Liam John Neeson was born on June 7, 1952 in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He attended Queen's University Belfast, in Northern Ireland. After leaving university he attended teacher training college in Newcastle. In 1976, Neeson joined the Lyric Players' Theatre in Belfast. He got his first film experience in 1977, playing Jesus Christ and Evangelist in the religious film, Pilgrim's Progress. 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. In 1987, he moved to Hollywood in order to star in high-profile roles. That year, he starred alongside Cher and Dennis Quaid in… Suspect, a role that brought him critical acclaim. In 1990 he followed this with a starring role in Darkman. He later played Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, which earned him a nomination for a Best Actor Oscar, and helped the film earn Best Picture. He went on to star as Jean Valjean in the 1998 adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Mis�rables and in The Haunting as Dr. David Marrow. In 1999, Neeson starred as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. He has also starred in Fallout, Transformers and Taken.