Liam Neeson

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 Bunt na Bounty (1984), Kariera Emmy Harte (1984), Misja (1986), and Duet na jeden instrument (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 Podejrzany (1987) garnered good reviews, as did supporting roles in Dobra matka (1988) and Zjawy (1988) - though he also starred in the best-to-be-forgotten Satysfakcja (1988), which also featured a then-unknown Julia Roberts - but leading man status eluded him until the cult favorite Człowiek ciemności (1990), directed by Sam Raimi. From there, Neeson starred in W kręgu podejrzeń (1991) and Ethan Frome (1992), was hailed for his performance in Woody Allen's Mężowie i żony (1992), and ultimately was picked by Steven Spielberg to play Oskar Schindler in Lista Schindlera (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 Gwiezdne wojny: Część I - Mroczne widmo (1999) as Qui-Gon Jinn, received a Golden Globe nomination for Kinsey (2004), played the mysterious Ducard in Christopher Nolan's Batman - Początek (2005), and provided the voice for Aslan in Opowieści z Narnii: Lew, czarownica i stara szafa (2005).Neeson found a second surprise career as an action leading man with the release of Uprowadzona (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, Starcie tytanów (2010) and Drużyna A (2010), and returned to the action genre with Tożsamość (2011), Przetrwanie (2011), Battleship: Bitwa o Ziemię (2012) and Uprowadzona 2 (2012), as well as the sequel Gniew tytanów (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 more