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Possibly Ireland’s most famous actor, Liam Neeson has spent his career in show business playing disagreeable heroes and historical rebels. His first movie was Excalibur, a low-budget tale of the legend of King Arthur. Since then he has been in over twenty-two movies and nominated for an Academy Award.
Before he was Liam Neeson the famous actor, he was William John Neeson, an Irish boy who grew up with dreams of becoming a butcher because of his fascination with sharp knives. On June 7, 1952 he was born in Ballymena, Ireland, the third of four children and also the only boy among four girls. Liam was first introduced to acting at age eleven by his English teacher who recruited him for a role in a school play. During his teen years he acted in many school plays but his real passion was boxing. Boxing was a big part of his life from ages nine to fifteen but he finally quit because of a broken nose that never quite healed properly and became his most distinctive feature. A few years later his former English teacher founded the Slemish Players, an amateur theatre company, and he earned a few awards in the two years he was there before he went to college.
To make his parents happy, Liam went to the University of Belfast and studied computer science and math. He had no interest in either and dropped out after two terms. For the next few years he stayed in Ballymena doing a wide variety of jobs: truck driver, assistant architect, and forklift operator. Then he went to Queens College where he studied to be a teacher and eventually quit college for the second time. Back in Ballymena, he rejoined the Slemish Players and on a dare from a co-worker, auditioned for the Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast and at last became a professional actor.
Five years later director John Boorman talked to him backstage after his performance in “Of Mice and Men” with the Abbey Theatre and requested that Liam play the role of Sir Gawain in “Excalibur. “ Liam’s performance in “Excalibur” was as genuine as all his later roles would be but unfortunately the other actors were not up to par. Aside from Patrick Stewart, Liam was the sole actor in “Excalibur” able to express more emotion than a doorknob and, not surprisingly, the only one with a notable acting career. Not only was this his first movie but also his first role as a hero. In later years he would play other heroes who, like Gawain, were very strong-willed, thoughtful, and slightly disagreeable.
Liam Neeson acted in mini-series and obscure movies from 1982 up to 1987 when he played a deaf-mute in “Suspect.” During this time he met Natasha Richardson, his future wife, and developed a small but loyal fan base. 1987 was the year he was discovered by the critics and in the next few years had major roles in “Darkman”, “Leap of Faith”, “Husbands and Wives”, and most of all, a play called “Anna Christie” in 1993 where he reunited with Natasha Richardson and was discovered by Steven Spielburg. Spielburg was so impressed by Liam’s acting that he immediately cast him for the role of Oskar Schindler in “Schindler’s List”. For this he was nominated for an Academy Award.
In 1995 he went back to playing heroes when he played Scottish rebel Rob Roy in a movie named “Rob Roy”. Unfortunately Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart” was released around the same time and box office sales show that most people wanted to watch Mel Gibson, who they were more familiar with, rather than Liam Neeson who just might have been the more talented of the two. The next year he starred in “Michael Collins” in which he played an Irish rebel named Michael Collins. Says critic Jeanne Wolf, “Magnificent! Liam Neeson burns up the screen with all the fiery passion that made this real-life hero a legend.” His hard work was not for nothing. George Lucas chose Liam to play Qui-Gon Jinn, a Jedi Knight, in “The Phantom Menace”. Liam’s convincing acting caused millions of audiences to be genuinely sad when his character was killed by the evil Darth Maul. In an interview with a Star Wars website George Lucas commented, “Liam seemed just born to play that role. He's very quiet; he's very big; he's very powerful; but he's very contemplative.” All three of these roles are very similar to his role in “Excalibur.” In “Rob Roy” and “Michael Collins” his characters protest government much in the same way that Sir Gawain insisted Queen Guenevere was a witch and must die. In “The Phantom Menace” his character, Qui-Gon, did not protest a government but he disobeyed the Jedi Council, which, in the Star Wars universe, is just as bad.
As the website of one of his fans says, “He’s everyone’s favorite burly-yet-sensitive Irishman.” Liam still remains just outside the circle of extremely popular movie stars but he has a few upcoming movies and has been getting more attention since “The Phantom Menace” came out in 1999. Currently he lives with his wife and two sons, Daniel and Michael, and seems to have been forgiven by Hollywood for his role in one of the worst movies of all time, “Excalibur”.
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