86 Facts About Liam Neeson

William John Neeson was born on 7 June 1952 and is an Irish actor.

Liam Neeson has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Tony Awards.

Liam Neeson made his film debut in 1978 with Pilgrim's Progress followed by early roles in Excalibur, The Bounty, The Mission, The Dead Pool, and Husbands and Wives.

Liam Neeson rose to prominence portraying Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama Schindler's List for which he earned an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination.

Liam Neeson played leading man roles in drama films such as Nell, Rob Roy, Michael Collins, and Les Miserables.

Liam Neeson acted in films such as the historical drama Gangs of New York, the romantic comedy Love Actually, the biographical drama Kinsey, the erotic thriller Chloe, the religious drama Silence, the fantasy film A Monster Calls, the crime thriller Widows, the anthology film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and the romantic drama Ordinary Love.

Liam Neeson is known for his collaborations in the genre with the director Jaume Collet-Serra and starred in four of his films: Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night, and The Commuter.

On stage, Liam Neeson joined the Lyric Players' Theatre in Belfast in 1976 for two years.

Liam Neeson portrayed Oscar Wilde in David Hare's The Judas Kiss.

Liam Neeson's mother was born and raised in Waterford in the south-east of Ireland.

Liam Neeson attended St Patrick's College, Ballymena, from 1963 to 1967, and later recalled that his love of drama began there.

Liam Neeson 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 said he was never made to feel "inferior or even different" at the town's predominantly Protestant technical college.

At age nine, Liam Neeson began boxing lessons at the All Saints Youth Club, and went on to win a number of regional titles before quitting at 17.

Liam Neeson attended teacher training college for two years in Newcastle upon Tyne before again returning to his hometown.

Liam Neeson got his first film experience in 1977, playing Jesus Christ and The Evangelist in the religious film Pilgrim's Progress.

Liam Neeson moved to Dublin in 1978 when he was offered a part in Ron Hutchinson's Says I, Says He, a drama about The Troubles, at the Project Arts Centre.

Liam Neeson acted in several other Project productions and joined the Abbey Theatre.

Liam Neeson lived with actress Helen Mirren, whom he met working on Excalibur.

Liam Neeson guest-starred in the third season of the television series Miami Vice in 1986, and moved to Hollywood the next year to take higher-profile roles.

Liam Neeson starred with Cher and Dennis Quaid in Suspect, which brought him critical acclaim.

Liam Neeson starred in the eponymous role for the film Ethan Frome.

Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson and Warren Beatty all expressed interest in the part, but Liam Neeson was cast in December 1992 after auditioning for the role.

Liam Neeson received BAFTA and Golden Globes nominations for the performance.

In 1993, Liam Neeson made his Broadway debut playing Mat Burke in the revival of the Eugene O'Neill play Anna Christie starring opposite his Ellis Island co-star and future wife Natasha Richardson.

Liam Neeson then took leading roles in the period piece drama films including playing the lead role of Rob Roy MacGregor in the historical drama Rob Roy opposite Jessica Lange, Brian Cox, and Tim Roth.

Liam Neeson portrayed the title role as the Irish revolutionary leading the fight for Irish independence.

The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival where it received the Golden Lion with Liam Neeson earning the Volpi Cup for Best Actor.

Todd McCarthy of Variety praised his performance writing, "Liam Neeson is a compulsive dynamo as Collins, with the actor seizing his part with a passion and boldness utterly in keeping with the character's approach to life and his cause".

Liam Neeson portrayed Jean Valjean in the 1998 adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables directed by Bille August.

Liam Neeson starred alongside Uma Thurman, Geoffrey Rush, and Claire Danes.

Liam Neeson appeared as Qui-Gon in the final episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi, appearing as a force ghost to Obi-Wan, in an uncredited cameo, marking his first live-action portrayal of Qui-Gon since The Phantom Menace.

Liam Neeson later voiced Qui-Gon again for an episode of the animated Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi.

Liam Neeson narrated the 2001 documentaries Journey into Amazing Caves, a short film about two scientists who travel around the world to search for material for potential cures; and The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Adventure.

Liam Neeson returned to Broadway in the revival of the Arthur Miller play The Crucible acting opposite Laura Linney.

That same year Liam Neeson acted with Harrison Ford in Kathryn Bigelow's 2002 submarine thriller K-19: The Widowmaker as Captain Mikhail Polenin.

Liam Neeson was on the cast of Martin Scorsese's historical drama Gangs of New York with Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Cameron Diaz.

That year Liam Neeson hosted an episode of the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live.

Liam Neeson starred as a redneck trucker, Marlon Weaver, in an "Appalachian Emergency Room" sketch and as a hippie in a one-off sketch about two stoners who attempt to borrow a police dog to find their lost stash of marijuana.

In 2005, Liam Neeson took multiple roles in mainstream blockbuster films.

Liam Neeson portrayed Godfrey of Ibelin in Ridley Scott's epic adventure Kingdom of Heaven, Ra's al Ghul, one of the main villains in Christopher Nolan's action film Batman Begins; and Father Bernard in Neil Jordan's adaptation of Patrick McCabe's novel Breakfast on Pluto.

Liam Neeson voiced the main character's father, James, in the video game Fallout 3.

In 2008, Liam Neeson starred in the action film Taken, a French-produced film starring Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace, based on a script by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen and directed by Pierre Morel.

Liam Neeson plays a retired CIA operative from the elite Special Activities Division who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter after she is kidnapped.

