Liam Neeson
Birthday:
7 June 1952, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK
Birth Name:
William John Neeson
Height:
193 cm
Liam Neeson was born on June 7, 1952 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, UK, to Katherine (Brown), a cook, and Bernard Neeson, a school caretaker. Liam worked as a forklift operator for Guinness, truck driver, assistant architect and an amateur boxer. He had originally sought a career as a teacher by attending St. Mary's Teaching College, Newcastl...
Show more »
Liam Neeson was born on June 7, 1952 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, UK, to Katherine (Brown), a cook, and Bernard Neeson, a school caretaker. Liam worked as a forklift operator for Guinness, truck driver, assistant architect and an amateur boxer. He had originally sought a career as a teacher by attending St. Mary's Teaching College, Newcastle. However, in 1976, Neeson joined the Belfast Lyric Players' Theater and made his professional acting debut in the play "The Risen People". After two years, Neeson moved to Dublin's Abbey Theater where he performed the classics. It was here that he was spotted by director John Boorman and was cast in the film Excalibur (1981) as Sir Gawain, his first high-profile film role.Through the 1980s Neeson appeared in a handful of films and British TV series - including The Bounty (1984), A Woman of Substance (1984), The Mission (1986), and Duet for One (1986) - but it was not until he moved to Hollywood to pursue larger roles that he began to get noticed. His turn as a mute homeless man in Suspect (1987) garnered good reviews, as did supporting roles in The Good Mother (1988) and High Spirits (1988) - though he also starred in the best-to-be-forgotten Satisfaction (1988), which also featured a then-unknown Julia Roberts - but leading man status eluded him until the cult favorite Darkman (1990), directed by Sam Raimi. From there, Neeson starred in Under Suspicion (1991) and Ethan Frome (1993), was hailed for his performance in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives (1992), and ultimately was picked by Steven Spielberg to play Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List (1993). The starring role in the Oscar-winning Holocaust film brought Neeson Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor.Also in 1993, he made his Broadway debut with a Tony-nominated performance in "Anna Christie", in which he co-starred with his future wife Natasha Richardson. The next year, the two also starred opposite Jodie Foster in the movie Nell (1994), and were married in July of that year. Leading roles as the 18th century Scottish Highlander Rob Roy (1995) and the Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins (1996) followed, and soon Neeson was solidified as one of Hollywood's top leading men. He starred in the highly-anticipated Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) as Qui-Gon Jinn, received a Golden Globe nomination for Kinsey (2004), played the mysterious Ducard in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005), and provided the voice for Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).Neeson found a second surprise career as an action leading man with the release of Taken (2008) in early 2009, an unexpected box office hit about a retired CIA agent attempting to rescue his daughter from being sold into prostitution. However, less than two months after the release of the film, tragedy struck when Richardson suffered a fatal head injury while skiing and passed away days afterward. Neeson returned to high-profile roles in 2010 with two back-to-back big-budget films, Clash of the Titans (2010) and The A-Team (2010), and returned to the action genre with Unknown (2011), The Grey (2011), Battleship (2012) and Taken 2 (2012), as well as the sequel Wrath of the Titans (2012).Neeson was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1999 Queen's New Year's Honours List for his services to drama. He has two sons from his marriage to Richardson: Micheal Richard Antonio Neeson (born June 22, 1995) and Daniel Jack Neeson (born August 27, 1996). Show less «
I never did think of myself as handsome--terribly attractive, yes, but not handsome.
I never did think of myself as handsome--terribly attractive, yes, but not handsome.
I think I realized there were two communities in Northern Ireland when I was about nine or 10, not because there was any trouble but because...Show more »
I think I realized there were two communities in Northern Ireland when I was about nine or 10, not because there was any trouble but because in certain years my parents would keep us indoors on the 12th of July. I couldn't figure that out, because all my mates were out dancing in the streets and I wanted to go out and join them. So it was then that I sensed a "them and us" attitude. Show less «
No, I don't get obsessed with acting. Because in the past when I have got obsessed about it, it really got in the way of the creative proces...Show more »
No, I don't get obsessed with acting. Because in the past when I have got obsessed about it, it really got in the way of the creative process. I've learned to hang the character on the coat-peg at the end of the day, and when I leave in the morning I pick it up again. And I had to work at that because the other way lies a strange sort of madness. Show less «
Laid-back? My wife said that? Well, I guess I am. It takes a lot to get me riled.
Laid-back? My wife said that? Well, I guess I am. It takes a lot to get me riled.
