Liam Neeson

William John "Liam" Neeson, , is a Northern Ireland-born Irish actor, known for his distinctive deep, gravelly voice. He is best known for his many film and television roles, but his most notable role is Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's 1993 epic historical drama film (in which he received a nomination for an ). He also lent his voice to characters in several animated films, such as Phango, the main antagonist of the 2013 computer-animated film , Bad Cop/Good Cop in , and Norvirus Raccoon, one of the main antagonists of .
For Disney, he voiced Aslan the lion in the first two Chronicles of Narnia films under the Disney banner (along with outside of Disney), as well as Fujimoto in the English dub of Studio Ghibli's Ponyo. He also portrayed or voiced Qui-Gon Jinn in , Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi; a role he originated from . He reprised his role as Qui-Gon Jinn in Tales of the Jedi. Additionally, he played Leo Cutter in the 1988 Touchstone Pictures film The Good Mother, Ben Ryan in the 1996 Hollywood Pictures film Before and After, Charles Mayeaux in Gun Shy, and "Priest" Vallon in the 2002 Miramax film .
Neeson was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, the son of primary school caretaker Bernard "Barney" Neeson and cook Katherine "Kitty" Neeson (née Brown). His mother was born and raised in Waterford in the southeast of Ireland. Brought up Catholic, he was named Liam after a local priest. He has three sisters: Elizabeth, Bernadette, and Rosaleen. He attended St. Patrick's College, Ballymena, from 1963 to 1967, and later recalled that his love of drama began there.
He said that growing up as a Catholic in a predominantly Protestant town made him cautious, and once said he felt like a "second-class citizen" there, but has also said he was never made to feel "inferior or even different" at the town's predominantly Protestant technical college. "It would be colourful to imagine I had a rebellious, uproarious Irish background," he has said, "but the facts were much greyer. Irish, yes. But all that nationalistic stuff, crying into your Guinness and singing rebel songs — that was never my scene." He has described himself as "out of touch" with the politics and history of Northern Ireland until becoming aware of protests by fellow students after , a massacre in Derry in 1972 during the Troubles, which encouraged him to learn more local history. In a 2009 interview, he said, "I never stop thinking about [the Troubles]. I've known guys and girls who have been perpetrators of violence and victims. Protestants and Catholics. It's part of my DNA."
==Roles==
Quigonheadshot.jpg|Qui-Gon Jinn(Star Wars franchise)
Aslan2.jpg|Aslan(The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian)
Ponyo-Fujimoto-Cosplay-Wig-Version-01-001.jpg|Fujimoto(Ponyo; Disney dub)
==Gallery==
Liam Neeson Deauville 2012 2.jpg|Liam Neeson attending the 38th annual Deauville Film Fest in September 2012.
Liam Neeson visits Jimmy Fallon.jpg|Liam Neeson visiting in September 2014.
Liam Neeson NYFF.jpg|Liam Neeson attending the 2018 New York Film Fest.
==Trivia==
*Liam was once considered to voice Mufasa in The Lion King, along with Sean Connery, but James Earl Jones was cast in the end. Ironically, he would eventually voice another lion, Aslan, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian.
*Liam was also originally considered for the role of Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but Kurt Russell was cast instead.
==References==
==External links==
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Category:1950s births
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