Editing Liam Neeson (section)

==Early life==
Neeson was born in [[Ballymena|Ballymena, County Antrim]],<ref name="swe">{{cite web|last=Morales|first=Tatiana|date=15 December 2004|title=Liam Neeson on Kinsey|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/liam-neeson-on-kinsey/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524212543/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/15/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main661155.shtml|archive-date=May 24, 2011|website=CBS News}}</ref> the son of primary school caretaker Bernard "Barney" Neeson and cook Katherine "Kitty" Neeson (née Brown).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/liam_neeson_biog.html |title=Liam Neeson Biography |website=Tiscali |access-date=18 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070118084156/http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/liam_neeson_biog.html |archive-date=18 January 2007 }}</ref> His mother was born and raised in [[Waterford]] in the [[South-East Region, Ireland|south-east]] of Ireland.<ref name="neesonwaterford">{{cite web | title=Liam Neeson reveals he still talks to late wife Natasha Richardson 'every day' | date=September 2023| url=https://vipmagazine.ie/liam-neeson-reveals-he-still-talks-to-late-wife-natasha-richardson-everyday/| access-date=14 December 2023 | archive-date=3 September 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903090728/https://vipmagazine.ie/liam-neeson-reveals-he-still-talks-to-late-wife-natasha-richardson-everyday/| url-status=live }}</ref> Brought up Catholic,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/liam-neeson-bloody-sunday-made-me-learn-my-history-14251304.html |title=Liam Neeson: Bloody Sunday made me learn my history |newspaper=[[Belfast Telegraph]] |date=1 April 2010 |access-date=9 May 2010 |archive-date=25 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225233012/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/liam-neeson-bloody-sunday-made-me-learn-my-history-14251304.html |url-status=live }}: (Commentary;''"Hollywood superstar Liam Neeson has told how he grew up in a religious Catholic background untouched by the Troubles."'')</ref> he was named Liam after a local priest.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Liam Neeson Puts the Kettle On |magazine=GQ |last=Mansfield |first=Stephanie |date=December 1993}}</ref> He has three sisters, Elizabeth, Bernadette, and Rosaleen.<ref>{{cite news | title=Liam Neeson's mother dies at the age of 94 | newspaper=The Irish Times | date=June 8, 2020 | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/liam-neeson-s-mother-dies-at-the-age-of-94-1.4273470 | access-date=August 27, 2023 | archive-date=27 August 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230827093957/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/liam-neeson-s-mother-dies-at-the-age-of-94-1.4273470 | url-status=live }}</ref> He attended [[St Patrick's College, Ballymena]], from 1963 to 1967, and later recalled that his love of drama began there.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Coleman |first1=Maureen |title=Liam Neeson's special movie for his old Ballymena school |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/liam-neesons-special-movie-for-his-old-ballymena-school-28497684.html |access-date=24 July 2021 |work=Belfast Telegraph |date=7 October 2009 |archive-date=24 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724125937/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/liam-neesons-special-movie-for-his-old-ballymena-school-28497684.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

