Jeremy Irons Biography, Life, Interesting Facts

Childhood And Early Life

British actor Jeremy Irons was born on the Isle of Wight on the 19 September 1948. His parents were Paul Dugan and Barbara Sharpe Brymer. He has two older siblings: Christopher (b.1943) and Felicity (b.1944).

Education

Jeremy Irons was a pupil at Sherborne School, Dorset (1962-1966) and trained to be an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Rise To Fame

Early acting appearances including the role of Judas in Godspell in November 1971. The play ran for over a thousand performances. Another old character was starring in Love for Lydia (1977) an adaption of the H.E. Bates novel. Jeremy Irons also starred in Langrishe Go Down (1978), a BBC production where he played opposite Judi Dench.

Career

Irons’s breakthrough role was playing Charles Ryder in Brideshead Revisited (1981) a highly successful television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel. His success in Brideshead Revisited was followed up by starring with Meryl Streep in The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981) a film adaptation of the John Fowles novel of the same name. Both these productions were BAFTA nominated and secured Irons’s status as a leading man.

Jeremy Irons has continued acting on stage and in film and television. Roles include the appearances in the television series Moonlighting (1982), Betrayal (1982), The Mission (1986), The Real Thing (1984), Dead Ringers (1988), A Chorus of Disapproval (1989), Australia (1989), Damage (1992). Reversal of Fortune (1990), Lolita (1997). Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995).

Later work includes Night Train to Lisbon (2013), the television series The Borgias (2011-2013), Alfred in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2013), Assassin's Creed (2016) and Birds Like Us (2017).

Stage

Irons made his debut on Broadway in The Real Thing (1984), the Tom Stoppard play. He acted in three roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company including playing Richard II at Stratford-on-Avon in 1986. He also played the role of Professor Henry Higgins in the musical My Fair Lady on the stage in London.

Awards And Achievements

Jeremy Irons has won many awards including an Oscar for Best Actor Leading role in 1991 for Reversal of Fortune (1990). A 1991 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama for Reversal of Fortune (1990). In 2007, he won another Golden Globe, for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Elizabeth I (2005).

Irons won a Special Achievement Award at the 1998 European Film Awards and in 1989 a Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award: Best Actor for Dead Ringers (1988).

Personal Life

Jeremy Irons was briefly married to the actress Julia Hallam in 1969. In 1978 he married the Irish actress Sinead Cusack, and they have two sons. He owns a castle in Ireland as well as various other homes.