The son of Irish actor Richard Harris, Jared Harris (born Aug. 24, 1961, in London) showed no interest in the family profession until his senior year at Duke University, when he was cast in a play solely on the basis of his English accent. From then on, Harris was hooked.

On graduation, Harris returned to England and threw himself into his new profession, becoming a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. After making his film debut in 1989's The Rachel Papers, Harris quickly began to amass an impressive résumé in independent films, including Smoke, Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man and, most impressively, 1995's I Shot Andy Warhol (in which he played the titular artist).

With the dawn of the new decade, Harris continued to work in both big-budget Hollywood productions such as Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) and The Notorious Bettie Page, as well as indie features such as 2002's Igby Goes Down.