Jeremy Irons

Acting • Born 1948-09-19

Acting4Cowes, Isle of Wight, England, UK

Biography

Jeremy John Irons (born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre productions, including the Shakespeare plays The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew and Richard II. In 1984, he made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, receiving the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. Irons's break-out role came in the ITV series Brideshead Revisited (1981) and is frequently ranked among the greatest British television dramas as well as greatest literary adaptations. It would earn him a Golden Globe Award nomination. His first major film role came in the romantic drama The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. After starring in dramas, such as Moonlighting (1982), Betrayal (1983), and The Mission (1986), he was praised for portraying twin gynaecologists in David Cronenberg's psychological thriller Dead Ringers (1988). Irons has won multiple awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his portrayal of the accused attempted murderer Claus von Bülow in Reversal of Fortune (1990). Irons had roles in Steven Soderbergh's mystery thriller Kafka (1991), the period drama The House of the Spirits (1993), the romantic drama M. Butterfly (1993), voiced Scar in Disney's The Lion King (1994), played Simon Gruber in the action film Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Humbert Humbert in Lolita (1997) and Aramis in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998). He starred in the action adventure Dungeons & Dragons (2000), played Antonio in The Merchant of Venice (2004), appeared in Being Julia (2004), the historical drama Kingdom of Heaven (2005), the fantasy-adventure Eragon (2006), the Western Appaloosa (2008), and the indie drama Margin Call (2011). In 2016, he appeared in Assassin's Creed and portrayed Alfred Pennyworth in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League (2017), and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021). On television, Irons appeared in the historical miniseries Elizabeth I, receiving a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor. From 2011 to 2013, he starred as Pope Alexander VI in the Showtime historical series The Borgias. In 2019, he appeared as Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias in HBO's Watchmen. He is one of the few actors who have achieved the "Triple Crown of Acting" in the US, winning an Oscar for film, an Emmy for television and a Tony Award for theatre. In October 2011, he was nominated the Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Filmography

209 credits

M. Butterfly

Movie • 1993

René Gallimard

Kingdom of Heaven

Movie • 2005

Tiberias

Die Hard: With a Vengeance

Movie • 1995

Simon

The Time Machine

Movie • 2002

Über-Morlock

The House of the Spirits

Movie • 1993

Esteban Trueba

Inland Empire

Movie • 2006

Kingsley Stewart

Kafka

Movie • 1991

Kafka

Lynch 2

Movie • 2007

Self

Eragon

Movie • 2006

Brom

Damage

Movie • 1992

Dr. Stephen Fleming

The Merchant of Venice

Movie • 2004

Antonio

Chinese Box

Movie • 1997

John

The Mission

Movie • 1986

Father Gabriel

Sesame Street: Sing Yourself Silly!

Movie • 1990

Self (archive footage)

The Secret Policeman's Ball: The Ball in the Hall

Movie • 2006

Self

Dungeons & Dragons

Movie • 2000

Profion

The Lion King

Movie • 1994

Scar (voice)

The French Lieutenant's Woman

Movie • 1981

Charles Henry Smithson / Mike

Architects of Ancient Arabia

Movie • 2021

Narrator

Dead Ringers

Movie • 1988

Beverly Mantle / Elliot Mantle

Lolita

Movie • 1997

Humbert Humbert

The Man in the Iron Mask

Movie • 1998

Aramis

Earthquake On Everest

Movie • 2015

Narrator (voice)

Appaloosa

Movie • 2008

Randall Bragg

Casanova

Movie • 2005

Pucci

The Cello

Movie • 2023

Francesco

Napoleon: In the Name of Art

Movie • 2021

Moonlighting

Movie • 1982

Nowak

Stealing Beauty

Movie • 1996

Alex Parrish

The Pink Panther 2

Movie • 2009

Avellaneda

Game of Lions

Movie • 2013

Narrator (voice)

Reversal of Fortune

Movie • 1990

Claus von Bülow

The Voysey Inheritance

Movie • 2014

Edward Voysey

Callas Forever

Movie • 2002

Larry Kelly

Gallipoli

Movie • 2005

Narrator

Being Julia

Movie • 2004

Michael Gosselyn

Longitude

Movie • 2000

Rupert Gould

Margin Call

Movie • 2011

John Tuld

And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen...

