Liam as you probably know is the Irish for William – and also a shortened version. Neeson is MacAonghusa in Irish – so if his name was fully in Irish it would be “Liam MacAonghusa”.

MacAonghusa is also known in English as MacGennis or McGuiness – or also, for one family, simply “Guinness”. So, there you go – Liam Neeson – a drop of the black stuff!
Today in Irish History: 7 June 1952 – Birth of Liam Neeson (William John Neeson) in Ballymena, Co. Antrim.
Liam John Neeson, OBE (born 7 June 1952) is an Irish actor best known for his roles in Schindler’s List, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Michael Collins, Taken, Kinsey, Batman Begins and Darkman.

He has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.

Neeson was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, the son of Katherine “Kitty” Neeson (née Brown), a cook, and Bernard “Barney” Neeson, a caretaker at the Ballymena Boys All Saints Primary School.

He was raised Roman Catholic and was named Liam after the local priest. The third of four siblings, he has three sisters: Elizabeth, Bernadette, and Rosaline. At age nine, Neeson began boxing lessons at the All Saints Youth Club, and later became Ulster’s amateur senior boxing champion.

Neeson first stepped on stage at age 11. His English teacher offered him the lead role in a school play, and he accepted because the girl he was attracted to was starring in it. From then on, he kept acting in school productions for the following years.

His interest in acting and decision to become an actor was also influenced by minister Ian Paisley, whose church Neeson would sneak into.

Neeson has said of Paisley: “He 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.

” In 1971, Neeson was enrolled as a physics and computer science student at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, before leaving to work for the Guinness Brewery. Also at Queens, he discovered a talent for football and was spotted by Seán Thomas at Bohemian F.C. There was a club trial in Dublin and Neeson played one game as a substitute against Shamrock Rovers, but he was not offered a contract.
After leaving university, Neeson returned to Ballymena where he worked in a variety of casual jobs, from a fork-lift operator at Guinness to a truck driver.

He also attended teacher training college for two years in Newcastle, County Down, before again returning to his hometown. In 1976, Neeson joined the Lyric Players’ Theatre in Belfast where he performed for two years.

He got his first film experience in 1977, playing Jesus Christ and Evangelist in the religious film Pilgrim’s Progress. Neeson moved to Dublin in 1978 after he was offered a part in Ron Hutchinson’s Says I, Says He, a drama about The Troubles, at the Project Arts Centre. He acted in several other Project productions and joined the Abbey Theatre (the National Theatre of Ireland).

In 1980, filmmaker John Boorman saw him on stage as Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men and offered him the part of Sir Gawain in the Arthurian film, Excalibur. After Excalibur, Neeson moved to London, where he continued working on stage, in small budget films and in television. He lived with the actress Helen Mirren at this time, whom he met working on Excalibur.

Between 1982 and 1987, Neeson starred in five films; most notably alongside Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins in 1984’s The Bounty and Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons in 1986’s The Mission. He also guest-starred in the third season of the television series Miami Vice in 1986.
In 1987, Neeson made a conscious decision to move to Hollywood to star in high-profile roles.

That year, he starred alongside Cher and Dennis Quaid in Suspect in a role that brought him critical acclaim.

In 1990, he followed this with a starring role in Darkman. Although the film was successful, Neeson’s subsequent years would not bring him the same recognition. In 1993, he joined Ellis Island co-star and future wife Natasha Richardson in the Broadway play Anna Christie.

They also worked together in Nell, released the following year. He recited the Van Morrison song “Coney Island” on the 1994 Van Morrison tribute album No Prima Donna: The Songs of Van Morrison. A single was also released with Neeson’s version.
Director Steven Spielberg offered Neeson the role of Oskar Schindler in the film about the Holocaust, Schindler’s List, after seeing him in Anna Christie on Broadway.

Even with Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson and Warren Beatty all expressing interest in portraying Schindler, (the latter auditioning), Neeson was cast in December 1992 after formally auditioning for the role.

Neeson read the Keneally book and concluded that his character “enjoyed fookin’ [sic] with the Nazis. In Keneally’s book, it says he was regarded as a kind of a buffoon by them… if the Nazis