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Mark Harmon

Highest Rated: 88% Freaky Friday (2003)

Lowest Rated: 0% Worth Winning (1989)

Birthday: Sep 2, 1951

Birthplace: Burbank, California, USA

A dependable presence on television and in the occasional feature for decades, actor-producer Mark Harmon broke free of roles that hinged on his all-American looks and appeal and displayed a talent for complex men, ranging from a doctor with HIV on "St. Elsewhere" (NBC, 1982-88), serial killer Ted Bundy in "The Deliberate Stranger" (NBC, 1986) and his long-running turn as no-nonsense Special Agent Gibbs on "NCIS" (CBS, 2003- ). Born Thomas Mark Harmon on September 2, 1951 in Burbank, California, he was the son of college football great Tom Harmon and his wife, actress Elyse Knox, and for a time, it appeared that Harmon would follow in his father's footsteps and establish a career in sports. After graduating from high school at the Harvard-Westlake School, he played football for both Pierce College and UCLA, and helped the Bruins net a 17-5 record during his two years as quarterback. During this period, Harmon also began making sporadic appearances on television through his family connections: he shared the screen with his dad in a commercial for Kellogg's Product 19, and made his acting debut in an episode of "Ozzie's Girls" (syndicated, 1972-74), a comedy starring Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, at the behest of their son, pop singer Ricky Nelson, who was engaged to Harmon's sister, Kristen. But Harmon initially resisted a career in acting, focusing at first on law and later in advertising. Neither proved satisfying, and Harmon turned to actor/producer Jack Webb for advice. The "Dragnet" (NBC/Syndicated, 1951-59, 1967-1970) producer cast him in minor roles on several of his television projects, including "Emergency!" (NBC, 1972-77), which led to more work, albeit largely in ornamental roles, until 1977, when his turn as an amputee soldier in the TV-movie "Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years" (ABC, 1977) earned him an Emmy nomination. The acclaim led to appearances in feature films, most notably "Comes a Horseman" (1978) and "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" (1979) and plentiful television work. He enjoyed featured roles in major miniseries like "Centennial" (NBC, 1978-79), but achieved lasting stardom on the primetime soap "Flamingo Road " (NBC, 1980-82). As a small town deputy turned senator, Harmon was entangled with most of the female cast, including top-billed Morgan Fairchild, which minted him as a favored TV heartthrob. Eager to shed such a screen image, Harmon joined the cast of "St. Elsewhere" as playboy plastic surgeon Robert Caldwell. In a primetime television first, Caldwell's promiscuous nature led to him contracting the HIV virus, and the praise afforded to Harmon's performance allowed him to step outside of the "handsome leading man" field and explore more in-depth character roles. In this regard, he proved remarkably successful: he earned Golden Globes for his terrifying portrayal of serial killer Ted Bundy in "The Deliberate Stranger" and a Depression-Era carpenter struggling to retrieve his sons from foster care in "After the Promise" (CBS, 1987), and earned praise for turns opposite Elizabeth Taylor in a TV-movie version of "Sweet Bird of Youth" (NBC, 1989), as a potentially lethal father figure in a remake of "Shadow of a Doubt" (CBS, 1991) and as gangster John Dillinger in "Dillinger" (ABC, 1991), His success on the small screen naturally led to film opportunities, including Carl Reiner's broad comedy "Summer School" (1986), the thriller "The Presidio" (1988) with Sean Connery and a character turn as a faded baseball player in "Stealing Home" (1988). These efforts received only modest acclaim, and Harmon would soon return to television, first as a by-the-books detective forced to work with a hearing-impaired assistant district attorney on "Reasonable Doubts" (NBC, 1991-93). Though a critical favorite which earned Harmon his third and fourth Golden Globe nomination, the series proved short-lived, as did its follow-up, "Charlie Grace" (ABC, 1995). Harmon would spend the tail end of the '90s bouncing between occasional film appearances ("Wyatt Earp," 1994), guest turns on series - he played astronaut Wally Schirra on "From the Earth to the Moon" (HBO, 1998) - and TV-movies before returning to series work on "Chicago Hope" (CBS, 1996- 2000). When the series ran its course in 2000, Harmon enjoyed a four-episode arc as a Secret Service agent who became involved with press secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney). Harmon earned his second Emmy nomination for the steely role, which inspired producer Donald P. Bellisario to cast him as the flinty NCIS agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on "NCIS." The series became a runaway hit for the Tiffany Network and something of a cottage industry for Harmon, who began serving as producer for the series in 2008 and for its spin-off, "NCIS: New Orleans" (CBS, 2014- ) in 2014.

