Liam Neeson

Liam John Neeson OBE (born 7 June 1952) is an Irish actor, who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards. He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Bryan Mills in Taken, Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Alfred Kinsey in Kinsey, Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins, and the voice of Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia film series.
He starred in other notable films such as Excalibur, The Dead Pool, Nell, Rob Roy, Les Misérables, The Haunting, Love Actually, Kingdom of Heaven, Clash of the Titans, The A-Team, Unknown, The Grey, and Taken 2 as well as smaller arthouse films (e.g. Deception, Breakfast on Pluto, and Chloe). He was ranked at number 69 on Empire magazine's 100 greatest movie stars of all time in 1997.
He was born in Ballymena, County Antrim and educated at St Patrick's College (now St Patrick's, Dundonald), Ballymena Technical College and Queen's University Belfast. He moved to Dublin after university to further his acting career, joining the Abbey Theatre. After a time in London, he moved to the United States, where the wide acclaim for his performance in Schindler's List led to more high-profile work. He is widowed and lives in New York with his two sons.
==Early Life==
Neeson was born on June 7, 1952, in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and is the son of Katherine "Kitty", a cook, and Bernard "Barney" Neeson, a caretaker at the Ballymena Boys All Saints Primary School. He was raised Roman Catholic at the Ballymena Boys All Saints Primary School. At age nine, Neeson began boxing lessons at the All Saints Youth Club, and later became Ulster amateur senior boxing champion. At age eleven, Neeson first stepped on stage. His English teacher gave him the lead role in a school play, which he accepted because the girl he was attracted to would be starring. From then on, he kept acting in school productions for the following years.
His interest in acting and decision to become an actor was also influenced by minister Ian Paisley, whose church Neeson would sneak into. Neeson has said of Paisley that "He had a magnificent presence and it was incredible to watch this six foot-plus man just Bible-thumping away... It was acting but it was also great acting and stirring too."
Neeson was enrolled in 1971 as a physics and computer science undergraduate student at Queen's University Belfast in Belfast, Northern Ireland, before leaving to work for the Guinness Brewery.
He discovered a talent for football at Queens University. He was spotted by Sean Thomas at Bohemian F.C.. There was a club trial in Dublin. He only played one game as a substitute against Shamrock Rovers and was not offered a contract to continue playing.
==Career==
===1978–1999===
After leaving university, Neeson returned to Ballymena where he worked in a variety of casual jobs, from a fork-lift operator at Guinness to a truck driver. He also attended teacher training college in Newcastle for two years before again returning to his home town.
==Filmography==
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1978	Pilgrim's Progress 	Jesus Christ / Evangelist 	
1979	Christiana 	Greatheart 	
1981	Excalibur 	Gawain 	
1983	Krull 	Kegan 	
1984	A Woman of Substance 	Blackie O'Neill 	
1984	Ellis Island 	Kevin Murray 	
1984	The Bounty 	Charles Churchill 	
1985	Lamb 	Michael Lamb 	
1985	The Innocent 	John Carns 	
1986	Hold the Dream 	Blackie O'Neill 	
1986	If Tomorrow Comes 	Insp. Andre Trignent 	
1986	The Delta Force 	Delta Force commando 	Uncredited role
1986	The Mission 	Fielding 	
1986	Duet for One 	Totter 	
1987	Sworn to Silence 	Vincent Cauley 	
1987	Suspect 	Carl Anderson 	
1987	A Prayer for the Dying 	Liam Docherty 	
1988	Satisfaction 	Martin Falcon 	
1988	High Spirits 	Martin Brogan 	
1988	The Dead Pool 	Peter Swan 	
1988	The Good Mother 	Leo Cutter 	
1989	Next of Kin 	Briar Gates 	
1990	Darkman 	Peyton Westlake / Darkman 	
1990	The Big Man 	Danny Scoulars 	
1991	Under Suspicion 	Tony Aaron 	
