Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson stars as the central figure in Writer/Director Paul Haggis's ensemble drama THIRD PERSON. Neeson has become one of the leading international motion picture actors today. Whether it's his Academy Award® nominated role of Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's Academy Award® winning film Schindler's List (1993), his award- winning portrayal of legendary Irish Republican hero in Michael Collins (1996) for which he received Best Actor honors at the Venice Film Festival, a Golden Globe® Best Actor nomination, and London's prestigious Evening Standard Award for Best Actor, or his role as controversial sex therapist Alfred Kinsey in the critically acclaimed Kinsey (2004), Neeson continues to display an acting range matched by few.
The Irish-born actor had originally sought a career as a teacher after attending Queens University, Belfast and majoring in physics, computer science and maths. He set teaching aside and in 1976 joined the prestigious Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast ("The best training any actor could have."), making his professional acting debut in Joseph Plunkett's The Risen People. After two years with the Lyric Players, he joined the famed National Theatre of Ireland, the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Neeson appeared in the Abbey Theatre Festival's production of Brian Friel's Translations, and a production of Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars for the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, England where he received a Best Actor Award.
Spotted by director John Boorman in 1980, playing Lennie in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Boorman cast him in the epic Excalibur. Following this motion picture debut, Neeson has appeared in more than 40 films demonstrating a wide range of characters, including Dino DeLaurentiis' epic remake of The Bounty (1984), directed by Roger Donaldson and co-starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins; the critically-acclaimed Lamb (1986) for which he received an Evening Standard Drama Award nomination for his haunting portrayal of a priest tormented by doubts about his faith; Andrei Konchalovsky's Duet for One (1986), co-starring Julie Andrews; as a political terrorist in A Prayer for the Dying (1987) with Mickey Rourke and Bob Hoskins; and a Jesuit priest in Roland Joffe's The Mission (1986), co-starring Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons.
Neeson received critical acclaim starring opposite Cher as a deaf and mute Vietnam veteran in Peter Yates' courtroom drama Suspect (1987); as the passionate Irish sculptor opposite Diane Keaton in The Good Mother (1988), and as scientist Peyton Westlake whose disfiguring accident forces him into hiding in Sam Raimi's fantasy-thriller Darkman (1990).
Neeson made his Broadway debut in 1993 receiving a Tony® Award nomination in the Roundabout Theater's revival of Eugene O'Neill's 1921 drama Anna Christie, co-starring Natasha Richardson. He also played Oscar Wilde in David Hare's, The Judas Kiss which opened in London's West End and subsequently on Broadway.
Other memorable big screen performances include Crossing the Line, Shining Through opposite Michael Douglas, Under Suspicion, Woody Allen's controversial Husbands and Wives, Ethan Frome with Joan Allen, Michael Apted's Nell, opposite Jodie Foster and Natasha Richardson; Before and After with Meryl Streep; and the title role in Michael Canton-Jones' Rob Roy, co-starring Jessica Lange.
Neeson returned to Broadway in 2002, co-starring with his friend Laura Linney in Arthur Miller's classic The Crucible. His performance as John Proctor earned both he and Miss Linney a Tony® Award nomination.
In 2001, he starred opposite Harrison Ford in K-19: The Widowmaker, and starred opposite Sandra Bullock in the black comedy Gun Shy (2000). Prior to that, Neeson starred in the box-office phenomenon Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) in the role of Qui-Gon Jinn, and the same year, he starred opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in Jan De Bont's The Haunting.
He co-starred with Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, and Keira Knightly in the Working Title film Love Actually, written and directed by Richard Curtis; he graced the screen in the classic revenge drama Seraphim Falls opposite Pierce Brosnan, and also appeared in Ridley Scott's crusades epic Kingdom of Heaven and co-starred in Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan.
Neeson starred opposite Diane Kruger and January Jones in the psychological thriller Unknown; and prior to that he co-starred in the Warner Bros' remake of the 1981 film Clash of the Titans and After Life opposite Christina Ricci. He appeared in the remake of the popular TV series The A-Team alongside Bradley Cooper and Jessica Biel, as an ex-con in Paul Haggis' The Next Three Days, and as the voice of Aslan the Lion in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and in Five Minutes of Heaven which received rave reviews at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
2008 saw Neeson star in Taken, the runaway box-office hit and that same year, he teamed up with Laura Linney in Richard Eyre's The Other Man and in Disney's box office success The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian where he reprised his role as the voice of the Lion, Aslan, in the sequel to the 2005 hit The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He also returned to the stage at the Lincoln Center Festival in Gate/Beckett: Eh Joe directed by Atom Egoyan.
2012 has proven a busy year for Neeson, appearing in five films, Joe Carnahan's The Grey; Warner Bros' Wrath of the Titans, Peter Berg's action sci-fi, Battleship, The Dark Knight Rises for director Christopher Nolan, and Taken 2, the sequel to the worldwide box-office sensation Taken. Neeson will soon start work on the thriller Non Stop, directed by Jeff Wadlow.