Liam Neeson

Joining The Belfast Lyric Players in 1976 after driving trucks and forklifts, Irish-born Liam Neeson spent many years trodding the boards in the classics before being cast in the John Boorman film "Excalibur" in 1981. He landed his first leading role in 1990's "Darkman," and was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe in Steven Spielberg's 1993 epic "Schindler's List," playing Oskar Schindler. In the same year he was nominated for a Tony Award for his Broadway debut in "Anna Christie" starring opposite Natasha Richardson, whom he later married. One of his more high-profile parts in the last decade was that of Qui-Gon Jinn in "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace," a roll he wanted so badly he didn't even read the script.