Jeremy Irons Jeremy Irons is an award-winning British actor with strong ties to both Broadway and Hollywood. This elegant performer has played many memorable roles throughout his career, but quickly comes to mind is the voice of Scar in Walt Disney’s The Lion King. Owning an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Tony, Irons is a highly accredited actor with a very diverse resume. Jeremy John Irons was born September 19, 1948, in Cowes, Isle of Wight, just off the southern cost of England. He attended Sherborne School in Dorset and then trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where he now serves as president of fundraising. He first appeared on the London stage as John the Baptist in Godspell with David Essex. His film debut was in Nijinsky in 1980. He followed this film with a role opposite Meryl Streep in The French Lieutenants Woman. In 1981 Jeremy Irons starred as Charles Ryder in the made for television series of the book Brideshead Revisited along with Anthony Andrews as Lord Sebastian Flyte and Sir Laurence Olivier as Lord Marchmain
Irons returned to the stage on Broadway in The Real Thing in 1984. Starring opposite Glenn Close, Irons won a Tony Award for his performance. In 1990, Irons won an Academy Award for his role as Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune, which happened to pair Irons with Close again. Irons starred in several films throughout the 1990s, including Die Hard: With a Vengence, the final film in the Die Hard Tirlogy where Irons played Simon Gruber, the revenge-seeking brother of Hans Gruber played by Alan Rickman in the first Die Hard film. The third film also starred Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson, and Graham Greene. Other notable roles include Humbert Humbert in the 1997 remake of Lolita, starring Melanie Griffith; and The Man in the Iron Mask in 1988, also starring Leonardo DiCaprio and John Malkovich. Irons appeared in two films in 2005 – The Kingdom of Heaven, starring Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson; and Casanova, also starring Heath Ledger. Irons plays Brom in the 2006 film Eragon, which is based on the novel by Christopher Paolini and finds Irons and Malkovich paired onscreen once again.
Jeremy Irons is married to Sinéad Cusak, an Irish actress, and together they have two children. Both of Irons’s sons have each appeared in films with their dad. Ironically, Jeremy Irons portrayed Severus Snape, a role played by Alan Rickman in the films, in a Comic Relief Harry Potter parody. Irons supports numerous other charitable organizations including the red ribbon fight against AIDS campaign. YUDDY |
