Northup was born in Amarillo, Texas. He lived in 17 places by age 17, but mostly in Sidney, Nebraska, where he graduated from high school in 1958. From 1958 to 1961 he served in the United States Navy, where he attained the rank of Second Class Radioman. From 1963 to 1968, he studied Method acting with Frank Corsaro in New York City.^[1]

Northup received his B.A. in English from California State University, Northridge, where he studied poetry with Ann Stanford. He has made a living as an actor for over 30 years and has been in 37 films, including Martin Scorsese's first six feature films: Who's That Knocking at My Door, Boxcar Bertha, Mean Streets, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver and New York, New York. He was Mr. Bimmel in Jonathan Demme's film The Silence of the Lambs and starred in Over the Edge and Fighting Mad.^[2]

Northup has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1976.^[1] His second wife, poet and novelist Holly Prado, died on June 14, 2019.^[3] He has a son, Dylan, by his first marriage.^[4] Poets such as Walt Whitman,^[5] Leland Hickman,^[6] Paul Blackburn,^[7] Ann Stanford,^[8] William Carlos Williams,^[9] and Holly Prado^[10] have influenced Northup's poetry. He conceived and coordinated the weekly poetry reading series "Poetry on Melrose" at Gasoline Alley in Los Angeles, from 1986 to 1988. Poets who read at the venue include Robert Peters, Jack Hirschman and Lewis MacAdams.^[11]

The City of Los Angeles, as represented by the L.A. City Council, awarded Northup a Certificate of Recognition on November 15, 2006.^[12]

• Amarillo Born, Victor Jiminez Press, 1966
• The Jon Voight Poems, Mt. Averno Press, 1973
• Eros Ash, Momentum Press, 1976
• Enough The Great Running Chapel, Momentum Press, 1982
• The Images We Possess Kill The Capturing, Jesse Press, 1988
• The Ragged Vertical, Cahuenga Press, 1996
• Reunions, Cahuenga Press, 2001
• Greatest Hits, 1966–2001, Pudding House Press, 2002
• Red Snow Fence, Cahuenga Press, 2006
• Where Bodies Again Recline, Cahuenga Press, 2011
• East Hollywood: Memorial To Reason, Cahuenga Press, 2015
• Love Poem to MPTF, Cahuenga Press, 2020

• Venice Thirteen, Bayrock Press, 1971
• The Streets Inside: Ten Los Angeles Poets, Momentum Press, 1978
• Foreign Exchange, Biographics, 1979
• Poetry Loves Poetry, An Anthology of Los Angeles Poets, Momentum Press, 1985
• Gridlock: An anthology of Poetry About Southern California, Applezaba Press, 1990
• Grand Passion, The Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, Red Wind Books, 1995
• Corners of the Mouth, A Celebration of Thirty Years at the Annual San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival, Deer Tree Press, 2014
• Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, Pacific Coast Poetry Series/Beyond Baroque Books, 2015
• Coiled Serpent, Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes & Shifts of Los Angeles, Tia Chucha Press, 2016
• Beat Not Beat anthology, Moon Tide Press, 2022

• Personal Crime, New Alliance Records, 1993
• Homes, New Alliance Records, 1995
• As Long As I Tell The Truth What Difference Does It Make To You – An Interview with Harry Northup, Alright, Dude Productions, 2010^[13]

<ref>

• Harry Northup at IMDb
• Harry Northup Papers MSS 598. **
• Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
• Cahuenga Press
• Bio Sketch
• Video of Harry Northup reading at the Word Benefit Poetry Marathon, Ave. 50 Studio in Highland Park, CA – as featured on www.Poetry.LA
• Getting in character with Harry Northup:an Interview
• [1] Over the Edge," by Mike Sachs
• [2] extensive interview
• [3] interview