Jeremy John Irons (born September 19 1948) is an English film, television and stage actor. He has won an Academy Award, a Tony Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, two Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.

Biography

Early life

Irons was born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, the son of Barbara Anne (née Sharpe), a housewife, and Paul Dugan Irons, an accountant. Part of his maternal ancestry is Irish, and his great-grandfather was one of the first Metropolitan Policemen and later a Chartist. Irons has a brother, Christopher. He was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset, (c. 1962–1966). He achieved some fame as the drummer and harmonica player (most memorably for his rendition of "Moon River" on harmonica) in a four-man school band called the Four Pillars of Wisdom. They 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 of a comic duo performing skits on Halloween and at end-of-term House Suppers.

Career

Irons trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and is now president of its fundraising appeal. He performed a number of plays and supported himself by busking on the streets of Bristol, before appearing on the London stage as John the Baptist and Judas opposite David Essex in Godspell, which opened at the Round House on 17 November 1971 before transferring to Wyndham's Theatre playing a total of 1,128 performances.

Television

He made several appearances on British television, including the children's television series Play Away and as Franz Liszt in the BBC 1974 series Notorious Woman. More significantly he starred in the 13-part adaptation of H.E. Bates' novel Love for Lydia for London Weekend Television (1977), and attracted attention for his key role as the pipe-smoking German student, a romantic pairing with Judi Dench in Harold Pinter's screenplay adaptation of Aidan Higgins' novel Langrishe, Go Down for BBC television (1978).

The role which brought him fame was that of Charles Ryder in the television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited in 1981. Brideshead reunited him with Anthony Andrews, with whom he had appeared in The Pallisers seven years earlier. In the same year he starred in the film The French Lieutenant's Woman opposite Meryl Streep.

Almost as a 'lap of honour' after these major successes, in 1982 he played the leading role of an exiled Polish building contractor, working in the Twickenham area of South West London, in Jerzy Skolimowski's independent film Moonlighting, widely seen on television, a performance which extended his acting range.

In 2005, Irons won both an Emmy award and a Golden Globe award for his supporting role in the TV mini-series, Elizabeth I. A year later Irons was one of the participants in the third series of the BBC documentary series Who Do You Think You Are? In 2008 he played Lord Vetinari in Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic, an adaptation for Sky One.

Film

Irons' film debut came with Nijinsky in 1980. He appeared sporadically in films during the 1980s, including the Cannes Palme d'Or winner The Mission in 1986, and in the dual role of twin physicians in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers in 1988. Over the years, Irons has become known for playing somber, often mentally tortured characters. Other films include Danny the Champion of the World (1989), Reversal of Fortune (1990), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, Kafka (1991), Damage (1993), The House of the Spirits (1993) appearing again with Glenn Close and Meryl Streep, Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995), Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty (1996), the 1997 remake of Lolita and as the musketeer Aramis opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1998 film version of The Man in the Iron Mask (1998).

He is also known for playing the evil wizard Profion, along with Bruce Payne as Damodor, in the 2000 film, Dungeons and Dragons, from Time Warner studio New Line Cinema. The film was also based on the Tabletop role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons.

He played the Über-Morlock from the movie The Time Machine (2002). In 2004, Irons played Severus Snape in Comic Relief's Harry Potter parody, "Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan". Irons and Alan Rickman (who plays Snape in the Harry Potter film series), played the Gruber brothers, Simon and Hans, respectively, in the Die Hard film series.

In 2005, he appeared in the films Casanova opposite Heath Ledger, and Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven. He has co-starred with John Malkovich in two movies; The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) and Eragon (2006), though they did not have any scenes together in Eragon.

Audio

Irons read the audio book recording of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, and the audio book recording of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.

One of his best known film roles has turned out to be the voice of Scar in The Lion King (1994). Irons has since provided voiceovers for two Disney World attractions. He narrated the Spaceship Earth ride, housed in the large geodesic globe at Epcot, and voiced H.G. Wells in the English version of the former Disney attraction The Timekeeper.

He was originally to star as the Phantom in a 2006 French musical adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera, though the project was canceled. He will be the narrator for Val Kilmer and Bill Pullman's brand-new Lewis and Clark movie from Revolution Studios.

Research to find 'the perfect voice' has indicated that Irons's voice is one of the best.

Music

In 1985, Irons directed a music video for Carly Simon and her heavily promoted single, "Tired of Being Blonde". Although the song was not a hit, the video - featuring the fast cutting, parallel narratives and heavy use of stylized visual effects that were a staple of pop videos at the time - received ample attention on MTV and other outlets.

Irons has contributed to other musical performances, recording William Walton's Façade with Dame Peggy Ashcroft, and in 1997 the songs from Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, released on the Decca label.

He sang a selection of sophisticated Noël Coward songs at the 1999 Last Night of the Proms in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Coward's birth.

In 2003 he played Fredrik Egerman in a New York revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, and two years later appeared as King Arthur in Lerner and Loewe's Camelot at the Hollywood Bowl.

Jeremy Irons also has a full song named "Be Prepared" that takes part in the movie The Lion King. This song can be found in the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of the movie.

Theatre

Irons has twice worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1976 and 1986-87. In 1984, Irons made his New York debut and won a Tony Award for his Broadway performance opposite Glenn Close in The Real Thing.

After an absence from the London stage for 18 years, in 2006 he co-starred with Patrick Malahide in Christopher Hampton's stage adaptation of Sándor Márai's novel Embers at the Duke of York's Theatre.

He made his National Theatre debut playing Harold Macmillan in Never So Good, a new play by Howard Brenton which opened at the Lyttelton on March 19, 2008.

