- Born
- Birth nameWilliam John Neeson
- Height6′ 4″ (1.93 m)
- Liam Neeson was born on June 7, 1952 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, to Katherine (Brown), a cook, and Bernard Neeson, a school caretaker. He was raised in a Catholic household. During his early years, Liam worked as a forklift operator for Guinness, a truck driver, an 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 his wife Natasha 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).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>
- SpouseNatasha Richardson(July 3, 1994 - March 18, 2009) (her death, 2 children)
- Children
- ParentsKatherine Neeson (Brown)Bernard Neeson
- RelativesBernadette Neeson(Sibling)Elizabeth Neeson(Sibling)Rosaline Neeson(Sibling)
- Often takes roles in which he is a mentor/trainer/father figure to a younger man, as in, for example, Batman Begins (2005), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Gangs of New York (2002), and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). His character often dies early in the film and/or the student's life so that the young man can apply the Neeson character's lessons to his own ongoing struggle.
- Frequently portrays real people (e.g. Rob Roy, Oskar Schindler, Michael Collins, Alfred Kinsey, Mark Felt).
- Towering height.
- Deep gravelly voice.
- Northern Irish accent, sometimes with a mid-Atlantic lilt.
- Wanted to be in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) so badly, he did not even bother reading the script.
- On March 16, 2009, his wife Natasha Richardson suffered a brain injury in a skiing accident. On March 18, 2009, she died in a hospital. Neeson interrupted filming of his movie Chloe (2009) to be by her side.
- Admitted in 2014 that he'd had to quit alcohol after having begun to quietly drink heavily following Natasha Richardson's death in 2009, eventually drinking up to two to three bottles of wine per night.
- Regarding some rumors saying that he "felt like a puppet while working on Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)," Neeson said, "That's simply not true," and that he had "absolutely no misgivings" about being in "Star Wars," adding that Lucas was "very good" to work with. "He was clear about what he wanted," said Neeson.
- It was his role in Shining Through (1992) as a high Nazi party official that got him noticed by Steven Spielberg, and that eventually led to him being cast as Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List (1993).
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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 think you become bland and predictable without the stress and angst. There's a certain lethargy that sets in.
- Taken 3 (2015) - $20,000,000
- Non-Stop (2014) - $20,000,000
- Taken 2 (2012) - $15,000,000
- Battleship (2012) - $10,000,000
- Wrath of the Titans (2012) - $7,000,000
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