Liam Neeson - Movies, Biography, News, Age & Photos

One of the most versatile, charismatic and talented artists, Liam Neeson is an actor of Irish descent who is best known for his work in critically acclaimed such as Schindler's List (1993) Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) and Taken (2004). The winner of several prestigious awards, Neeson started his acting career with Pilgrim’s Progress in 1978 and over the course of four decades he has established his name in ‘The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time’ list.

Early Life
Neeson was born in Ballymena Ireland to Katherine Neeson and Bernard Neeson. Neeson started learning boxing at a young age of 11 at the All Saints Youth Club and later became Ulster's senior boxing champion. Neeson did his schooling at the Gaiety School of Drama in Ireland. He first appeared on stage at the age of 11 when his English teacher offered him a title role in a play. After that he kept acting in in school plays. In 1971, Neeson went to Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland where he pursued his graduation in Physics and Computer Science.

Personal Life
In 1994, Neeson married actress Natasha Richardson whom he had met while performing a play together in 1993 and has two sons, Michael and Daniel. His wife Natasha died in a tragic accident in 2009 as she had sustained severe head injury while skiing accident in Mont Tremblant Resort, north of Montreal.

Movie Career
Neeson started his career in the film industry in the year 1976 when he joined Belfast’s Lyric theatre. Two years later the actor began performing the classics at Dublin's famed Abbey Theatre until he made his debut on the big screen with Pilgrim’s Progress in 1978. The actor gained prominence with his role in the British dramatic fantasy film, Excalibur (1981) directed by John Boorman. Whilst the film won opened to positive reviews, Neeson did not get any attention.

Over the next few years, Neeson appeared in several films like The Bounty (1984), If Tomorrow Comes (1986), High Spirits (1988), and Next of Kin (1989) but none of these did any good to establish Neeson as an accomplished actor. The dawn of new decade though bought good fortune for Neeson as he rose to fame as he played the lead role in the critically acclaimed film Schindler’s List (1993) directed by the stalwart director Steven Spielberg. The film, which won several laurels including seven Academy Awards and three Golden Globes was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2014. Neeson for his brilliant role as Oskar Schindler won his maiden Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor.

Following the huge success of Schindler’s list, Neeson got his next major hit in 1996 as he starred in the historical biopic Michael Collins, which was based on the life of an Irish patriot who died in the Irish Civil War. The film directed by Neil Jordan and co-starring Aidan Quinn, Stephan Rea, Alan Rickman and Julia Roberts became the highest-grossing film that year and earned positive reviews from critics. The film won Neeson his second Golden Globe nomination. The following year, the actor starred in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which is the first instalment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. The film co-starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Anthony Daniels and Frank Oz received mixed critical reviews but turned out to be a huge commercial hit; it grossed more than one billion USD worldwide.

By the beginning of the new millennium, Neeson had already established himself as one of the most accomplished actors in Hollywood. In 2000, he starred in Eric Blakeney directed drama film Gun Shy sharing the screen with Sandra Bullock and Oliver Pratt. The film received mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office. His next major hit came in 2002 as he appeared in Martin Scorsese’s period drama Gangs Of New York (2002) where he depicted the role of the leader of immigrant Irish. The film received critical acclaim and generated revenue worth 193.7 million USD.

In 2005, the actor made his debut as a voice actor in the critically and commercially successful fantasy drama film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where the lent his voice to one of the lead characters, Aslan, the lion. He reprised he role in the second instalment of the movie titled The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, which released in May 2008. The film directed by Andrew Adamson, just like its first instalment was a massive at the box office. The actor’s next major release came in 2012 as he collaborated with director Jonathan Liebesman for his epic action adventure fantasy film Wrath of the Titans co-starring Sam Worthington, Rosamund Pike, Edgar Ramirez, Toby Kebbell, Ralph Fiennes and Bill Nighy. Although the movie received negative critical reviews grossed more than 305 million USD worldwide.