Personal life

Irons is married to Irish actress Sinéad Cusack and is the father of two sons, Samuel James Brefni Irons (September 16 1978), who works as a photographer, and Maximilian Paul Diarmuid Irons (October 17, 1985), who appeared in the 2006 Burberry fashion campaign. Both of Irons' sons have appeared in films with their father. He now lives in the small town of Watlington in Oxfordshire, as well as a residence in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.

He is also the patron since 2002 of the Thomley Activity Centre, an Oxfordshire non-profit activity centre for disabled children. Irons owns Kilcoe Castle (which he had painted a rusty pink) in County Cork, Ireland, and has become involved in local politics there. He also has another Irish residence near Kilmainham, Dublin. Irons is a patron of the Chiltern Shakespeare Company. He is a fan of English football club Portsmouth F.C..

At the 1991 Tony Awards, Irons was one of the few celebrities to wear the recently created red ribbon to support the fight against AIDS, and he was the first celebrity to wear it onscreen. He supports a number of other charities, including the Prison Phoenix Trust of which he is an active patron.

Work

Theatre

Following training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre school Irons initially stayed with the company:

• Florizel in The Winter's Tale, Bristol Old Vic 1969
• Simon in Hay Fever (Noël Coward) Bristol Old Vic 1969
• Nick in What the Butler Saw (Joe Orton) Bristol Old Vic 1969
• Major Barbara (Shaw) Bristol Old Vic 1969
• A Servant of Two Masters (Carlo Goldoni) Bristol Old Vic 1969
• Macbeth, Bristol Old Vic 1969
• The Boy Friend (Sandy Wilson) Bristol Old Vic 1969
• As You Like It, Bristol Old Vic 1970
• Oh! What a Lovely War, Little Theatre Bristol 1970
• The School for Scandal (Sheridan) Little Theatre Bristol 1970
• John/Judas in Godspell, Roundhouse and Wyndham's Theatre, November 1971-1973
• The Madman in The Diary of a Madman (Gogol), Act Inn 1973
• Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, Young Vic
• Mick in The Caretaker (Pinter) Young Vic 1974
• Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, New Shakespeare Company, Roundhouse 1975
• Harry Thunder in Wild Oats (John O’Keefe) RSC Aldwych Theatre, December 1976; RSC Stratford and Piccadilly Theatre 1977
• Jameson in The Rear Column (Simon Gray), Globe Theatre, February 1978 — Clarence Derwent Award
• Henry in The Real Thing (Tom Stoppard) New York 1984 —Tony Award for Best Actor
• Leontes in The Winter's Tale, Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford 1986)
• Willmore in The Rover (Aphra Behn) RSC Swan Theatre and Mermaid Theatre 1986
• Richard II in Richard II, RSC Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1986, Barbican Theatre 1987
• Fredrik Egerman in A Little Night Music (Sondheim) New York, 2003
• Russell in Celebration, a Pinter staged reading, Gate Theatre, Dublin/Albery Theatre, 2005
• Henrik in Embers (Christopher Hampton/Sándor Márai novel) Duke of York's Theatre March 2006
• Harold Macmillan in Never So Good (Howard Brenton) National Theatre Lyttelton, March 2008

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1980	Nijinsky	Mikhail Fokine
1981	The French Lieutenant's Woman	Charles Henry Smithson/Mike	BAFTA Award nomination
1981	Brideshead Revisited	Charles Ryder	BAFTA Award nomination
1982	Moonlighting	Nowak
	Betrayal	Jerry
1983	The Wild Duck	Harold
1984	Swann in Love	Charles Swann
1986	The Mission	Father Gabriel	Golden Globe nomination
1988	A Chorus of Disapproval	Guy Jones
	Dead Ringers	Beverly Mantle / Elliot Mantle
1989	Australia	Edouard Pierson
1990	Reversal of Fortune	Claus von Bülow	Academy Award for Best Actor, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1991	The Beggar's Opera	Prisoner
	Kafka	Kafka
1992	The Timekeeper	H.G. Wells
	Waterland	Tom Crick
	Damage	Dr. Stephen Fleming
1993	M. Butterfly	René Gallimard
	The House of the Spirits	Esteban Trueba
1994	Spaceship Earth	Narrator
	The Lion King	Scar	voice; Annie Award for Best Achievement for Voice Acting
1995	Die Hard: With a Vengeance	Simon Gruber
1996	Stealing Beauty	Alex
1997	Chinese Box	John
	Lolita	Humbert Humbert
1998	The Man in the Iron Mask	Aramis
1999	Poseidon's Fury: Escape from the Lost City	Poseidon	voice
2000	Dungeons & Dragons	Profion
2001	The Fourth Angel	Jack Elgin
2002	Callas Forever	Larry Kelly
2002	Last Call	F.Scott Fitzgerald
2003	The Time Machine	Über-Morlock
	And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen...	Valentin Valentin
	Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There	Himself
	Hittites	Narrator
2004	Mathilde	Pukovnik Unprofora
	The Merchant of Venice	Antonio
	Being Julia	Michael Gosselyn
2005	Gallipoli	Gallipoli
	Kingdom of Heaven	Tiberias
	Casanova	Pucci
2006	Inland Empire	Kingsley Stewart
	Eragon	Brom
	Elizabeth I	Robert Dudley	television miniseries
2008	The Colour of Magic	Havelock Vetinari	television miniseries
	The Magic 7	Thraxx (voice)	recorded in the early 1990s
	Appaloosa	Randall Bragg

References

External links

• Jeremy Irons.com - an unofficial fan website
• JeremyIrons.org - an unofficial fan website
• BFI: Jeremy Irons
• A Dictionary of the RSC by Simon Trowbridge: Jeremy Irons
• Jeremy Irons: Power Player, Daily Telegraph profile 13 March 2008