Liam Neeson Actor

Liam Neeson has become one of the leading international motion picture actors today.  Whether it is his Academy Award®-nominated role of ‘Oskar Schindler’ in Steven Spielberg’s highly acclaimed Schindler’s List (1993), his award-winning portrayal of legendary Irish Republican hero in Michael Collins(1996), or his role as controversial sex therapist ‘Alfred Kinsey’ in the critically acclaimed Kinsey (2004), Neeson continues to display an acting range matched by few. 

Currently, Neeson is on location filming Unknown White Male, a drama / thriller about stolen identity which costars Diane Kruger and January Jones. Neeson was most recently seen in The A-Team, the remake of the popular TV series also starring Bradley Cooper and Jessica Biel. Neeson recently wrapped production on Warner Bros’ remake of the 1981 film Clash of the Titans.  The film tells the myth of Perseus and his quest to battle both Medusa and the Kraken monster in order to save the princess Andromeda.

In 2009, Neeson completed production of After Life opposite Christina Ricci. The film involves a young woman caught between life and death and a funeral director who appears to have the gift of transitioning the dead.

In 2008, Neeson appeared in Taken.  The Fox film stars Neeson as an ex-soldier trying to track down the Albanian slave masters who have kidnapped his daughter. He also debuted the BBC film Five Minutes of Heaven to rave reviews at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Additionally in 2008, Neeson once again teamed up with Laura Linney in Richard Eyre’s The Other Man.  In May of 2008, Neeson appeared in Disney's box office success The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian where he reprised his role as the voice of the Lion, ‘Aslan,’ in the sequel to the 2005 hit The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  That same year he also returned to the stage at the Lincoln Center Festival in Gate/Beckett: Eh Joe directed by Atom Egoyan.

In 2006, Neeson graced the screen in the classic revenge drama Seraphim Falls opposite Pierce Brosnan. In 2005, he appeared in Ridley Scott’s crusades epic Kingdom of Heaven.  He also co-starred that year in Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan.

            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.  Prior to that, Neeson co-starred with Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, and Keira Knightly in the Working Title film Love Actually (2003), written and directed by Richard Curtis.

            Neeson returned to Broadway in 2002, co-starring with his friend Laura Linney in Arthur Miller’s classic The Crucible.  Both he and Linney earned Tony Award nominations for their performances.

            In 2001, he starred opposite Harrison Ford in the true story of Russia’s nuclear submarine tragedy entitled K-19: The Windowmaker and starred opposite Sandra Bullock in the black comedy Gun Shy (2000).

            Neeson starred in the box-office phenomenon Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) in the role of ‘Qui-Gon Jinn,’ the Master Jedi Knight who bestows his Force-ful wisdom upon Obi-Wan Kenobi and the young Anakin Skywalker. In the same year, he starred opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in Jan De Bont’s The Haunting (1999).

            In addition, he starred in the screen adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables in the role of ‘Jean Valjean,’ co-starring Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman and Claire Danes.  Also that year, Neeson played Oscar Wilde in David Hare’s new play, The Judas Kiss which opened in London’s West End and subsequently on Broadway.

            Neeson starred in the title role in Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins (1996)  for which he received Best Actor honors at the Venice Film Festival, a Golden Globe®  Best Actor nomination, and London’s prestigious Evening Standard Award for Best Actor.  The film also received the highest honor in Venice -- The Golden Lion Award.

            It was in 1993 when Neeson received worldwide attention for his starring role in the Academy Award®-winning film Schindler’s List.  In addition to winning an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actor, he was nominated for a Golden Globe® and BAFTA Award. The Irish-born actor had originally sought a career as a teacher after attending Queens University, Belfast and majoring in physics, computer science and math.  Neeson set teaching aside and in 1976 joined the prestigious Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast (“The best training any actor could have”), making his professional acting debut in Joseph Plunkett’s The Risen People.  After two years with the Lyric Players, he joined the famed National Theatre of Ireland, the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.  Neeson appeared in the Abbey Theatre Festival’s production of Brian Friel’s Translations, and a production of Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars for the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, England where he received a Best Actor Award. 

            In 1980, John Boorman spotted him playing ‘Lennie’ in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and cast him in the epic saga of the Arthurian legend, Excalibur.  Following this motion picture debut, Neeson has appeared in more than 40 films demonstrating a wide range of characters.  His credits include Dino DeLaurentiis’ epic remake of The Bounty (1984), directed by Roger Donaldson and co-starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins; the critically-acclaimed Lamb (1986) for which he received an Evening Standard Drama Award nomination for his haunting portrayal of a priest tormented by doubts about his faith; Andrei Konchalovsky’s Duet for One (1986), co-starring Julie Andrews; as a political terrorist in A Prayer for the Dying (1987) with Mickey Rourke and Bob Hoskins; and a Jesuit priest in Roland Joffe’s The Mission (1986), co-starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons.

            Neeson received critical acclaim starring opposite Cher as a deaf and mute Vietnam veteran in Peter Yates’ courtroom drama Suspect (1987); as the passionate Irish sculptor opposite Diane Keaton in The Good Mother (1988), and as scientist Peyton Westlake whose disfiguring accident forces him into hiding in Sam Raimi’s fantasy-thriller Darkman (1990). 

            Neeson next starred in David Leland’s gritty contemporary drama Crossing the Line based on William McIlvanney’s acclaimed novel, The Big Man about an unemployed Scottish miner desperate for money that is thrust into the high-stakes world of bare-knuckle boxing.

            In 1992, he starred as both a Nazi engineer in David Seltzer’s adaptation of Susan Isaac’s best-selling novel Shining Through opposite Michael Douglas; and as a disgraced policeman accused of murder in the erotic thriller Under Suspicion.

            Neeson then continued to star in a succession of films, most notably playing the sensitive art historian vying for the affections of Mia Farrow and Judy Davis in Woody Allen’s controversial Husbands and Wives (1992). 

            His other credits include Ethan Frome (1993) with Joan Allen; Michael Apted’s Nell (1994), starring opposite Jodie Foster and Natasha Richardson; Before and After (1996) with Meryl Streep; and the title role in Michael Canton-Jones’ Rob Roy (1995), co-starring Jessica Lange.

            Neeson made his Broadway debut in 1993 receiving a Tony Award nomination in the Roundabout Theater’s revival of Eugene O’Neill’s 1921 drama Anna Christie, co-starring Natasha Richardson.