
William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an Irish actor. He was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland and educated at Saint Patrick's College, Ballymena Technical College and Queen's University Belfast. He moved to Dublin after university to further his acting career, joining the renowned Abbey Theatre. In the early 1990s, he moved again to the United States, where the wide acclaim for his performance in Schindler's List led to more high-profile work. He is widowed and lives in New York with his two sons.
He has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards. He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Alfred Kinsey in Kinsey, Ras Al Ghul in Batman Begins and the voice of Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia film series. He has also starred in several other notable films, from major Hollywood studio releases (ie. Excalibur, The Dead Pool, Nell, Rob Roy, The Haunting, Love Actually, Kingdom of Heaven, Taken, Clash of the Titans, The A-Team, Unknown) to smaller arthouse films (ie. Deception, Breakfast on Pluto, Chloe).

Schindler's List
1993 · as Oskar Schindler

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
2005 · as Aslan (voice)

Batman Begins
2005 · as Ducard

Kingdom of Heaven
2005 · as Godfrey de Ibelin

Ted 2
2015 · as Customer

The Dark Knight Rises
2012 · as Ra's Al Ghul

The Naked Gun
2025 · as Frank Drebin Jr.

Battleship
2012 · as Admiral Shane

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
1999 · as Qui-Gon Jinn

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
2019 · as Qui-Gon Jinn (voice)

Love Actually
2003 · as Daniel

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
2002 · as Qui-Gon Jinn (voice)

Clash of the Titans
2010 · as Zeus

Taken
2008 · as Bryan Mills

Taken 2
2012 · as Bryan Mills

Gangs of New York
2002 · as 'Priest' Vallon

The Lego Movie
2014 · as Bad Cop / Good Cop / Pa Cop (voice)

Taken 3
2014 · as Bryan Mills