Jeremy Irons - Details

Biography

Jeremy IronsJeremy Irons began his career in England in theatre at the Bristol Old Vic and continued it with a London debut in "Godspell" as John the Baptist. His work in the West End and at Stratford Upon Avon culminated with his performance of "Richard II" for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing" opposite Glenn Close, for which he won both the Drama League Award and Tony Award for Best Actor.

Irons has played many roles for television, most notably "Love for Lydia" and Christopher Hampton's "Tales from Hollywood". His performance in "Brideshead Revisited" brought him worldwide acclaim and nominations for an Emmy Award, the British Academy and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. In 1996, he directed and co-starred with his wife, actress Sinead Cusack in "Mirad, A Boy From Bosnia", a Channel 4 Television film about refugees, written by Ad De Bent.

On the wide screen he has starred in such films as Jerzy Skoiimowskrs Moonlighting (1982), Harold Pinter's Betrayal (1983), Volker Schlondorff's Un amour de Swann (1984) and Mission, The (1986) with Robert De Niro. Irons played opposite Meryl Streep in French Lieutenant's Woman, The (1981), for which he received the Variety Club Award for Best Actor and a BAFTA nomination, and opposite his son in Roald Dahrs Danny, the Champion of the World (1989) (TV). His performance in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers (1988) brought him a Best Actor Award from the New York Film Critics Circle and a Canadian Genie. Irons starred again with Glenn Close in the film based on the re-trial of Claus von Bulow, Reversal of Fortune (1990). For this performance, Irons received the 1990 Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

Irons went on to work in such films as Steven Soderbergh's Kafka (1991), David Cronenberg's M. Butterfly (1993) and Bille August's House of the Spirits, The (1993) with Streep and Close again, in 1994, Irons created the voice of Scar for Disney's Lion King, The (1994). He followed that with the action film Die Hard: With A Vengence (1995) co-starring Bruce Willis, and Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty (1996).

Irons' recent films include Wayne Wang's Chinese Box (1997)and Man in the Iron Mask, The (1998), in which he co-starred with Gerard Depardieu, Leonardo DiCaprio, and John Malkovich. Jeremy Irons' played Humbert Humbert in Adrian Lyne's controversial film Lolita (1997) and
also co-starred in Longitude (2000) (TV), an A&E Granada film that premiered on BBC. He most recently completed filming Fourth Angel, The (2001) in England, a film directed by John Irvin.

He lives in both England and Ireland with his wife, actress Sinead Cusack and their two sons Samuel and Maximilian.

Events

  • 18th September 1948 - Birth