Liam Neeson has said in interviews that he believed that Taken had put some people off the idea of actually travelling to Europe.

Liam Neeson provided a voice for Hayao Miyazaki's anime film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, which received an August 2009 release.

In 2010, Liam Neeson played Zeus in the remake of the 1981 film, Clash of the Titans.

Liam Neeson starred in Atom Egoyan's erotic thriller Chloe, theatrically released by Sony Pictures Classics on 26 March 2010.

Liam Neeson voiced Aslan once more in the 2010 sequel The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

In 2011, Liam Neeson starred in the action-thriller Unknown, a German-British-American co-production of a French book filmed in Berlin in early 2010, and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.

Liam Neeson reunited with Steven Spielberg with plans to star as Abraham Lincoln in the 2012 film Lincoln, based on the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

In preparation for the role, Liam Neeson visited the District of Columbia and Springfield, Illinois, where Lincoln lived before being elected, and read Lincoln's personal letters.

Liam Neeson eventually declined the role, claiming he was "past his sell date" and had grown too old for the role and was replaced by Daniel Day-Lewis.

In late 2011, Liam Neeson was cast to play the lead character, a journalist, in a new album recording and arena production of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds.

Liam Neeson replaced Richard Burton, who had posthumously appeared in the arena production through CGI animation.

Liam Neeson did not physically appear on the stage, instead playing the role through the use of 3D holography.

The film received mostly positive reviews and Liam Neeson's performance received critical acclaim.

Liam Neeson starred in Taken 2, a successful sequel to his 2008 blockbuster.

Liam Neeson later played Bill Marks in the 2014 action film Non-Stop.

Liam Neeson appeared, uncredited, as God in the BBC2 series Rev.

In 2016, Liam Neeson narrated the RTE One three-part documentary on the Easter Rising, 1916.

Besides The A-Team, Unknown, The Grey, Non-Stop, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Run All Night, The Commuter and Retribution, other recent action films starring Liam Neeson have included Cold Pursuit, Honest Thief, The Marksman, The Ice Road, Blacklight, Memory, In the Land of Saints and Sinners and Absolution.

Liam Neeson has indicated a desire to retire from the action genre though the films have taken his acting career in a new direction.

In 2016, Liam Neeson reunited with director Martin Scorsese with the drama an adaptation of the novel Silence starring alongside Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver.

Liam Neeson portrayed Mark Felt in Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House directed by Peter Landesman and Philip Marlowe in Marlowe directed by Neil Jordan.

Liam Neeson opposes what he sees as the unrestricted right to own firearms in the US and has made calls for gun control.

In 2014, Liam Neeson protested against the anti-carriage horse campaign of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who said he would outlaw horse-drawn carriages in Central Park once he took office.

Liam Neeson wrote an opinion page published in The New York Times citing the carriage trade as a safe one for employees, horses, and tourists, and noted it was a livelihood for many immigrants.

Liam Neeson narrated a video for Amnesty International in favour of the legalisation of abortion in Ireland, which some conservative and pro-life commentators claimed was "anti-Catholic".

Liam Neeson was opposed to Brexit, stating in 2016 that it would be truly "a shame to sacrifice all the progress that has been made by the peace process regarding border controls".

Liam Neeson lived with actress Helen Mirren during the early 1980s.

Liam Neeson dated Barbra Streisand for about nine months between 1991 and 1992.

Liam Neeson then met actress Natasha Richardson while performing in a revival of the play Anna Christie on Broadway in 1993.

Liam Neeson holds Irish and American citizenship, having been naturalised as an American citizen in 2009.

Liam Neeson is a patron of Belfast-based charity and film festival CineMagic, which helps young people get involved in the movie industry.

In June 2012, Liam Neeson's publicist denied reports that Liam Neeson was converting to Islam.

Liam Neeson was unable to return to his hometown for her funeral due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Liam Neeson is a long-term supporter of the need for more integrated education in Northern Ireland; that is, educating Catholics and Protestants together.

Liam Neeson was criticised for his comments on Ireland's Late Late Show in January 2018, during which he described the Me Too movement as a "witch hunt" and cited Garrison Keillor's dismissal from Minnesota Public Radio as an example.

In February 2019, Liam Neeson gained public and media controversy after a press junket interview he conducted with The Independent while promoting Cold Pursuit, a film about a father seeking revenge for his son's murder.

Liam Neeson said that he had purposely gone into "black areas of the city" but that he "did seek help" and counselling from his friends and a priest after coming to his senses.

Liam Neeson said that the lesson of his experience was "to open up [and] to talk about these things", including toxic masculinity and the underlying "racism and bigotry" in both the US and Northern Ireland.

Liam Neeson was publicly defended by Michelle Rodriguez, Whoopi Goldberg, John Barnes, Trevor Noah, and Ralph Fiennes.

In 2000, Liam Neeson was offered the "Freedom of the Town of Ballymena" by the Ballymena Borough Council, but because of objections made by members of the Democratic Unionist Party regarding his comments that he had felt like a "second-class citizen" growing up as a Catholic in the town, he declined the award, citing tensions.

Liam Neeson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in her 2000 New Year Honours.

In 2009, at a ceremony in New York, Liam Neeson was awarded an honorary doctorate by Queen's University, Belfast.

In 2017, Liam Neeson was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 74 in the list of 200 Most Influential Philanthropists and Social Entrepreneurs Worldwide.