Liam Neeson made his screen debut in the 1978 Ken Anderson-directed film ‘Pilgrim's Progress’ where he played the role of ‘Evangelist / Jesus Christ.’ In 1981, he portrayed ‘Gawain’ in the American epic medieval fantasy film ‘Excalibur’ directed by John Boorman. The film received a mixed response from critics but managed to gross over $35 million on an $11 million budget. He continued to star in films such as ‘Krull’ (1983), ‘The Bounty’ (1984), ‘The Innocent’ (1985), ‘The Mission’ (1986), ‘Duet for One’ (1986), ‘Suspect’ (1987), ‘Satisfaction’ (1988), ‘The Dead Pool’ (1988), and ‘Next of Kin’ (1989). In 1990, he starred as ‘Peyton Westlake / Darkman’ in the American superhero film ‘Darkman’ directed by Sam Raimi. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, grossing over $48.8 million on a $14 million budget. He was next seen in films like ‘Under Suspicion’ (1991), ‘Shining Through’ (1992), ‘Leap of Faith’ (1992), ‘Ethan Frome’ (1993), and ‘Ruby Cairo’ (1993). Neeson received an ‘Academy Award’ nomination for his portrayal of ‘Oskar Schindler’ in the 1993 American epic historical drama film ‘Schindler's List’ directed by Steven Spielberg. The film received universal acclaim upon release and came to be regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. It was also a major commercial success and grossed over $322.2 million on a budget of $22 million.
He next starred in films like ‘Nell’ (1994), ‘Rob Roy’ (1995), ‘Michael Collins’ (1996), and ‘Les Misérables’ (1998). In 1998, he played the role of ‘Qui-Gon Jinn’ in the American epic space opera film ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’ directed by George Lucas. The film, despite opening to a mixed critical reception, was a massive box office success and grossed over $1.027 billion on a budget of $115 million. He was next seen in films like ‘Gun Shy’ (2000), ‘Gangs of New York’ (2002), ‘Love Actually’ (2003), ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ (2005), ‘Batman Begins’ (2005), ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ (2005), ‘Home’ (2006), ‘Seraphim Falls’ (2007), and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’ (2008). In 2008, he starred as ‘Bryan Mills’ in the French English-language action-thriller film ‘Taken’ directed by Pierre Morel. Even though the film received mixed reviews from critics, it was a major box office success, grossing over $226.8 million on a budget of $25 million. He next starred in films such as ‘Five Minutes of Heaven’ (2009), ‘Chloe’ (2009), ‘Clash of the Titans’ (2010), ‘The A-Team’ (2010), ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ (2010), ‘Unknown’ (2011), ‘The Grey’ (2012), ‘Wrath of the Titans’ (2012), ‘Taken 2’ (2012), ‘Third Person’ (2013), ‘The Lego Movie’ (2014), ‘The Prophet’ (2014), ‘Non-Stop’ (2014), ‘Taken 3’ (2014), ‘Run All Night’ (2015), and ‘A Christmas Star’ (2015).
In 2016, he portrayed ‘Douglas MacArthur’ in the South Korean war drama film ‘Operation Chromite’ directed by John H. Lee Jae-han. The film performed well at the box office and grossed over US$50.9 million on a budget of US$12.7 million. The same year, he also played the role of ‘Jesuit Cristóvão Ferreira’ in the Martin Scorsese-directed epic historical drama film ‘Silence.’ While the film opened to critical acclaim, it failed to perform at the box office. He continued to star in films like ‘Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House’ (2017), ‘The Commuter’ (2018), ‘Widows’ (2018), ‘Cold Pursuit’ (2019), ‘Men in Black: International’ (2019), ‘Honest Thief’ (2020), ‘The Ice Road’ (2021), and ‘Blacklight’ (2022). Neeson was last seen in the 2022 American action thriller film ‘Memory’ directed by Martin Campbell. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics.
