"If you're going to do something, commit to it completely."
Jeremy Irons was born in 1948 in Cowes at the Isle of Wight. He received a classical acting education and spent ten years trying to establish himself. His breakthrough came with the television production of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. With The French Lieutenant's Woman he became a real star, and for Reversal of Fourtune he won an Oscar. He did not go on to become a typical Hollywood success story - but not a failure either. He chose weird roles. He chose differently.
I think there is at least one movie of his for every person in the world - one that they will hate, and one that they will love. For the only thing that is constant about Jeremy Irons, is his change of roles. He does not want to get stuck in a box - or on a pedestal, for that matter. Therefore his main criteria for accepting a script seems to be its difference from the previous.
The actor has been good and evil, dying and a killer, someone who loves and someone to hate. He has played in action and children's movies, in powerful dramas and stories of insignificance. He has played his roles so convincingly you have to wonder if it's the same man doing them. According to himself, however, his road to success does not lie in acting.
"To tell you the truth, I'm not good at pretending. That's why I have to disappear into my character when I act; I have to 'be' not 'pretend to be'."
Irons is married to Sinead Cusack, an actress as well, and has two sons with her. According to interviews with both of them, their marriage is disastrous, but stable. As they have been married for several decades now, I guess they must be right. In his personal hobbies as well, Jeremy Irons does not choose the obvious. He has spent much of his spare time restoring Kilcoe Castle, a 15th-century building in West Cork. He is fond of travelling - real travelling, that is, on foot or by boat, and has participated in yacht races.
Filmography:
Mathilde (2003)
Callas Forever (2002)
And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen (2002)
The Time Machine (2002)
The Fourth Angel (2001)
Longitude (2000)
Dungeons & Dragons (2000)
Beyond the Clouds (1999)
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
Chinese Box (1997)
Lolita (1997)
Stealing Beauty (1996)
Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995)
Russia's Last Tsar (National Geographic Video) (1995)
The Lion King (1994)
M. Butterfly (1993)
The House of the Spirits (1993)
Kafka (1992)
Zebracka opera (1991)
Damage (Fatale) (1992)
Waterland (1992)
Tales From Hollywood (1992)
Reversal of Fortune (1990)
A Chorus of Disapproval (1989)
Danny, The Champion of the World (1989)
Australia (1989)
Dead Ringers (1988)
Carnival of the Animals (1986)
The Mission (1986)
Rabbit Ears - The Steadfast Tin Soldier (1985)
Swann in Love (Un Amour de Swann) (1984)
The Wild Duck (1984)
Betrayal (1983)
Moonlighting (1982)
Fucha (1982)
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
Brideshead Revisited
Nijinksy (1980)
An Evening With Kiri Te Kanawa
The Steadfast Tin Soldier/The Elephant's Child (narrative)
Stolen Desire
Selected sources:
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Irons,+Jeremy
http://www.jeremy-irons.com