reviews. He then continued acting in smaller films which were received negatively, such as the Turkish war film The Ottoman Lieutenant (2017), the drama She's Missing (2019), the crime film Inherit the Viper (2019), the Polish film Valley of the Gods (2019), and the crime film Ida Red (2021).

In 2020, he portrayed Canadian journalist Victor Malarek in the crime drama Target Number One. Hartnett then starred in Guy Ritchie's 2021 revenge drama film Wrath of Man in a supporting role before Ritchie cast him in his 2023 film Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre. In January 2022, Hartnett was cast as Ernest Lawrence in Christopher Nolan's film Oppenheimer. In July 2022, he joined the sixth season of Black Mirror.

Activism

Hartnett has been involved in various causes. In 2007, he took time out from filming to support the green lifestyle campaign of Global Cool.

In 2011, Hartnett became one of a handful of celebrities attached to USAID and Ad Council's FWD campaign, an awareness initiative tied to that year's East Africa drought. He joined Uma Thurman, Chanel Iman and Geena Davis in TV and Internet ads to "forward the facts" about the crisis.

In 2012, Hartnett also joined Barack Obama in his campaign in Minnesota, appearing at such events as the Minnesota Greater Together Youth Summit before formally endorsing the President on the official campaign YouTube channel. He along with Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak also appeared at the University of Minnesota's McNamara Alumni Center for an Obama Q&A in April.

Personal life

Hartnett began a relationship with English actress Tamsin Egerton in 2012. They have a daughter (born 2015), a second child (born 2017), and a third child (born 2019). In 2022, he revealed he had married Egerton in November 2021. They reside in the Surrey–Sussex border region, in southeast England. In 2024, he shared that he and Egerton had a fourth child.

Regarding fame, Hartnett has said, "I know what it's like to be in that whole world. I was up there for a couple of years, and it was uncomfortable. I think trying to stay at the top is a shortcut to unhappiness." Hartnett took a 15-month break from acting, saying "I spent a bit of time really thinking about whether this was the right thing for me."

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Music videos

Awards and nominations

2023: Won – Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture / Screen Actors Guild Awards for Oppenheimer
2010: Won – Ischia International Arts Academy Acting Award / Ischia Global Film & Music Fest, Italy
2009: Won – Outstanding Environmentalist / 21st Century Leaders Awards, Qatar
2007: Won – GQ Männer des Jahres (GQ Men of the Year) / GQ magazine, Germany
2002: Won – ShoWest Award Male Star of Tomorrow / ShoWest Convention, USA

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Josh Hartnett.

Josh Hartnett at IMDb:

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