Profile of Jeremy Irons on Famous Like Me

Jeremy Irons (born September 19, 1948 in Cowes, Isle of Wight) is an Oscar winning British actor.

He was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset, (c. 1962-6) 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 said instrument) in a four-man school band which 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 (the less talented half, oddly) of a comic duo which performed skits on Hallowe'en and at end-of-term House Suppers. His academic career was undistinguished.

He began his acting career in Bristol, then appeared on the London as John the Baptist opposite David Essex in Godspell. After several appearances on British television, his film debut came in 1980 in Nijinsky. The role which shot him to fame was that of Charles Ryder in the television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited in 1981. Brideshead brought him back together 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.

In 1984 Irons won a Tony Award for his Broadway performance opposite Glenn Close in The Real Thing. In 1988 he starred in the dual role of mad twin physicians in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers. Other films include Reversal of Fortune (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Kafka, Damage, M. Butterfly, The House of the Spirits, Lolita (remake), and Die Hard With a Vengeance. In 2005, Mr. Irons starred in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven. One of his most famous roles has turned out to be the voice of Scar in The Lion King.

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

Selected Filmography

• Inland Empire (2006)
• Eragon (2006)
• The Magic 7 (2005) (TV)
• Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
• The Merchant of Venice (2004)
• Being Julia (2004)
• The Time Machine (2002)
• The Night of the Iguana (2001)
• Dungeons & Dragons (2000)
• Faeries (1999) (voice)
• The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
• Lolita (1997)
• Chinese Box (1997)
• Stealing Beauty (1996)
• Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
• The Lion King (1994) (voice)
• The House of the Spirits (1993)
• M. Butterfly (1993)
• Damage (1992)
• Reversal of Fortune (1990)
• Dead Ringers (1988)
• The Mission (1986)
• The Wild Duck (1983)
• Moonlighting (1982)
• The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
• Nijinsky (1980)

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