He said that growing up as a Catholic in a predominantly Protestant town made him cautious,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/liam-neesons-catholic-faith-has-waned-but-mum-still-devout-at-90-35321489.html |first=Brett |last=Anderson |title=Liam Neeson's Catholic faith has waned but mum still devout at 90 |newspaper=Belfast Telegraph |date=27 December 2016 |access-date=28 December 2016 |archive-date=28 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228141345/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/liam-neesons-catholic-faith-has-waned-but-mum-still-devout-at-90-35321489.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and once said he felt like a "second-class citizen" there,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/389882.stm |title=Star Wars actor rattles sabres |date=9 July 1999 |website=BBC News |access-date=10 January 2018 |archive-date=12 March 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040312195759/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/389882.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> but has also said he was never made to feel "inferior or even different" at the town's predominantly Protestant technical college.<ref name="Telegraph"/> "It would be colourful to imagine I had a rebellious, uproarious Irish background," he has said, "but the facts were much greyer. Irish, yes. But all that nationalistic stuff, crying into your [[Guinness]] and singing rebel songs—that was never my scene."<ref>Ingrid Millar, ''Liam Neeson: The First Biography'' (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1995), p. 45</ref> He has described himself as "out of touch" with the [[Politics of Northern Ireland|politics and history of Northern Ireland]] until becoming aware of protests by fellow students after [[Bloody Sunday (1972)|Bloody Sunday]], a massacre in [[Derry]] in 1972 during [[the Troubles]], which encouraged him to learn more local history.<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/liam-neeson-bloody-sunday-made-me-learn-my-history-28474042.html |title=Liam Neeson: Bloody Sunday made me learn my history |date=1 April 2009 |newspaper=Belfast Telegraph |access-date=10 January 2018 |archive-date=10 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410112327/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/liam-neeson-bloody-sunday-made-me-learn-my-history-28474042.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irishcentral.com/news/liam-neeson-speaks-in-public-for-first-time-since-natashas-tragic-death-44508687-237641371 |title=Liam Neeson speaks in public for first time since Natasha's death |first=Kenneth |last=Haynes |date=6 May 2009 |website=IrishCentral.com |access-date=10 January 2018 |archive-date=10 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410111959/https://www.irishcentral.com/news/liam-neeson-speaks-in-public-for-first-time-since-natashas-tragic-death-44508687-237641371 |url-status=live }}</ref> In a 2009 interview, he said, "I never stop thinking about [the Troubles]. I've known guys and girls who have been perpetrators of violence and victims. Protestants and Catholics. It's part of my DNA."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irishcentral.com/news/neeson-i-will-never-get-over-the-troubles-53047712-237654641 |title=Liam Neeson: 'I will never get over the Troubles' |first=Kelly |last=Fincham |date=12 August 2009 |website=IrishCentral.com |access-date=10 January 2018 |archive-date=10 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410094733/https://www.irishcentral.com/news/neeson-i-will-never-get-over-the-troubles-53047712-237654641 |url-status=live }}</ref>

At age nine, Neeson began boxing lessons at the All Saints Youth Club, and went on to win a number of regional titles before quitting at 17.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/11/17/liam-neeson-manny-pacquiao-boxing-film_n_6170232.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231043021/https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/11/17/liam-neeson-manny-pacquiao-boxing-film_n_6170232.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=31 December 2018 |title=Liam Neeson Digs into His Own Boxing Past For 'Manny' Documentary, About Ring Legend Manny Pacquiao|website=www.huffingtonpost.co.uk |access-date=17 May 2018 |date=17 November 2014}}</ref> He acted in school productions during his teens.<ref name="photoplay">{{cite magazine |title=A Man With a Mission |magazine=[[Photoplay]] (UK) |last=Dewson |first=Lisa |date=June 1986}}</ref> His interest in acting and decision to become an actor were also influenced by [[Ian Paisley]], founder of the [[Democratic Unionist Party]] (DUP), into whose [[Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster]] he sneaked. He said, "[Paisley] had a magnificent presence and it was incredible to watch him just Bible-thumping away... it was acting, but it was also great acting and stirring too."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7128424.stm |title=Neeson Reveals Paisley Influence |website=BBC News |access-date=5 December 2007 |date=5 December 2007 |archive-date=9 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709110920/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7128424.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1971, he joined a physics and computer science course at [[Queen's University Belfast]] before leaving to work for the [[Guinness Brewery]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8037845.stm |title=Liam Neeson graduates 40 years on |website=BBC News |access-date=9 June 2009 |date=7 May 2009 |archive-date=9 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509053200/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8037845.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> At Queen's, he discovered a talent for [[Association football|football]] and was spotted by [[Seán Thomas]] at [[Bohemian F.C.|Bohemian FC]]. There was a club trial in [[Dublin]] and Neeson played one game as a substitute against [[Shamrock Rovers F.C.|Shamrock Rovers FC]], but was not offered a contract.<ref>{{cite book |title=Gaffers: 50 years of Irish football managers |first=Trevor |last=Keane |location=Cork |publisher=Mercier Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-85635-666-4}}</ref>