Harris, now in his mid-sixties, began his on-screen career in the late eighties with the film The Rachel Papers. More well-known films he appeared in during that period include The Last of the Mohicans and Natural Born Killers.
It wasn't until the mid-nineties that Harris accepted a role in a series, which was a guest role in New York Undercover. It took until 2003 before Harris could be seen in another series. In the meantime, he added nearly thirty other film roles to his resume.
That second series role was a guest appearance in Without a Trace. Hollywood titles Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Ocean’s Twelve followed before Harris committed to the miniseries To The Ends Of The Earth. In this, he played Captain Anderson, who had to help the British aristocrat Edmund Talbot sail to Australia. Small roles in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and The Riches followed, before Harris also took a role in the successful film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
In Fringe, Harris was then cast as a creep. His portrayal of David Robert Jones in the supernatural police series is downright scary. With intense or ice-cold looks and threatening dialogues, he delivered a very strong character.
Almost simultaneously, Harris also joined Mad Men. His character Lane Pryce, as a Brit, is new to the United States of the sixties. He initially works as a financial officer at Sterling Cooper but eventually leaves to set up a new agency with a handful of colleagues. That is not just successful, especially not for Harris's character.
After a short stint in Axe Cop, Harris focused again on film work for a few years, appearing in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Pompeii, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. By 2015, he accepted a recurring guest role in The Expanse. He then did the same in the British series The Crown.
In 2018, Harris shone as Francis Crozier in the first season of The Terror. And although the series is sometimes perceived as slow, the anthology series received a third season in early May. Harris is already busy with many other projects.
After a foray into Animals., perhaps his best work to date follows. In the highly acclaimed Chernobyl, Harris plays the role of Valery Legasov. This scientist had to manage the disaster at the nuclear plant, with all the political factors involved. Harris portrays a man working under immense pressure very strongly.
Carnival Row is the next project where Harris plays a recurring role, this time as the character Absalom Breakspear. Short voice roles follow in Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production and Robot Chicken, before he commits to the underwhelming series The Beast Must Die.
After voicing the character of Merlin in American Dad!, a guest role in Royal Kill List follows. More importantly, he took on a role in the interim: in Foundation, he plays Hari Seldon. The complex science fiction spectacle will receive its fourth season on Apple TV+ in 2026.
So there's plenty of Harris to admire on your television, and more is coming soon. If you're looking for a strong character actor for your screen, stop what you're doing and tune in. Harris will not disappoint you.
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