Edward Norton was born to the family of Edward James Norton, the environmental lawyer and conservation advocate working in Asia, as well as a former federal prosecutor under the Carter administration and mother, Robin, who was an English teacher but died in 1997 out of a brain tumor. From 1981 to 1985, Edward Norton in conjunction with his brother, attended Pasquaney, a camp in Hebron New Hampshire. It is to be noted, that here he managed to win the acting cup in 1984 and later returned to the camp's council for two years, directing theater. However, he still continues to visit the camp and maintains close connections with it. It was in the year 1987 when Edward Norton graduated from Wilde Lake High School. He also attended the Yale University, where he gained experience in university theater productions. In the year 1991, he graduated with a BA in History. In the following years of graduation, Eward Norton worked in the province of Osaka, in Japan and was found busy in consulting for his grandfather's company, Enterprise Foundation. But in actual terms he initiated his acting career when he moved to the New York City and joined the Off-Broadway theater. Again, in the film world in the initial years Edward Norton had to perform in a series of dark, grotesque characters, but these roles became olely responsible to launch him into the spotlight, that had its beginning with Primal Fear in 1996. in the film, he was in the role of Aaron Stampler, a deeply disturbed young man accused of a brutal murder. His spectacular performance in this very role earned him the prstigious Golden Globe and also an Academy Award nomination for the BestSupporting Actor. Again, it was in the year 1998, Edward Norton won for his marvelous acting for the portrayal of a neo-Nazi in American History X , earned him an Academy Award nomination in the category of the Best Actor and for the role as a card shark pitted him against Matt Damon in the poker-playing hit Rounders. We shall have to remember that for the best perfomance in the American History X Edward Norton packed on 30 pounds (15 kg) of muscle, which was the bset specimen of his dedication to the work. But he was not found to maintain the same physique after production. On the other hand, his performance in the adaptation of the cult novel Fight Club, in which he acted with Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter, in spite of mixed reviews for the film became a good factor in the expansion of his fan base throughout the globe. In the year 2002, Edward Norton starred in the role of a FBI profiler named Will Graham in the Red Dragon of Brett Ratner and also in the 25th Hour of Spike Lee in the role of drug dealer living his last night before going to prison. But there is one striking feature. Though the Red Dragon received mixed reviews, it was commercially successful, but in spite of getting accolades from the critics, particulalrly for the examination of a post 9-11 New York City, the 25th Dragon failed in the box office disastrously! In the year 2006, Edward Norton starred in the independent movie The Illusionist, which was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and later became a sleeper hit when it went on general release. Again on september 11, 2007, there was an announcement that he would rejoin the Fight Club, co-starred by Brad Pitt in the film adaptation of the publicly acclaimed television drama State of Play of the BBC. The project is destined to start from November, 2007.

In his personal life Edward Norton dated between 1999 and 2003 the Mexican actress Salma Hayek. Nowadays, he is busy in dating with the film producer Shauna Weinberg Robertson.