Liam Neeson – 2016 IFTA Outstanding Contribution To Cinema

2nd of March 2016 Liam Leeson

Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland, to Katherine and Bernard Neeson, Liam Neeson has established himself as a world renowned and outstanding actor of his generation. His body of work has already spanned 30 years across a diverse range of projects; eighty four (84) films in total.  The Oscar nominated actor who has just completed work on Martin Scorsese’s new movie Silence, has garnered international recognition for his work in both major studio blockbusters and acclaimed independent features, delivering superb performances that have captivated audiences throughout the world

Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Kathryn Bigelow & Martin Scorsese

Neeson has worked with some of the greatest filmmakers in the world; Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Boorman, Neil Jordan, Kathryn Bigelow, Christopher Nolan and Oliver Hirschbiegel among many others, and he has collaborated multiple times with some of these filmmakers.

Still from Schindler's List

Neeson received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations for his performance as Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Oscar-winning Best Picture Schindler’s List. Three years later, he played the title role in Neil Jordan’s biopic Michael Collins, earning another Golden Globe nomination and winning an Evening Standard British Film Award and the 1996 Venice Film Festival’s Volpi Cup for his impassioned portrayal of the Irish Republican hero.  In 2004, Neeson starred as controversial sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in Bill Condon’s Kinsey, for which he garnered his third Golden Globe nomination, an Independent Spirit Award nomination, and won the best Actor Irish Academy (IFTA) Award and a Los Angeles Film Critics Award.

Still from Michael Collins, Rob Roy and Alfred Kinsey

Other acclaimed roles of Neeson’s include Ra's al Ghul in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, Qui-Gon Jinn in George Lucas’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Rob Roy in Michael Caton-Jones’s film of the same name and Bryan Mills in the Taken series, which was a huge hit at the international box office.

Neeson’s most recent projects include Taken 3, the final instalment of the blockbuster trilogy, and Run All Night, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, which were released in 2015. Liam can be next seen in Silence, directed by Martin Scorsese and A Monster Calls in which he co-stars alongside Felicity Jones and Sigourney Weaver. Both movies are set for a 2016 release.

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