Liam Neeson Biography

Fast Facts

• By age 14, was the Youth Heavyweight Champion of Ireland---a title he held for three consecutive years
• Once worked as a fork-lift operator at a Guinness Beer plant
• Discovered by director John Boorman while performing with the Belfast Lyric Players' Theater and was subsequently cast in the 1981 film Excalibur
• Chosen for the lead role in 1993's Schindler's List after Steven Spielberg saw his Tony-nominated performance in a Broadway production of Anna Christie
• In 2000, sustained multiple pelvic injuries after hitting a deer while driving his motorcycle
• Co-starred with Laura Linney in the 2002 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's The Crucible; the duo later teamed up to play husband-and-wife on the silver screen in 2004's Kinsey and 2008's The Other Man
• His wife, actress Natasha Richardson, suffered a fatal head injury while skiing in Canada on March 16, 2009; she passed away two days later
• Surprised audiences with his atypical action-hero performance in Taken (2008), which led to more action-hero turns in Clash of the Titans (2010) and The A-Team (2010)