[on the widespread unemployment of actors and their fear of it] The truth is I love the insecurity part of it, it keeps me on my toes. I thi...Show more »
[on the widespread unemployment of actors and their fear of it] The truth is I love the insecurity part of it, it keeps me on my toes. I think you become bland and predictable without the stress and angst. There's a certain lethargy that sets in. Show less «
Before Schindler's List (1993), I wouldn't have believed movies had a lot of power for social change. But having seen what happened with "Sc...Show more »
Before Schindler's List (1993), I wouldn't have believed movies had a lot of power for social change. But having seen what happened with "Schindler's List", and touring the world with it, it really made me realize the power of images. Show less «
Some mornings you wake up and think, "Gee, I look handsome today." Other days I think, "What am I doing in the movies? I wanna go back to Ir...Show more »
Some mornings you wake up and think, "Gee, I look handsome today." Other days I think, "What am I doing in the movies? I wanna go back to Ireland and drive a forklift". Show less «
Acting is invigorating. But I don't analyze it too much. It's like a dog smelling where it's going to do its toilet in the morning.
Acting is invigorating. But I don't analyze it too much. It's like a dog smelling where it's going to do its toilet in the morning.
In Los Angeles, it's like they jog for two hours a day and then they think they're morally right. That's when you want to choke people, you ...Show more »
In Los Angeles, it's like they jog for two hours a day and then they think they're morally right. That's when you want to choke people, you know? Show less «
I grew up in Northern Ireland, of course. Lived all through the Troubles; saw violence, the results of violence, at first hand. It's always ...Show more »
I grew up in Northern Ireland, of course. Lived all through the Troubles; saw violence, the results of violence, at first hand. It's always terrified me and fascinated me. So it was a gut reaction, something about how that rage can eat you alive. I can understand that. I haven't known it myself, but I knew guys who did. Some of them aren't on this planet any more because of it. Show less «
(on the state of his family after the death of Natasha Richardson) We're doing good. To be honest, we're taking each day as it comes.
(on the state of his family after the death of Natasha Richardson) We're doing good. To be honest, we're taking each day as it comes.
[on performing with Ralph Fiennes] On Clash of the Titans (2010) we found it hard to act with each other. So I would look at his forehead an...Show more »
[on performing with Ralph Fiennes] On Clash of the Titans (2010) we found it hard to act with each other. So I would look at his forehead and he would look at my forehead, because sometimes, if we made eye contact, it got quite silly. We were more restrained on Wrath of the Titans (2012) because we had deeper, darker issues to act. Show less «
Even with action films, the fundamental for me is the writing. I adore writers, no matter what the genre is, and if it is a well-written pie...Show more »
Even with action films, the fundamental for me is the writing. I adore writers, no matter what the genre is, and if it is a well-written piece of material then I am always very interested. Show less «
Just look at the success of Taken (2008), for example. I thought it was going to be a straight-to-video release. That is actually one of the...Show more »
Just look at the success of Taken (2008), for example. I thought it was going to be a straight-to-video release. That is actually one of the reasons I did it, to be honest. I felt like spending three months in Paris, I'd get to do all this physical stuff that no one would think of me for, and that the film would go straight to video. Then it became this big success. I was a tiny bit embarrassed by it, a tiny bit, but then people started sending me action scripts. Show less «
Schindler's List (1993) is a very special movie on lots of fronts. It was a brilliant script and it was great to work with Steven Spielberg:...Show more »
Schindler's List (1993) is a very special movie on lots of fronts. It was a brilliant script and it was great to work with Steven Spielberg: I formed a close relationship with him. Show less «
[on Darkman (1990)] [The film] has rabid fans, especially in the black community, I've found. It's always the black dudes who are stopping m...Show more »
[on Darkman (1990)] [The film] has rabid fans, especially in the black community, I've found. It's always the black dudes who are stopping me and giving me a high five. I saw Spider-Man (2002), and a lot of it was shot-for-shot Darkman. Show less «
[on Schindler's List (1993)] I did a lot of research, but I found it was best not to do too much because I was playing a guy who lived in 19...Show more »
[on Schindler's List (1993)] I did a lot of research, but I found it was best not to do too much because I was playing a guy who lived in 1942, '43. If I'd read all the Holocaust literature, it would have played into my performance. Ignorance was bliss, certainly for Schindler. Show less «
