Thomas Mark Harmon is a renowned American film and television actor best known for his portrayal of NCIS Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on the CBS show ‘NCIS’ which has been on air since 2003, having completed 14 seasons. Harmon gained nationwide prominence after he was cast in the guest role of Simon Donovan, a Secret Service special agent in the NBC political drama ‘The West Wing’, which resulted in his being cast in ‘NCIS’.
Harmon’s portrayal of Robert Dunlap in the 1997 TV film ‘Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years’ earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Over the years, he has appeared in several television shows in main roles which include ‘Flamingo Road’, ‘St. Elsewhere’, ‘Reasonable Doubts’, ‘Chicago Hope’ etc. Harmon is one of the highest paid television actors in USA, earning $525,000 per episode for his work on ‘NCIS’.
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Early Life and Education
Harmon was born on 2 September 1951 in Burbank, California as the only son of actress/artist Elyse Knox (née Elsie Lillian Kornbrath) and football player turned broadcaster Tom Harmon. He is the younger brother of model and actress Kelly Harmon, and actress/painter Kristin Nelson. Harmon’s maternal grandparents immigrated to USA from Austria.
Harmon attended Harvard-Westlake School, Los Angeles from where he graduated and enrolled into a two-year associate program at Pierce College. He later moved to University of California, Los Angeles where he was a star football quarterback, playing for the UCLA Bruins football team and won the All-Round Excellence National Football Foundation Award. Harmon graduated cum laude with a B.A. degree in Communications in 1974.
Career Rise
Harmon made his acting debut in 1973 with the television series, ‘Ozzie’s Girls’ in which he appeared as a recurring actor in several episodes. He also made guest appearances on several other shows including ‘Emergency!’, ‘Adam-12’ and ‘Police Woman’ among others in the early days of his career. Harmon’s portrayal of Robert Dunlap in the 1977 TV movie ‘Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years’ earned him critical acclaim and in the following year, he made his film debut with ‘Comes a Horseman’ in a supporting role. He appeared in 3 episodes of the 1978 mini-series ‘Centennial’ once again winning critical acclaim.
Harmon started gaining nationwide prominence when he was cast as Fielding Carlyle in the soap opera ‘Flamingo Road’ in 1981. His next big role was as Dr. Robert Caldwell in the Emmy Award-winning series, ‘St. Elsewhere’ that aired from 1983-86. During the 1980’s Harmon also appeared in films like ‘Summer School’ and ‘Let’s Get Harry’. He also appeared in the TV movies ‘The Presidio’ and ‘Stealing Home’. From 1991-93, Harmon portrayed Detective Dicky Cobb on ‘Reasonable Doubts’ and later as Dr. Jack McNeil in ‘Chicago Hope’. In 2003, Harmon was cast as SSA Leroy Jethro Gibbs on the CBS show ‘NCIS’ and has appeared in all 14 seasons of the show. He was also cast in the series spin-off ‘NCIS: New Orleans’. Hamron receives 525,000 per episode for his work on NCIS.
Personal Life
The 1.83 meter tall Harmon dated actress Pam Dawber for many years and married her in March 1987. Together, they have two children; sons Sean Thomas Harmon and Christian Harmon born in 1988 and 1992 respectively. His older son has appeared on five episodes of his show ‘NCIS’. Harmon prefers to keep his family out of the limelight and rarely makes public appearances with his family.
Mark Harmon – Net Worth
Harmon has an estimated net worth of approximately $40 Million.
