
Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American film actor, screenwriter and director. In 1996, his supporting role in the courtroom drama Primal Fear garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. A year later, his lead role as a reformed white power skinhead in American History X earned a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor. His other films include period dramas such as Kingdom of Heaven, The Illusionist (2006), and The Painted Veil; and other notable films such as Rounders, Fight Club, 25th Hour, Red Dragon, and The Incredible Hulk.
Aside from acting, Norton made his directorial debut in 2000 with the film Keeping the Faith. He followed up with an adaptation of the novel Motherless Brooklyn, which was finally released in 2019 after many years in Development Hell. He is a member of the board of trustees of Enterprise Community Partners, a non-profit organization for developing affordable housing, as well as a social activist.
Rather famous for acting for its own sake and for occasionally trying to take over the production of some of his films. He parodied this part of his personality in his Oscar-nominated role in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
Also, he is fluent in Japanese and has a genius-level IQ and is also an avid martial artist who has trained in Aikido, Krav Maga and Brazilian JiuJitsu and did additional training in boxing and Taekwondo for Fight Club.
Selected works:
- Primal Fear (1996)
- Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
- The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
- American History X (1998)
- Rounders (1998)
- Fight Club (1999)
- Keeping the Faith (2000)
- The Score (2001)
- Death to Smoochy (2002)
- 25th Hour (2002)
- Red Dragon (2002)
- The Italian Job (2003)
- Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
- The Illusionist (2006)
- The Painted Veil (2006)
- The Incredible Hulk (2008)
- Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
- The Bourne Legacy (2012)
- The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
- Sausage Party (2016)
- Collateral Beauty (2016)
- Isle of Dogs (2018)
- Ask the StoryBots (2018)
- Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
- Motherless Brooklyn (2019)
- The French Dispatch (2021)
- Glass Onion (2022)
- Extrapolations (2023)
- Asteroid City (2023)