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Highest rated movies

88% 58% Freaky Friday
Watchlist
67% 54% Comes a Horseman
Watchlist
61% 70% The Last Supper
Watchlist
60% 19% Cold Heaven
Watchlist
57% 58% Summer School
Watchlist
51% 89% Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Watchlist
46% 64% The Amati Girls
Watchlist
41% 33% The Presidio
Watchlist
40% 78% Louis L'Amour's Crossfire Trail
Watchlist
33% 36% Weather Girl
Watchlist

Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Freakier Friday Ryan (Character) - 2025
No Score Yet No Score Yet John Sandford's Certain Prey Lucas Davenport (Character),
Executive Producer
- 2011
No Score Yet 73% Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths Superman (Voice) - 2010
33% 36% Weather Girl Dale (Character) $20.9K 2009
19% 60% Chasing Liberty President James Foster (Character) $12.2M 2004
88% 58% Freaky Friday Ryan (Character) $110.2M 2003
No Score Yet 82% Local Boys Jim Wesley (Character) - 2002
40% 78% Louis L'Amour's Crossfire Trail Bruce Barkow (Character) - 2001
46% 64% The Amati Girls Lawrence (Character) $47.8K 2001
No Score Yet 61% I'll Remember April John Cooper (Character) - 2000
No Score Yet 82% For All Time Charles Lattimer (Character) - 2000
51% 89% Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Magazine Reporter at Mint 400 (Character) $10.6M 1998
No Score Yet 45% Casualties Tommy Nance (Character) - 1997
No Score Yet No Score Yet The First to Go Jeremy Hampton (Character) - 1997
No Score Yet No Score Yet Original Sins Johnathan Frayne (Character) - 1995
21% 58% Magic in the Water Jack Black (Character) $2.3M 1995
61% 70% The Last Supper Dominant Male (Character) $189.5K 1995
31% 61% Wyatt Earp Sheriff Johnny Behan (Character) $24.6M 1994
60% 19% Cold Heaven Alex Davenport (Character) $17.2K 1992
No Score Yet No Score Yet Long Road Home Unknown (Character) - 1991
No Score Yet No Score Yet Fourth Story David Shepard (Character) - 1991
No Score Yet No Score Yet Deadly Identity David Shepard (Character) - 1991
No Score Yet 33% Dillinger John Dillinger (Character) - 1991
No Score Yet No Score Yet Shadow of a Doubt Charles (Character) - 1991
No Score Yet 61% Till There Was You Frank Flynn (Character) - 1991
No Score Yet 69% Sweet Bird of Youth Chance Wayne (Character) - 1989
0% 43% Worth Winning Taylor Worth (Character) $3.6M 1989
41% 33% The Presidio Jay Austin (Character) $18.9M 1988
20% 78% Stealing Home Billy Wyatt (Character) $7.3M 1988
57% 58% Summer School Mr. Freddy Shoop (Character) $33.3M 1987
No Score Yet 95% After the Promise Elmer Jackson (Character) - 1987
No Score Yet 26% Let's Get Harry Harry Burck Jr. (Character) $141.0K 1986
No Score Yet 33% Prince of Bel Air Robin Prince (Character) - 1986
No Score Yet 71% The Deliberate Stranger Unknown (Character) - 1986
No Score Yet 36% Tuareg: The Desert Warrior Gacel Sayah (Character) - 1984
No Score Yet No Score Yet Intimate Agony Tommy (Character) - 1983
0% 21% Beyond the Poseidon Adventure Larry Simpson (Character) - 1979
No Score Yet No Score Yet 240-Robert Deputy Dwayne "Thib" Thibideaux (Character) - 1979
67% 54% Comes a Horseman Billy Joe Meynert (Character) - 1978
No Score Yet No Score Yet Little Mo Norman Brinker (Character) - 1978
No Score Yet No Score Yet Getting Married Howie Lesser (Character) - 1978

TV

Credit
No Score Yet 84% NCIS NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Character),
Executive Producer
2003-2025
88% 65% NCIS: Origins Executive Producer,
Narrator
2024
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Talk Guest 2013 2015 2017 2024
No Score Yet 54% The Kelly Clarkson Show Guest 2023
No Score Yet 11% The View Guest 2023
No Score Yet 64% NCIS: New Orleans NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Guest Star),
Executive Producer
2014-2021
No Score Yet 48% The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Guest 2019
No Score Yet No Score Yet Tavis Smiley Guest 2015
No Score Yet 18% The Late Late Show With James Corden Guest 2015
100% 78% Late Show With David Letterman Guest 2014
No Score Yet No Score Yet Larry King Now Guest 2014
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Guest 2014
No Score Yet 92% The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson Guest 2013
No Score Yet 42% Jimmy Kimmel Live! Guest 2012
No Score Yet 64% Family Guy Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Guest Voice) 2012
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Bonnie Hunt Show Guest 2008 2010
31% No Score Yet The Jay Leno Show Guest 2010
No Score Yet No Score Yet Lopez Tonight Guest 2009
No Score Yet No Score Yet JAG Unknown (Guest Star) 2003
81% 95% The West Wing Agent Simon Donovan (Guest Star) 2002
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Daily Show Guest 2001
No Score Yet No Score Yet Chicago Hope Dr. Jack McNeil (Character),
Director
1996-2000
No Score Yet 85% From the Earth to the Moon Wally Schirra (Character) 1998
50% No Score Yet Reasonable Doubts Detective Ricky Cobb (Character) 1991-1993
No Score Yet 57% Saturday Night Live Host 1987
No Score Yet No Score Yet St. Elsewhere Unknown (Character) 1983-1986
No Score Yet No Score Yet Flamingo Road Fielding Carlyle (Character) 1981-1982
No Score Yet No Score Yet Centennial Capt. John McIntosh (Character) 1978-1979
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries Unknown (Guest Star) 1977
No Score Yet No Score Yet Adam-12 Unknown (Guest Star) 1975
No Score Yet No Score Yet Police Woman Paul Donin (Guest Star) 1975