[on Nell (1994)] I was a bit disappointed in the film. I felt it should have been rougher and cruder and darker and colder. There was too mu...Show more »
[on Nell (1994)] I was a bit disappointed in the film. I felt it should have been rougher and cruder and darker and colder. There was too much of a glow surrounding the movie. I thought Jodie [Foster] was very good, but, I mean, that house she lived in, that was, like, something out of Swiss Family Robinson! There should have been plastic chairs and windows with bits of newspaper stuck in them to stop the draft. Show less «
[on working with Julia Roberts in Michael Collins (1996)] I was surprised at first [when she was cast]. I thought, surely there's an actress...Show more »
[on working with Julia Roberts in Michael Collins (1996)] I was surprised at first [when she was cast]. I thought, surely there's an actress in Ireland who can [play the role]; Neil [Jordan] doesn't need this star power. I thought maybe he was going to shoot himself in the foot. But she was very committed to doing it. I thought she was terribly good and I was very proud of her. Show less «
[on Gangs of New York (2002)] Martin [Scorsese] was interested in me for the part of Monk, that Brendan Gleeson played. But when I read it, ...Show more »
[on Gangs of New York (2002)] Martin [Scorsese] was interested in me for the part of Monk, that Brendan Gleeson played. But when I read it, I said, "No, I want to play this Priest Vallon character. It's a showier part." It was the perfect cameo, I think. You come in, do a bit of physical stuff, and then they talk about you for the rest of the movie. Meanwhile, I'm back home with my wife and kids, and they're still talking about me. It's great! Show less «
[on losing the role of Lincoln (2012)] I don't feel sad about it, and I have no regrets whatsoever. There comes a point where you think "I'm...Show more »
[on losing the role of Lincoln (2012)] I don't feel sad about it, and I have no regrets whatsoever. There comes a point where you think "I'm past my sell-by date" and I passed that about three years ago. It's just like a light switch went off in my head: it just wasn't for me anymore. I'd lived with it too long and there was a process happening: Steven [Steven Spielberg] would do something else or I would do something else and it was like "Okay, let's cut this loose." They got one of the best actors to do it, you know, in Daniel Day-Lewis. Show less «
[on The A-Team (2010)] I watched it about two months ago and I found it a little confusing and I was in the thing. I just couldn't figure ou...Show more »
[on The A-Team (2010)] I watched it about two months ago and I found it a little confusing and I was in the thing. I just couldn't figure out who was who and what's been done to him and why, a little bit. I mean, my kids totally understood it and got it. I don't know. It's a toss of the coin, sometimes, with these things. I thought it was a great ride and Joe [Joe Carnahan] had done a great job. I thought it was cast well. But there you go - you never know. Show less «
I am attracted to characters who are loners, who operate by themselves. There's something mysterious, manly and stoic about them.
I am attracted to characters who are loners, who operate by themselves. There's something mysterious, manly and stoic about them.
[on director Martin Scorsese] He's intimidating. He requires absolute silence on the set - if he hears one tiny sound, it shatters it for hi...Show more »
[on director Martin Scorsese] He's intimidating. He requires absolute silence on the set - if he hears one tiny sound, it shatters it for him. Show less «
Action heroes used to be for much younger men, but now I get all these scripts where it's, 'Scratch 35, and now it's 60'!'
Action heroes used to be for much younger men, but now I get all these scripts where it's, 'Scratch 35, and now it's 60'!'
[2014] I'm keeping myself to myself. And I like it that way. I'm not hunting. I'm the opposite of a - what would a male cougar be? Is there ...Show more »
[2014] I'm keeping myself to myself. And I like it that way. I'm not hunting. I'm the opposite of a - what would a male cougar be? Is there such a thing? Whatever it is, I'm not that. Show less «
[on Ralph Fiennes] He's one of my closest friends. He's very into yoga and I do bits of that with him. We hike and walk and talk a lot.
[on Ralph Fiennes] He's one of my closest friends. He's very into yoga and I do bits of that with him. We hike and walk and talk a lot.
Liam Neeson's Photos
NEXT PAGE
Rob Roy MacGregor
Alistair
Dr. Peyton Westlake
Dr. Martin Harris
Michael Collins
Godfrey de Ibelin
Zeus
Capt. Mikhail Polenin
'Priest' Vallon
Sir Gawain
Bryan Mills
Col. John 'Hannibal' Smith
Daniel
Liam Neeson
Qui-Gon Jinn
Ra's al Ghul
Peter Swan
Oskar Schindler
Dr. John Markway
Admiral Shane
David Stewart
Jimmy Conlon
Clinch
Eliot Deacon
Aslan
Ottway
Bill Marks
Michael
Customer
Raccoon
Matt Scudder
Ben Ryan
Kegan
Damon Pennington
Carver
Bad Cop
General Douglas MacArthur
Crist
Father Sean
Liam Neeson
Harry Rawlings
