Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons began his career in England in theatre at the Bristol Old Vic and then debuted in London in Godspell as John the Baptist. His work in the West End and at Stratford Upon Avon culminated with his performance of Richard II for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He made his Broadway debut in 1984 in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing opposite Glenn Close, for which he won both the Drama League Award and Tony Award for Best Actor.
Irons has played many roles for television, most notably Love for Lydia and Christopher Hampton’s Tales from Hollywood. His performance in Brideshead Revisited brought him worldwide acclaim and nominations for an Emmy Award, the British Academy and he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. In 1996, he directed and co-starred with his wife, actress Sinead Cusack in Mirad, A Boy from Bosnia, a Channel 4 Television film about refugees, written by Ad De Bont. In 1997 Irons won an Emmy for Outstanding voice-over for the PBS production, “The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century”. In 2006 Irons co-starred with Helen Mirren in HBO’s Elizabeth I. Irons portrayal as the Earl of Leicester won him the Emmy, Golden Globe and Sag Award for an outstanding performance by a male actor in a mini series (supporting role).
On the wide screen he has starred in such films as Jerzy Skolimowski’s Moonlighting, Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, Volker Schlondorff’s Swann in Love and The Mission with Robert De Niro. Irons played opposite Meryl Streep in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, for which he received the Variety Club Award for Best Actor and a BAFTA nomination, and opposite his son Sam in Roald Dahl’s Danny, Champion of the World. His performance in David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers (1989) brought him a Best Actor Award from the New York Film Critics Circle and a Canadian Genie. Irons starred again with Glenn Close in the film based on the re-trial of Claus von Bulow, Reversal of Fortune. For this performance, Irons received the 1990 Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.
Irons went on to work films including Steven Soderbergh’s Kafka, David Cronenberg’s M. Butterfly and Bille August’s The House of the Spirits, with Streep and Close again. In 1994, Irons created the voice of Scar for Disney’s The Lion King. He followed with the action film Die Hard with a Vengeance co-starring Bruce Willis, and Bernardo Bertolucci’s Stealing Beauty, co-starring Liv Tyler. 1n 1998 Irons traveled to Hong Kong to make Wayne Wang’s Chinese Box to be followed by production on Man in the Iron Mask, in which he co-starred with Gerard Depardieu, Leonardo DiCaprio, and John Malkovich. He also played Humbert Humbert in Adrian Lyne’s controversial film Lolita and co-starred in Longitude, an A&E Granada film that premiered on the BBC.
Irons was in production with four films in 2001, including And Now…Ladies and Gentleman, directed by Claude Lelouch, The Time Machine, based on the H.G. Wells novel, Callas Forever, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, and Last Call, a Showtime Original Picture directed by Henry Bromell, co-starring Neve Campbell. He also starred in István Szabó’s film Being Julia with Annette Bening. In late 2004 Irons played Antonio, in Michael Radford’s production of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, co-starring Al Pacino. In spring 2005 Ridley Scott’s, Kingdom of Heaven was released, Jeremy Irons co-starred opposite Orlando Bloom. Casanova by Lasse Hallström, was released Christmas 2005, Irons co-starred opposite Heath Ledger. In 2005/6 Twentieth Century Fox’s Eragon directed by Stefen Fangmeier, featuring Irons as Brom is released as well as David Lynch’s Inland Empire.
Theatre continues to play a large part in Irons’ career and In 2003 Irons went back to his roots in theatre and debuted in the New York City Opera production of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music in the role of Frederik, directed by Scott Ellis. In 2005 he appeared in the Hollywood Bowl’s production of Camelot as King Arthur, a part of the Hollywood Bowl’s weekend spectacular series. In 2006 Irons starred as Henrik in Embers appearing on London’s West End in a play written by Christopher Hampton and directed by Michael Blakemore.
Irons recently completed production in Santa Fe on Appaloosa a film written by Robert Knott and Ed Harris, directed by Ed Harris and co-starring Harris, Viggo Mortensen and Renée Zellweger
He is actively involved in many charitable organizations including the Prison Phoenix Trust, The Princes Trust and Amnesty International.
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