1992	Shining Through 	Franz-Otto Dietrich 	
1992	Husbands and Wives 	Michael Gates 	
1992	Leap of Faith 	Sheriff Will Braverman 	
1993	Ethan Frome 	Ethan Frome 	
1993	Ruby Cairo 	Dr. Fergus Lamb 	
1993	Schindler's List 	Oskar Schindler 	
1994	Nell 	Dr. Jerome "Jerry" Lovell 	
1995	Rob Roy 	Rob Roy MacGregor 	
1996	Michael Collins 	Michael Collins 	
1996	Before and After 	Ben Ryan 	
1998	Les Misérables 	Jean Valjean 	
1999	The Haunting 	Dr. David Marrow 	
1999	Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 	Qui-Gon Jinn 	
2000	Gun Shy 	Charlie Mayo 	
2000	The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition 	Narrator (voice) 	Documentary
2002	Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones 	Qui-Gon Jinn (voice) 	Uncredited cameo
2002	K-19: The Widowmaker 	Mikhail Polenin 	
2002	Gangs of New York 	"Priest" Vallon 	
2002	Martin Luther 	Narrator (voice) 	Documentary
2003	Love Actually 	Daniel 	
2003	Coral Reef Adventure 	Narrator (voice) 	Documentary
2004	Kinsey 	Alfred Kinsey 	
2005	Kingdom of Heaven 	Godfrey of Ibelin 	
2005	Batman Begins 	Ra's al Ghul 	
2005	Breakfast on Pluto 	Father Liam 	
2005	The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe	Aslan (voice) 	
2006	Home 	Himself 	Documentary
2007	Seraphim Falls 	Carver 	
2008	The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 	Aslan (voice) 	
2008	The Other Man 	Peter 	
2008	Taken 	Bryan Mills 	
2009	Five Minutes of Heaven 	Alistair Little 	
2009	Ponyo 	Fujimoto (voice) 	English dub
2009	After.Life 	Eliot 	
2009	Chloe 	David 	
2010	Clash of the Titans 	Zeus 	
2010	The A-Team 	John "Hannibal" Smith 	
2010	The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 	Aslan (voice) 	
2010	The Next Three Days 	Damon Pennington 	
2010	The Wildest Dream 	Narrator (voice) 	Documentary
2011	Unknown 	Dr. Martin Harris 	
2012	The Grey 	John Ottway 	
2012	Wrath of the Titans 	Zeus 	
2012	The Patriot of America 	Colonel Edward Thompson (voice) 	Documentary
2012	Battleship 	Admiral Shane 	
2012	The Dark Knight Rises 	Ra's al Ghul 	Cameo
2012	Taken 2 	Bryan Mills 	
2013	Third Person 	Michael 	
2013	Khumba 	Phango (voice) 	
2013	Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues 	History Channel Rep 	Cameo
2014	The Nut Job 	Raccoon (voice) 	
2014	The Lego Movie 	Bad Cop / Good CopPa Cop (voices)	
2014	The Prophet 	Mustafa (voice) 	
2014	Non-Stop 	Bill Marks 	
2014	A Million Ways to Die in the West 	Clinch Leatherwood 	
2014	A Walk Among the Tombstones 	Matthew Scudder 	
2015	Taken 3 	Bryan Mills 	
2015	Run All Night 	Jimmy Conlon 	
2015	Entourage 	Himself 	Cameo
2015	Ted 2 	Customer 	Cameo
2015	A Christmas Star 	Narrator / Radio DJ (voice) 	
2016	The Huntsman: Winter's War 	Narrator (voice) 	Uncredited
2016	Operation Chromite 	Douglas MacArthur 	
2016	A Monster Calls 	Monster (voice) 	
2016	Silence 	Father Cristóvão Ferreira 	
2017	Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 	Mark Felt 	
2017	Daddy's Home 2 	Actor in Missile Tow (voice) 	Cameo
2018	The Commuter 	Michael McCauley 	
2018	The Ballad of Buster Scruggs 	 	Completed
2018	Widows 	 	Post-production
2018	Hard Powder 	Nels 	Post-production
2019	MIB 	 	Filming
2019	Normal People 	Tom 	Filming
==External links==
*IMDb page
*Wikipedia page
*Liam Neeson at TriviaTribute.com
de:Liam Neeson
Category:Actors
Category:1952 births
Category:Alumni of Queen's University Belfast
Category:American people of Irish descent
Category:American film actors
Category:Film actors
Category:American television actors
Category:Irish actors
Category:Irish film actors
Category:Irish television actors
Category:American voice actors
Category:Irish voice actors
Category:Bohemian F.C. players
Category:Expatriates from Northern Ireland in the United States
Category:Film actors from Northern Ireland
Category:Immigrants to the United States from Northern Ireland
Category:Living people
Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:People from Ballymena
Category:People from County Antrim
Category:Television actors from Northern Ireland
Category:Volpi Cup winners