Raised Catholic, he was named Liam after a local priest. Neeson was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, the son of cook Katherine 'Kitty' Neeson (née Brown) and primary school caretaker Bernard 'Barney' Neeson. He received his second Tony Award nomination for his performance in the 2002 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

He then starred as Oscar Wilde in David Hare's The Judas Kiss in 1998. He made his Broadway debut in 1993 with his performance as Matt Burke in the revival of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie earning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination. Neeson is also known for his work on stage. He also starred in Martin Scorsese's religious epic Silence (2016), the fantasy drama A Monster Calls (2016), Steve McQueen's heist drama Widows (2018), the Coen brothers' western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), and the romantic drama Ordinary Love (2019). He is known for his collaborations in the genre with director Jaume Collet-Serra, and starred in four of his films: Unknown (2011), Non-Stop (2013), Run All Night (2015), and The Commuter (2018). He also starred in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002), the romantic comedy Love Actually (2003), and the drama Kinsey (2004).īeginning in 2009, Neeson cemented himself as an action star with the action thriller series Taken (2008–2014), The A-Team (2010), The Grey (2011), Wrath of the Titans (2012), and A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014). He took blockbuster roles portraying Qui-Gon Jinn in George Lucas' space opera Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins (2005) and Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia trilogy (2005–2010).

He followed by starring in Nell (1994), Rob Roy (1995), Michael Collins (1996), and Les Misérables (1998). He rose to prominence portraying Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's holocaust drama Schindler's List (1993) for which he earned an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination. His early film roles include Excalibur (1981), The Bounty (1984), The Mission (1986), The Dead Pool (1988), and Husbands and Wives (1992). In 1976, Neeson joined the Lyric Players' Theatre in Belfast for two years. Neeson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000. In 2020, he was placed seventh on The Irish Times list of Ireland's 50 Greatest Film Actors. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. William John Neeson OBE (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland.

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