Liam Neeson is an Irish actor. Neeson has had an extensive career in film, television and stage. He made his professional acting debut playing Jesus Christ in the film Pilgrim's Progress (1978). That same year he acted in the BBC anthology series Play for Today (1978). A few years later he made his stage debut in the Brian Friel play Translations (1980). He earned notoriety for his early roles as Gawain in the John Boorman medieval fantasy film Excalibur (1981), Charles Churchill in the Roger Donaldson historical drama The Bounty (1984), Father John Fielding in the Roland Joffé religious epic The Mission (1986), a conflicted and caring Christian Brother in the bleak tragic film Lamb (1986), and a charming writer in the Woody Allen romantic comedy-drama Husbands and Wives (1992).
Contents
- Film
- Television
- TV films and miniseries
- Documentary appearances
- Stage appearances
- Video games
- Audiobook narration
- Discography
- References
- External links
Neeson gained prominence with his first successful lead role in Darkman, and acclaim for his leading role of Oskar Schindler in the Steven Spielberg's holocaust epic drama film Schindler's List (1993). He established himself as a leading man in a string of prestige films playing the title role of the romance drama Ethan Frome (1993), a town doctor in the drama film Nell (1994), the starring role in the historical drama Michael Collins (1996), and Jean Valjean in the costume drama Les Misérables (1998). He expanded his career gaining worldwide attention for his roles in franchise films such as Qui-Gon Jinn in the George Lucas space opera film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Henri Ducard / Ra's al Ghul in the Christopher Nolan superhero film Batman Begins (2005), Aslan the Lion in The Chronicles of Narnia series (2005–2010), and Zeus in Clash of the Titans (2010). He also acted in the Martin Scorsese historical epic Gangs of New York (2002), the British romantic comedy Love Actually (2003) and the historical drama Kinsey (2004).
He then established himself as an action star taking the leading role as a father out for vengeance in the action drama Taken (2008) followed by Taken 2 (2012) and Taken 3 (2014). He then starred in several action films such as The Grey (2012), Non-Stop (2013), A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014), Run All Night (2015), The Commuter (2018), Cold Pursuit (2019), Honest Thief (2020), Blacklight (2022), and In the Land of Saints and Sinners (2023). During this time he took roles in the fantasy drama A Monster Calls (2016), the historical epic Silence (2016), the western anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), and noir-thriller Widows (2018). He took comedic roles playing John "Hannibal" Smith in the action comedy The A-Team (2010), an outlaw in the western comedy in A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) and a bumbling officer in the crime comedy The Naked Gun (2025).
On stage, he acted in Broadway revivals of the Eugene O'Neill play Anna Christie (1992), the David Hare play The Judas Kiss (1998), and the Arthur Miller play The Crucible (2001). Neeson has been nominated for a number of awards, including an Academy Award for Best Actor, a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and three Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama. Empire magazine ranked Neeson among both the "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History" and "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time." [1]