Chris Harder

Chris Harder (AEA, SAG/AFTRA) is an actor, director and theatre maker dedicated to artistic risk and the creation of new work.

Chris is a Resident Artist with Artists Repertory Theatre, a two-time Drammy Award winner and twice Regional Arts and Culture Council grants recipient. Chris is a faculty member at the Portland Actors Conservatory,  an accredited two year actor training program, and he also leads private classes Monday nights at Artists Rep.  Chris is drawn to the primal roots and transformative power of live theatre.

He was an original member of the Sowelu Theater Ensemble (1998 – 2004) acting and working in all areas of production, training in weekly ensemble workshops, studying Meisner Technique with Bary Hunt (via William Esper,) Viewpoints (from Kim Weild & SITI Co.) and practicing physical awareness techniques.

Through Sowelu Prison Outreach Chris led residencies with adult inmates at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility and Columbia River Correctional Institution. He was an ongoing mentor with The Haven Project for five years where he guided young writers through the process of play writing. He continued this process with Playwrite Inc. and Sojourn Afield and has taught acting and developed original plays through Oregon Children’s Theatre, Portland Center Stage, The Young players and many Oregon / Washington Public Schools. At Artists Repertory Theatre Chris was an Actor To Go, and the Interim Director of Education (2007).  As a Resident Artist he is currently seeking to support new and innovative programs in the community.  Please feel free to reach out and contact Chris about possible collaborations HERE.

Chris has performed in numerous plays, readings and workshops. Local theaters include Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre, Third Rail Rep, Portland Playhouse, Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble, Portland Shakespeare Project, Hand2Mouth, CoHo Productions, Shaking The Tree, Sojourn Theatre, Profile Theatre, Stark Raving, Eggshell Productions, Well Arts Institute and Portland Civic Theatre Guild. Chris developed and self produced two original solo shows (The Centering and Fishing For My Father) and has toured to the Edmonton and Boulder International Fringe Festivals.

In Film / TV Chris has worked with director Gus Van Sant and actors Harrison Ford and Timothy Hutton. Credits include; Grimm, Restless, Extraordinary Measures, Music Within, Rid of Me, Everyman’s War, Leverage, The Librarians, Recovery, Thieves, and Safe Inside.

For more than ten years he developed routines and performed as Comedy Magician, Clown and Emcee, performing at over a thousand parties and events. He is a certified Comedy Stage Hypnotist having trained in Las Vegas with Geof Ronning and performs at Fairs, Festivals, School Fundraisers, and Grad Night events.

Chris is originally from Racine, Wisconsin, he holds a BA in Dramatic Arts from the University of Wisconsin -Parkside and has also trained through the month long intensive at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA.