Aaron Eckhart is an actor and producer known for his collaborations with award-winning director Neil LaBute.

Aaron E Eckhart was born on March 12, 1968, in Cupertino, California, but his family traveled around a lot. Eckhart has two brothers and growing up, his father was a computer executive and his mother wrote children's books. The family belonged to the Church of Latter Day Saints, to which he still remains devoted. After finishing high school, he took three years out to do missionary work, where he also developed a passion for skiing and surfing. He then attended Brigham Young University in Utah to take a course in film studies.

After graduation, Eckhart enjoyed a small role in Slaughter of the Innocents, alongside Jan Broberg Felt and Kevin Sorbo, but this was followed by three years of unemployment. Toward the end of this time he was lucky to meet up again with his former college friend Neil LaBute, who selected him to star with Stacy Edwards and Mark Malloy in In the Company of Men. This unusual dark comedy won multiple awards and gained Eckhart considerable critical notice, including an Independent Spirit award for Best Début Performance. The pair collaborated a second time on Your Friends & Neighbours, with Jason Patric, Ben Stiller, and Nastassja Kinski, but failed to recapture the energy of their initial project. Six years later they would make the Golden Globe-winning Nurse Betty with Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, and Renee Zellweger.

After Nurse Betty, Eckhart attempted to raise his Hollywood profile by starring in a succession of thrillers. He tunneled to the center of the Earth with Hilary Swank in The Core, pursued Ben Affleck's amnesiac engineer in Philip K. Dick adaptation Paycheck, and helped Carrie-Anne Moss hunt a serial killer in Suspect Zero. He also appeared alongside Kelsey Grammer in two episodes of Frasier. Though this work proved popular, critics were more impressed with his later, more subtle work, such as his performance opposite Helena Bonham Carter in the love story Conversations with Other Women. He hit it big with a leading role in Jason Reitman's anti-tobacco satire Thank You for Smoking, and alongside Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson in Brian De Palma's adaptation of James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia. He is soon due to appear opposite Catherine Zeta Jones in culinary comedy No Reservations.

Eckhart has also had a longstanding interest in stage acting, having appeared in several plays written by LaBute whilst they were at university. He won praise for his performance opposite Julia Stiles in the London run of David Mamet's Oleanna. He has also experimented with production, working alongside Sidney Kimmel and Greg Shapiro on the mystery film Neverwas, which starred Sir Ian McKellen and William Hurt.

2007 saw Aaron starring alongside the young newcomer, Abigail Breslin and the well established Hollywood star, Catherine Zeta Jones, in the romantic comedy 'No Reservations'.

Though he once stated that he aimed to date as many women as possible, Eckhart has not featured heavily in Hollywood gossip columns, his only notable relationship being his engagement to Sex and the City actress Emily Cline, which broke off in 1998. He now lives alone in Los Angeles.

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