Jeremy Irons Biography

Jeremy Irons is known as a masterful and slightly unnerving dramatic actor who bounces between serious dramas and popcorn blockbusters. The English actor is best known for playing villains in Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995, starring Bruce Willis) and The Lion King (1994, he’s the voice of Scar).

He won a 1991 Oscar as best actor for his uncanny portrayal of the creepy Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune and played twisted twin doctors in David Cronenberg‘s Dead Ringers (1988), but he’s also known for playing classy, cultured types in period pieces — including on television (Irons won an Emmy for his role in the 2005 mini-series Elizabeth I).

He has played Humbert Humbert in Vladimir Nabokov‘s Lolita (1997, with Melanie Griffith) and starred in the 2000 movie version of Dungeons and Dragons. A versatile and respected actor, he also won a Tony Award in 1984 for The Real Thing. His other films include Damage (1992), The Time Machine (2002), The Man in the Iron Mask (1998, starring Leonardo DiCaprio), Ridley Scott‘s Kingdom of Heaven (2005, with Orlando Bloom), David Lynch‘s Inland Empire (2006), Appaloosa (2008, starring Viggo Mortensen), The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015) and High-Rise (2016, based on the novel by J.G. Ballard and starring Tom Hiddleston).