Jeremy Irons

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jeremy John Irons (born September 19, 1948) is an Oscar, and double-Emmy award winning English actor.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Private life 4 Trivia 5 Selected filmography 6 External links

[edit] Early life

Irons was born in Cowes, Isle of Wight to Paul Dugan Irons and Barbara Anne. He was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset, (c. 1962-1966), a member of Abbey House, where he rose to the modest rank of Hallkeeper — a disciplinary role he performed with humour and compassion. He achieved some fame as the drummer and harmonica player (most memorably for his rendition of "Moon River" on harmonica) in a four-man school band called the Four Pillars of Wisdom. They performed, in a classroom normally used as a physics lab, for the entertainment of boys compulsorily exiled from their houses for two hours on Sunday afternoons. He was also known within Abbey House as half of a comic duo performing skits on Halloween and at end-of-term House Suppers. He is commonly regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation.

[edit] Career

He trained as an actor at the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and is now President of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School fund raising appeal. He performed a number of plays and supported himself by busking on the streets of Bristol, before appearing on the London stage as John the Baptist opposite David Essex in Godspell. After several appearances on British television, including the children's television series Playaway, and an adaptation of the H.E. Bates novel Love for Lydia in 1977, his film debut came in 1980 in Nijinsky. The role which brought him fame was that of Charles Ryder in the television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited in 1981. Brideshead reunited him with Anthony Andrews, with whom he had appeared in The Pallisers seven years earlier. Also in 1981, he starred in the film The French Lieutenant's Woman opposite Meryl Streep.

In 1984 Irons won a Tony Award for his Broadway performance opposite Glenn Close in The Real Thing. He appeared sporadically in films during the 1980s, including the Cannes Palme d'Or winner The Mission in 1986, and in the dual role of twin physicians in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers in 1988. Other films include Reversal of Fortune (1990) (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Kafka (1991), Damage (1993), The House of the Spirits (1993) appearing again with Glenn Close and Meryl Streep, Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995), Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty (1996), the 1997 remake of Lolita and The Man in the Iron Mask (1998).

One of his best known film roles has turned out to be the voice of Scar in The Lion King (1994). Irons has since provided voiceovers for two Disney World attractions. He narrated the Spaceship Earth ride, housed in the large geodesic globe at Epcot, and voiced H.G. Wells in the English version of the former Disney attraction The Timekeeper.

He recently appeared in the films Casanova opposite Heath Ledger, and Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven. He is currently appearing on the West End stage in the play Embers.

On July 18, 2006, the BBC announced that Irons would be one of the participants in the third series of their documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?^[1] He will also be playing Brom in the 2006 film Eragon.

[edit] Private life

Irons is married to Irish actress Sinéad Cusack, and is the father of two sons, Samuel James Irons (born 16 September 1978) and Maximilian Paul Irons (born 17 October 1985), both of whom have appeared in films with their father.

[edit] Trivia

In 1985, Irons directed a music video for Carly Simon and her heavily promoted single, "Tired of Being Blonde". Although the song was not a hit, the video - featuring the fast cutting, parallel narratives and heavy use of stylized visual effects that were a staple of pop videos at the time - received ample attention on MTV and other outlets.

In Lorin Maazel's 2005 opera 1984 Irons's voice boomed over the telescreen.

At the 1991 Tony Awards, Jeremy Irons became the first celebrity to wear the red ribbon to support the fight against AIDS. He supports a number of other charities, including the Prison Phoenix Trust of which he is an active patron.

He is famous among fans of The Simpsons for having a name difficult to anagram (when Lisa tries to come up with an anagram of his name, the best she can do is Jeremy's Iron).[1] He is also a fan of English football club Portsmouth F.C.

His voice has been copied by Matt Morgan to read out text messages on Russell Brand's 6 Music radio show, which are particularly evil or iniquitous.

Jeremy Irons played Severus Snape in Comic Relief's Harry Potter parody, Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan.

[edit] Selected filmography

• Nijinsky (1980)
• The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
• Brideshead Revisited (1981)
• Moonlighting (1982)
• The Wild Duck (1983)
• The Mission (1986)
• Dead Ringers (1988)
• Danny Champion of the World (1989)
• Australia (1989)
• Reversal of Fortune (1990)
• Damage (1992)
• The Timekeeper (1992)
• M. Butterfly (1993)
• The House of the Spirits (1993)
• The Lion King (1994) (voice)
• Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
• Stealing Beauty (1996)
• Chinese Box (1997)
• Lolita (1997)
• The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
• Faeries (1999) (voice)
• Dungeons & Dragons (2000)
• The Night of the Iguana (2001)
• The Time Machine (2002)
• Callas Forever (2002)
• Being Julia (2004)
• The Merchant of Venice (2004)
• Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
• The Magic 7 (2005) (TV)
• Elizabeth I (2005) (TV) (Emmy Win for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie)
• Casanova (2005)
• Eragon (2006)
• INLAND EMPIRE (2006)

Preceded by Daniel Day-Lewis for My Left Foot

Academy Award for Best Actor 1990 for Reversal of Fortune

Succeeded by Anthony Hopkins for The Silence of the Lambs

[edit] External links

• Jeremy Irons website
• Jeremy Irons at the Internet Movie Database
• Jeremy Irons on Who Do You Think You Are?