Liev Schreiber Biography

Liev Schreiber is an award-winning stage and screen actor who has also worked as a writer and director.

Isaac Liev Schreiber was born on October 4, 1967, in San Francisco, though his family moved to Canada a year later. His father is Tell Schreiber, the accomplished stage actor also known for his appearance in The Keeper with Christopher Lee. When Schreiber was four years old, his parents divorced and his mother took him to New York City along with his brother Pablo Schreiber (who went on to become a successful television actor appearing in Bubble Boy with Jake Gyllenhaal) and her three sons from a previous marriage.

Liev  father later had another daughter. Live’s mother worked as a cab driver and the family converted to Buddhism and lived in a squat; Liev temporarily adopting the name of Shiva Das. He became adept at petty theft and once treated himself to a helicopter ride round the city with his stolen money. Encouraged to read, Schreiber dreamed of becoming a writer, and his mother's refusal to let him watch color movies led to him becoming a great fan of Charlie Chaplin.

Schreiber attended Friends Seminary High School along with actress Amanda Peet, and then went on to Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he studied play-writing and animal behavior, before progressing to study drama at Yale. His principal interest was in screenwriting, but that didn't stop him taking a starring role in his friend Walton Jones's production of Charles Evered's The Size of the World.

Liev went on to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. His first major acting job took him back to NYC, where he appeared in In The Summer House on Broadway. Before long he found himself being offered minor roles in films, including Nora Ephron's Mixed Nuts, with Steve Martin, Adam Sandler, and Juliette Lewis; Mad Love, with Chris O'Donnell, Drew Barrymore, and Joan Allen; Party Girl, with Parker Posey and Anthony DeSando; and Ransom, with Mel Gibson and Rene Russo.

Liev big break came in 1996 with Wes Craven's Scream, in which he starred alongside David Arquette, Neve Campbell, and Courteney Cox. Schreiber also appeared in its two sequels, getting progressively bigger roles. The success of these films dramatically raised his profile, leading to major parts in films like Sphere, with Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L Jackson; Hamlet, with Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, and Bill Murray; and Kate and Leopold, with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman.

Schreiber has also appeared in two major remakes: Jonathan Demme's The Manchurian Candidate, as vice presidential hopeful Raymond Shaw, a part originally played by Laurence Harvey; and The Omen, in the leading role, originally taken by Gregory Peck, of a diplomat who comes to suspect that his son is the Anti-Christ.

In 2005, Schreiber took a break from acting to write and direct Everything is Illuminated, about a young man searching for the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis, which starred Elijah Wood. He has also done extensive work as a narrator, notably on The American Experience series of documentaries, and he won a Tony award for his performance on Broadway in David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. His other theater work has included a memorable performance as MacBeth, opposite Jennifer Ehle, and he starred in The Tempest, with Patrick Stewart.

Schreiber lives in New York City with his Jack Russell terrier named Chicken and his long term girlfriend Naomi Watts who are rumored to be engaged but have no serious plans for marriage despite having two children, a Alexander Pete was born on July 25, 2007 and a second son born on December 13, 2008, Samuel Kai.