Mark Harmon Biography

Date of Birth: September 2, 1951

The son of Heisman Trophy winner and nationally acclaimed broadcaster Tom Harmon and former actress Elyse Knox, Mark Harmon was born in Burbank, California. While studying at UCLA, he quarterbacked the UCLA Bruins to multiple winning football seasons and was awarded the National Collegiate Football Foundation Award for All Around Excellence before graduating cum laude with a degree in communications.

Harmon’s feature film debut was a supporting role in Comes a Horseman (1978), starring Jane Fonda and James Caan. He has also co-starred in The Presidio (1988) with Sean Connery and Meg Ryan, Stealing Home (1988) with Jodie Foster and Wyatt Earp (1994) with Kevin Costner. On television, he played the role of Dr. Robert Caldwell on the hit series St. Elsewhere from 1983 to 1986, starred in the title role in the short-lived ABC series Charlie Grace (1995) and as Dr. Jack McNeil from 1996 to 2000 in the long-running CBS series Chicago Hope. While on the show, he launched his directing career by directing several episodes and has since directed episodes of the Fox series Boston Public.

He has been nominated for four Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes. Harmon has been married to actress Pam Dawber since 1987 and they have two sons, Sean and Ty. His sister, Kristin Harmon, was married to former pop idol Ricky Nelson and so Harmon is the uncle of actress Tracy Nelson and her brothers, Gunnar, Matthew and Sam. Harmon was chosen as People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1986. He is also a real-life hero, having saved the life of a 16-year-old boy who was in a car accident just outside of his home in 1996. His wife heard the crash and after alerting him, ran to call 911. Harmon found a dozen onlookers, all just watching the car burn, so he broke out the window and pulled the boy, who had been trapped upside down in his seat belt, to safety moments before the car exploded.

The CBS television show NCIS (2003), about the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, marked Harmon’s return to series television, while on the big screen, he played the fiancé of Jamie Lee Curtis’ character in the Disney remake Freaky Friday (2003), followed by a lead role as the President of the United States (and the father of Mandy Moore's character) in Chasing Liberty (2004).

Filmography:

Chasing Liberty (2004)
Freaky Friday (2003)
Local Boys (2002)
I'll Remember April (1999)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
The First to Go (1997)
Casualties (1997)
The Last Supper (1995)
Magic in the Water (1995)
Natural Born Killers (1994) (uncredited)
Wyatt Earp (1994)
Cold Heaven (1991)
Till There Was You (1990)
Worth Winning (1989)
Stealing Home (1988)
The Presidio (1988)
Summer School (1987)
Let's Get Harry (1986)
Desert Warrior (1984)
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
Comes a Horseman (1978)