Movie • 2002

Valentin Valentin

Marina Cicogna - La vita e tutto il resto

Movie • 2021

Self

The Last Lions

Movie • 2011

Narrator

Danny the Champion of the World

Movie • 1989

William Smith

The Words

Movie • 2012

The Old Man

The Flash

Movie • 2023

Alfred Pennyworth

The Hittites: A Civilization that Changed the World

Movie • 2003

Narrator

The Fourth Angel

Narrator

A Chorus of Disapproval

Movie • 1989

Guy Jones

Another Way Home

Movie • 2012

Narrator

Ohio Impromptu

Movie • 2002

Reader / Listener

Waterland

Movie • 1992

Tom Crick

A Magnificent Death from a Shattered Hand

Movie

Georgia O'Keeffe

Movie • 2009

Alfred Stieglitz

Swann in Love

Movie • 1984

Charles Swann

Night Train to Lisbon

Movie • 2013

Raimund

Betrayal

Movie • 1983

Jerry

Last Call

Movie • 2002

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Nijinsky

Movie • 1980

Mikhail Fokine

Australia

Movie • 1989

Edouard Pierson

Tom Hanks: The Nomad

Movie • 2023

Self (archive footage)

The Beggar's Opera

Movie • 1991

Prisoner

Prisoners of Our Own History: The First Four Films of Roland Joffé

Movie • 2022

Self (archive footage)

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Movie • 2016

Alfred

Faeries

Movie • 1999

The Shapeshifter (voice)

Muse of Fire

Movie • 2013

Self

Tales from Hollywood

Movie • 1992

Odon Von Horvath

The Wild Duck

Movie • 1984

Harold

Mathilde

Movie • 2006

Col. De Petris

Revisiting Brideshead

Movie • 2005

Self

Making The Flash: Worlds Collide

Movie • 2023

Self - 'Alfred'

Once Upon a Studio

Movie • 2023

Scar (voice)

The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies

Movie • 1995

Self

Waking Sleeping Beauty

Movie • 2009

Self (archive footage)

High-Rise

Movie • 2015

Anthony Royal

1984

Movie • 2008

Television Voice

I Wish For You

Movie • 2016

Grandfather

Codice Carla

Movie • 2023

Self

A Night to Die For

Movie • 1995

Self

The Immortals: The Wonder of the Museo Egizio

Movie • 2024

Franco Zeffirelli: Rebel Conformist

Movie • 2022

Self

Eden at the End of the World

Movie • 2008

Narrator

Correspondence

Movie • 2016

Ed Phoerum

The Beekeeper

Movie • 2024

Wallace Westwyld

Race

Movie • 2016

Avery Brundage

The Chronoscope

Movie • 2009

Narrator

Living With Big Cats: Revealed

Movie • 2022

Narrator

Ultimate Enemies: Elephants and Lions

Movie • 2003

Narrator (voice)

Relentless Enemies: Lions and Buffalo

Movie • 2006

Narrator (voice)

Quintessentially Irish

Movie • 2024

Self

Broadway: The Next Generation

Movie

Self

The Man Who Knew Infinity

Movie • 2016

G. H. Hardy

Seeing Through the Mists of Oblivion

Movie • 2023

Traveller (archived audio)

Night of 100 Stars II

Movie • 1985

Self

The Genius of George Boole

Movie • 2015

Narrator (voice)

Assassin's Creed

Movie • 2016

Alan Rikkin

The Well of Saint Nobody

Movie

William

Encore

Movie

Nigel

The Making of "Dungeons and Dragons"

Movie • 2001

Self

The Statue of Liberty

Movie • 1985

Self (voice)

The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl

Movie • 2025

Self

Endless Corridor

Movie • 2014

Narrator

The Wind Gods

Movie • 2013

Narrator (voice)

