Jared Harris

Jared Francis Harris (born 24 August 1961) is a British actor. His roles include Lane Pryce in the AMC drama series Mad Men (2009–2012), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series; King George VI in the Netflix historical drama series The Crown (2016–2017); and Valery Legasov in the HBO miniseries Chernobyl (2019), for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. Harris also had roles as David Robert Jones in the Fox science fiction series Fringe (2008–2012), Anderson Dawes on the science fiction series The Expanse (2015–2017) and Captain Francis Crozier in the AMC series The Terror (2018). He is also known for his significant supporting roles in films such as Mr. Deeds (2002), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), Lincoln (2012), and Allied (2016). In 2021, he took the role of Hari Seldon, a leading character in the Apple TV+ science fiction series Foundation. Early life Harris was born on 24 August 1961 in Hammersmith, London, the second of three sons of Irish actor Richard Harris and his first wife, Welsh actress Elizabeth Rees-Williams (1936-2022). His younger brother is actor Jamie Harris, his older brother is director Damian Harris and his maternal grandfather was politician David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore. Education Harris was educated at Ladycross School, a former preparatory boarding independent school in the coastal town of Seaford in East Sussex, as were his brothers Jamie and Damian. He says, "They were famous for discipline, with cold showers every morning", and that "You were never known by your first name there. You were either called by your number, or your last name. Since there were three of us, Damian was 'Harris Ma' for major. I was 'Harris Mi' for minor, and Jamie was 'Harris Minimus,' being the youngest and the smallest". He then attended Downside School, a Catholic boarding independent school in the village of Stratton-on-the-Fosse (near the market town of Shepton Mallet) in Somerset, in South West England. He went on to Duke University in the U.S., graduating in 1984 with an BFA in drama, then returned to England to train as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating in 1989.