Sep 19, 1948

Cowes, Isle of Wight

He trained as an actor at the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and is now President of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School fund raising appeal. He performed a number of plays and supported himself by busking on the streets of Bristol, before appearing on the London stage as John the Baptist opposite David Essex in Godspell. After several appearances on British television, including the children's television series Playaway, and an adaptation of the H.E. Bates novel Love for Lydia in 197... ... (read more...) 7, his film debut came in 1980 in Nijinsky. The role which brought him fame was that of Charles Ryder in the television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited in 1981. Brideshead reunited him with Anthony Andrews, with whom he had appeared in The Pallisers seven years earlier. Also in 1981, he starred in the film The French Lieutenant's Woman opposite Meryl Streep.<br/><br/>

In 1984 Irons won a Tony Award for his Broadway performance opposite Glenn Close in The Real Thing. He appeared sporadically in films during the 1980s, including the Cannes Palme d'Or winner The Mission in 1986, and in the dual role of twin physicians in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers in 1988. Other films include Reversal of Fortune (1990) (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Kafka (1991), Damage (1993), The House of the Spirits (1993), Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995), Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty (1996), the 1997 remake of Lolita and The Man in the Iron Mask (1998).<br/><br/>

One of his best known film roles has turned out to be the voice of Scar in The Lion King (1994). Irons has since provided voiceovers for two Disney World attractions. He narrated the Spaceship Earth ride, housed in the large geodesic globe at Epcot, and voiced H.G. Wells in the English version of the former Disney attraction The Timekeeper.<br/><br/>

He recently appeared in the films Casanova opposite Heath Ledger, and Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven. He is currently appearing on the West End stage in the play Embers.<br/><br/>

On 18 July 2006, the BBC announced that Irons would be one of the participants in the third series of their documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?