William John Neeson, better known as Liam Neeson, is an Irish actor. He has done over 90 films throughout his career among which some have performed remarkably well at the box office.
What Is the Net Worth of Liam Neeson?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Liam Neeson has an estimated net worth of $145 million. For him, the “Taken” trilogy turned out to be booming and according to reports, he earned $5 million for “Taken” and 2012’s “Taken 2” brought him $15 million whereas he earned $20 million from “Taken 3”.
Early Life
Neeson was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, on June 7, 1952. He is the child of Katherine Neeson, a cook, and Bernard “Barney” Neeson, a primary school caretaker. He has three siblings and all three are sisters: Elizabeth, Bernadette, and Rosaleen.
From the period 1963 to 1967, he went to St Patrick’s College, Ballymena, and after that found that his passion for drama started at this school.
He stated that while being raised as a Catholic in a mostly Protestant town led him to be careful and once stated that he used to feel like a “second-class citizen” there, though he also stated that he was never obliged to feel “inferior or even different” at the mostly Protestant technical college of the town.
About his upbringing, he has stated: “it would be colorful to imagine I had a rebellious, uproarious Irish background… But the facts were much greyer. Irish, yes. But all that nationalistic stuff, crying into your Guinness and singing rebel songs – that was never my scene.”
He explained himself as being “out of touch” with the politics and past of Northern Ireland till he learned about protests by fellow students after Bloody Sunday, a massacre that took place in 1972, in Derry, amidst the Troubles. That experience inspired him to know more about local history. In 2009 he stated, “I never stop thinking about [the Troubles].
I’ve known guys and girls who have been perpetrators of violence and victims. Protestants and Catholics. It’s part of my DNA.”
When he was 9, he started to take boxing training at the All Saints Youth Club, continuing to triumph in several regional titles prior to dropping when he was 17. When he was in his teenage years, he used to act in school productions.
His passion for acting led him to take the decision of becoming an actor and he was inspired by Ian Paisley, founder of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), into whose Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster he would dig into.
He stated: “[Paisley] had a magnificent presence and it was incredible to watch him just Bible-thumping away… it was acting, but it was also great acting and stirring too.” He enrolled into a physics and computer science course at Queen’s University Belfast in 1971 prior to leaving to work for the Guinness Brewery.
At Queen’s, he developed an interest in football and Seán Thomas at Bohemian FC spotted him. There was a club trial in Dublin and he played one game as a substitute against Shamrock Rovers FC but wasn’t offered a deal.
Personal Life
During the early 1980s, Neeson was in a relationship with actress Helen Mirren. The duo met when they were filming for a 1981 film titled Excalibur. In an interview with James Lipton for Inside the Actors Studio, he stated that Mirren was instrumental in his getting an agent.
In 1993, when Neeson was performing in a revival of the play Anna Christie on Broadway, he met actress Natasha Richardson and in 1994, the duo got married. The couple welcomed their first child, a son, Micheál in 1995, and in 1996 they welcomed their second son named Daniel.
In 1998, the duo received £50,000 ($85,370) as libel damages following the Daily Mirror falsely asserting that their marriage was suffering. The received compensation was later donated to victims of the August 1998 Omagh bombing.
They acquired an estate in Millbrook, New York in 2004. In 2009, Richardson lost her life after she suffered a critical head injury in a skiing accident at the Mont Tremblant Resort, northwest of Montreal. Neeson donated her organs after her demise.
In 2009, almost after four decades, he was an undergraduate in physics and computer science at Queen’s University, Belfast, Neeson was presented with an honorary doctorate. Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Gregson awarded that to him in New York City.
In 2011, he was selected as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. He is a patron of Belfast-based charity and film festival CineMagic, which motivates and aids young people to be engaged in the film industry.
During his early career, he used to smoke heavily but later in 2003, when he was working on Actually, he quit smoking.
While taking on the role of Hannibal for the 2010 film adaptation of The A-Team, he had disagreements regarding smoking cigars which was a signature characteristic of the character in the film due to being an ex-smoker, but he decided to remain that characteristic intact for the movie.
In 2012, his publicist declined reports that he was converting to Islam. He has expressed his interest in the adhan, which is the Islamic call to prayer, that he became familiar with when he was working on the film titled Taken 2 in Istanbul; he said “By the third week, it was like I couldn’t live without it.
It really became hypnotic and very moving for me in a very special way. Very beautiful.” Furthermore, he expressed affection for the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
In June 2020, his mother, Kitty, died and he wasn’t even able to get back to his hometown to bid her final goodbye because of travel restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Career
In 1976, Neeson joined Belfast’s Lyric Players’ Theatre and debuted with the 1978 film titled “Pilgrim’s Progress,” which is inspired by a Christian allegory. Further, in the same year, he relocated to Dublin, where he was featured in plays at the Project Arts Centre and the Abbey Theatre.
Neeson landed the cast of “Excalibur” in 1980 to play the role of Sir Gawain and after shooting for the same wrapped up, he relocated to London, where he shot for the 1984 film titled “The Bounty” and 1986’s “The Mission” and also for the 1984 miniseries titled “Ellis Island” and 1985’s “A Woman of Substance”.
He appeared as a guest star in the 1986 film titled “Miami Vice” and relocated to Hollywood the next year, he appeared in “Suspect” alongside Cher and Dennis Quaid.
His performance in the 1988 film titled “The Dead Pool” which was the fifth film in the “Dirty Harry” franchise, was critically-acclaimed including the performance in “Darkman” (1990).
In 1993, he debuted on Broadway with “Anna Christie,” starring alongside Natasha Richardson, his future wife. Stephen Spielberg watched his Tony-nominated performance and this way Neeson got an offer for the lead role in the film titled “Schindler’s List,” and that film won over 80 awards.
Later, he appeared in the 1995 film titled “Rob Roy”, 1995’s “Michael Collins”, and 1998’s “Les Misérables” prior to when he landed the cast of the much-awaited “Star Wars” prequel titled “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.”
In 2002, Neeson received a nomination for a Tony for his performance in the film titled “The Crucible” and appeared in “K-19: The Widowmaker” and “Gangs of New York.” He then appeared in the 2008 film titled “Taken,” and the movie was a blockbuster with earnings of $223.9 million throughout the world, and this led to two sequels.
In 2010, he played Zeus in the remake of “Clash of the Titans” and later appeared in its 2012 sequel titled “Wrath of the Titans”) and that movie earned $475 million across the world.
In 2004, he hosted “Saturday Night Live” and also appeared in many projects along with 2003’s “Love Actually” and 2004’s “Kinsey”. He also voiced many characters in several projects like 2014’s “The Lego Movie”, “The Nut Job”, and “The Chronicles of Narnia” franchise and also the 2008 video game titled “Fallout 3” and the 2009 audiobook of “The Polar Express.”
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