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Born William John Neeson in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK; attended Queen's University (Belfast); trained at the Lyric Players' Theatre (Belfast) and the Abbey Theatre (Dublin). Tall (6'4"), ruggedly handsome Irish stage actor whose distinctive leading man looks have not kept him from playing many vivid character roles in American and British films and on TV. Neeson made his feature film debut as Sir Gawain in John Boorman's EXCALIBUR (1981) after the director spotted him in a Dublin production of Of Mice and Men. Supporting roles followed in various British productions, including THE BOUNTY (1984) and THE MISSION (1986). Neeson gained notice stateside as a homeless deaf mute accused of murder in SUSPECT (1987). His subsequent Hollywood assignments included playing Diane Keaton's lover in THE GOOD MOTHER and the antagonist of Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry in THE DEAD POOL (both 1988). Neeson brought tragic grandeur to Dr. Peyton Westlake, the vengeful, disfigured protagonist of Sam Raimi's darkly cartoonish DARKMAN (1990). Since then he has played a magazine editor who gets entangled with Judy Davis and Mia Farrow in Woody Allen's HUSBANDS AND WIVES (1992) and starred in the American Playhouse production of Edith Wharton's ETHAN FROME (1993). Neeson continued to work on stage, notably in the 1992 Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie. Steven Spielberg was so impressed by the actor's stage presence as coal stoker Matt Burke that he offered him the lead in his gritty black-and-white Holocaust drama, SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993). Neeson received his most positive notices for his restrained yet charismatic interpretation of Austrian industrialist Oskar Schindler. As a self-involved, libertine opportunist who saves over a thousand Polish Jews from the Nazi death camps during WW II by using them as unpaid workers in his factory, Neeson impressively conveyed a genuinely spiritual transformation while avoiding sentimentality. Other notable screen credits include NELL (1994), ROB ROY (1995), BEFORE AND AFTER and MICHAEL COLLINS (both 1996), LES MISÉRABLES (1998), STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE and THE HAUNTING (both 1999), GUN SHY (2000), K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER and GANGS OF NEW YORK (both 2002), LOVE ACTUALLY (2003), KINSEY (2004), KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, BATMAN BEGINS, BREAKFAST ON PLUTO and THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (all 2005), SERAPHIM FALLS (2006), TAKEN, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN and THE OTHER MAN (all scheduled for 2008), and LINCOLN (as Abraham Lincoln, announced for 2009). Married to actress Natasha Richardson since 1994, which makes him Vanessa Redgrave's son-in-law. Neeson and Richardson have two sons.  Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role 1993: SCHINDLER'S LIST 1 nomination