Later in the year, the actor did a cameo in the blockbuster film The Dark Knight Rises directed by Christopher Nolan. The film, which premiered in New York City receive positive reviews from critics and was named one of the best films in 2012. Over the next few years, the actor mainly worked as a voice actor in several films like Khumba (2013), The Nut Job (2014), and The Prophet (2014) and later did a few cameos in Ted 2 and Entourage both of which released in 2015.

In 2016, the actor starred alongside Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Tadanobu Asano and Ciaran Hinds in the historical drama Silence directed by Martin Scorsesse. The film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Shusaku Endo received wide critical acclaim and received two nominations at the 89 th Academy Awards. His 2017 releases include Felt an American spy thriller film directed by Peter Landesman and The Commuter, a British- American action thriller film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.

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DID YOU KNOW

Trivia

Liam was Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars

He was awarded the Officer of the Order of British Empire in the 2000 Queen's Millennium Honours List for his services to drama.

Neeson wanted to be in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) so badly that he did not even bother reading the script.

Neeson was considered for the part of Dracula in The Monster Squad (1987).

I get fed up with plots that are driven by someone constantly getting information on a computer.

Neeson won a case against newspapers who claimed that his marriage was in trouble.

Mirren and actor Liam Neeson lived together during the early 1980s when Excalibur (1981) was being shot.

Social and Humanitarian Work

In addition to this, Neeson is also supporting other causes, such as AIDS and HIV research, parental support, human rights, poverty alleviation and the eradication of slavery and human trafficking, especially involving women.

In 2012, Nazanin Boniadi started a petition to free, what she felt was, the wrongly imprisoned filmmaker Behrouz Ghobadi. This petition was signed by directors Martin Scorsese and Paul Haggis, as well as actors Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis, and James Franco, amongst others. In January 2013 due to overwhelming pressure, Ghobadi was released from jail.

In 2013, Neeson was associated with UNICEF to launch the “End Violence Against Children” campaign, an initiative that aims to eradicate child abuse. Neeson believes that not seeing violence against children does not mean that it isn’t present in the society. Therefore, he believes that there is an urgent need to create awareness regarding child abuse and lift the veil on violence against children. With his involvement in the initiative, Neeson has addressed some 3.3 million cases of child abuse.

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Personal Quotes

It's an ongoing joy being a dad.

Acting is invigorating. But I don't analyse it too much. It's like a dog smelling where it's going to do its toilet in the morning.

In real life, wolves will do anything to avoid contact with mankind.

I try to stay fit. I try and do something every day but I don't jog. My body hates jogging.

For every successful actor or actress, there are countless numbers who don't make it. The name of the game is rejection. You go to an audition and you';re told you're too tall or you're too Irish or your nose is not quite right. You're rejected for your education, you're rejected for this or that and it's really tough.

I do believe at the end of the night when you're with your family, the character gets hung up on the door like a coat, and is there to be taken on the next morning.

For all of nature's wonder and beauty, it is also hostile and unpredictable.

I was an OK boxer, I wasn't great, I was OK, but I loved the discipline of getting together every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, usually Saturday afternoons too, with a whole bunch of mates and training, very, very hard for about two-and- half hours.

People ask me if I ever feel outside the Hollywood loop, and I never do, because both of us do a lot of theatre, so it's great for New York and it's also half-way between Europe and the west coast, so it's the best of both worlds.

Conor: Your stories never made sense to me. The Monster: Because humans are complicated beasts. You believe comforting lies, while knowing full well the painful truth that makes those lies necessary. In the end, Conor, it is not important what you think. It is only important what you do. Conor: So what do I do? The Monster: What you did just now. You speak the truth. Conor: That's all? The Monster: You think it's easy? You were willing to die rather than speak it.

Every cliche about kids is true; they grow up so quickly, you blink and they're gone, and you have to spend the time with them now. But that's a joy.

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.

I've had an unbelievable life. I've been very lucky. You do create your own luck too, you know? I never forget where I'm from. Whenever I pass a building site or see somebody digging a ditch, I always think, 'That's real work.'

I'm a big believer in acts of kindness, no matter how small.

To be honest, I'm scared to death of rollercoaster rides.

I think if you're the son or daughter of successful actors and actresses, it's a double pressure. More is expected of you.

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