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Actor Biography - Liam Neeson |
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Award winning Irish actor Liam Neeson has earned his ranking among the top actors of today by choosing difficult roles and portraying controversial public figures. Surprisingly Neeson had originally sought a career as a teacher, attending Queens College, Belfast. In college Neeson majored in physics, computer science, math and drama. He eventually changes his focus from teaching and joined the Lyric Players Theater in Belfast in 1976. His professional acting debut was in Joseph Plunkett’s The Risen People and, after two years with the Lyric Players, Neeson joined the Abbey Theatre repertory company in Dublin.
His acting career in Dublin included work on the Abbey Theatre Festival’s production of Brian Friel’s Translation and Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars for the Royal Exchange Theater (a role which garnered him the Best Actor Award). In 1980, John Boorman spotted him playing Lennie in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and cast him in Excalibur, Boorman’s epic saga of the Arthurian legend. Following his motion picture debut in Excalibur, Neeson has appeared in more than 40 films demonstrating a wide range of characters.
Liam Neeson made a dramatic mark on Hollywood and moviegoers in his Academy Award nominated role of Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg’s challenging drama Schindler’s List and his award-winning portrayal of legendary Irish Republican hero Michael Collins in the 1996 film Michael Collins. Neeson recieved Best Actor honors at the Venice Film Festival, a Golden Globe Best Actor nomination, and London’s prestigious Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Michael Collins. Keeping with his biopic history, he also more recently portrayed the controversial sex therapist Alfred Kinsey. Neeson’s portrayal of Alfred Kinsey in Bill Condon’s Kinsey, co-starring Laura Linney, garnered him a best actor award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Neesen had previously worked with Linney on Broadway in 2002 in Arthur Miller’s classic The Crucible, with Neeson winning a Tony Award nomination for his performance as John Proctor.
Recent roles includes Henri Ducard in Batman Begins, opposite Christian Bale as Batman, and Godfrey in Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven, which takes place during the Crusades of the 12th Century, also starring Orlando Bloom. Neeson co-starred with Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, and Keira Knightley in Richard Curtis’ Love Actually and, in 2001, Neeson starred opposite Harrison Ford in K-19: The Widowmaker, the true story of Russia’s nuclear submarine tragedy. He also starred opposite Sandra Bullock in the black comedy Gun Shy in 2000.
In 1999, Neeson starred as Qui-Gon Jinn, the Mater Jedi Knight who trains Obi-Wan Kenobi, in the blockbuster film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Neeson also starred opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in Jan De Bont’s The Haunting in the same year. A year earlier, Neeson had to opportunity to play Jean Valjean in the screen adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, co-starring with Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman and Claire Danes. Also that year, Neeson played Oscar Wile on stage at London’s West End and subsequently on Broadway in David Hare’s The Judas Kiss.
Neeson’s early film work includes: Dino De Laurentis’ remake of The Bounty, directed by Roger Donaldson and co-starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins; Lamb for which Neeson received an Evening Standard Drama Award nomination for his portrayal of a priest tormented by doubts about his faith; Andrei Konchalovsky’s Duet for One opposite Julie Andrews; A Prayer for the Dying, in which Neeson played a political terrorist opposite Mickey Rourke and Bob Hoskins; and Roland Joffe’s The Mission as a Jesuit priest, co-starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons.
Neeson earned critical acclaim when he starred opposite Cher as a deaf and mute Vietnam veteran in Peter Yates’ courtroom drama Suspect and when he portrayed the passionate Irish sculptor opposite Diane Keaton in The Good Mother. He also portrayed Peyton Westlake, a scientist whose disfiguring accident forces him into hiding, in Sam Raimi’s fantasy-thriller Darkman. Neeson next starred as an unemployed Scottish miner who turns to bare-knuckle boxing in David Leland’s Crossing the Line, based on William McIIvanney’s novel The Big Man.
Other roles include: a Nazi engineer in David Seltzer’s adaptation of Susan Isaac’s best-selling novel, Shining Through opposite Michael Douglas; a disgraced policeman accused of murder in the thriller Under Suspicion; and the sensitive art historian vying for the affections of Mia Farrow and Judy Davis in Woody Allen’s controversial Husbands and Wives. Neeson can additionally be seen in Leap of Faith with Steve Martine, Michael Apted’s Nell with Jodie Foster and Natasha Richardson, Before and After with Meryl Streep, and Michael Caton-Jones’ Rob Roy with Jessica Lange.
Listen for Neeson in the upcoming movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as the voice of Aslan the lion. He is also set to star in the upcoming films (as of November 2005) Seraphim Falls and The White Rose, due out in 2006. It has also been rumored that he is working with Stephen Spielberg on a biopic about Abraham Lincoln.