Justice League

Movie • 2017

Alfred

The Dream

Movie • 1989

Their Finest

Movie • 2017

Secretary of War

'Still Life' at the Penguin Cafe

Movie • 1991

Narrator

Red Sparrow

Movie • 2018

Vladimir Korchnoi

An Actor Prepares

Movie • 2018

Atticus

J.M.W. Turner: A National Gallery of Art Film Presentation

Movie • 2007

Narrator

Harold Pinter: A Celebration

Movie • 2010

Self

Birds Like Us

Movie • 2017

Mi (voice)

Better Start Running

Movie • 2018

Garrison

Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes All-Star 50th Anniversary

Movie • 1986

Self

The Sultan and the Saint

Movie • 2016

Narrator

DC Films Presents Dawn of the Justice League

Movie • 2016

Self

The Lolita Story

Movie • 1998

Himself

The Making of Dead Ringers

Movie • 1988

Self - Actor

The Short Life of Anne Frank

Movie • 2001

Narrator (English version)

The Prado Museum: A Collection of Wonders

Movie • 2019

Movie • 2021

Rodolfo Gucci

Zack Snyder's Justice League

Movie • 2021

Alfred

Jade Eyed Leopard

Movie • 2020

Narrator (voice)

The Path to Redemption

Movie • 2006

Self

The Making of the Lion King

Movie • 1994

Self

Sesame Street | All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever!

Movie • 1994

Self (archive footage)

Armin Mueller-Stahl - Ein Gaukler in Hollywood

Movie • 2021

Self

Rabbit Ears - The Steadfast Tin Soldier

Movie • 1986

Narrator (voice)

Danny and the Dirty Dog: The Making of 'Roald Dahl's Danny the Champion of the World'

Movie • 1989

Narrator

The Captain's Doll

Movie • 1983

Captain Alexander Hepburn

Wild Transylvania – Dracula's Hidden Kingdom

Movie • 2024

Narrator

Palestine 36

Movie • 2025

High Commissioner Wauchope

Alec Guinness: A Class Act

Movie • 2024

self

The Merchant of Venice

Movie • 2005

Himself

The Crystal Planet

Movie

Governor Mordokan (voice)

Water People: The Story of Us

Movie

The Ocean (voice)

Rizana: A Caged Bird

Movie

Professor Julian Miles

The Beekeeper 2

Movie • 2027

Wallace Westwyld

Highlander

Movie

From Time to Time

Movie • 1992

H.G. Wells

Magic in the air, Bantry House Music

Movie • 2008

Festival audience member

This Ordinary Thing

Movie • 2025

Self (voice)

Heart of the Festival

Movie • 2002

Self (archive footage)

Fiat Croma

Movie • 2005

Lead

Last Movies

Movie • 2026

Self - Narrator

Inside the Actors Studio

TV • 1994

Self

The Simpsons

TV • 1989

Bar Rag (voice)

The View

TV • 1997

Self

E! True Hollywood Story

TV • 1996

Who Do You Think You Are?

TV • 2004

Self

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

TV • 1993

Self - Guest

Brideshead Revisited

TV • 1981

Charles Ryder

StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson

TV • 2015

Self

Longitude

TV • 2000

Rupert Gould

The Civil War

TV • 1990

Various

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes

TV • 1971

Nephew

Elizabeth I

TV • 2005

Earl of Leicester

Love for Lydia

TV • 1977

Alex Sanderson

BBC Play of the Month

TV • 1965

Edward Voysey

The Oscars

TV • 1953

Self

Comic Relief

TV • 1988

Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites

TV • 2003

Readings (Voice)

Working Shakespeare

TV • 2003

Host

BBC2 Play of the Week

TV • 1977

Otto Beck

Churchill's People

TV • 1974

Samuel Ross

The Morning Show

TV • 2019

Martin Levy

The Pallisers

TV • 1974

Frank Tregear

Notorious Woman

TV • 1974

Franz Liszt