Jeremy Irons

Jeremy Irons is a British actor.

Biography[]

Born on the Isle of Wight, Irons was an amateur drummer, harmonica player and comic before attending Bristol Old Vic. After work as a busker and roles on the West End stage, Irons began to principally appear on television, making his breakthrough role in an adaptation of Brideshead Revisited and later the film The French Lieutenant's Woman.

After this Irons began to make more appearances in films, including Dead Ringers, and Reversal of Fortune, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and as the villainous Simon Gruber in Die Hard: With A Vengeance. He made appearances in numerous blockbusters, frequently playing theatrical antagonists, and has often been sought out as a narrator or voiceover performer.

Singing[]

Lending his deep baritone voice to a wide range of musical productions, Irons could first be heard in the original British production of Godspell, playing the dual roles of Judas and John the Baptist, before singing the part of Professor Henry Higgins in the 1987 studio recording of My Fair Lady. He later played the villainous Scar in The Lion King, in which he explains his scheme to his hyena cohorts through the song "Be Prepared". Footage of Irons singing a reprise to the song (in which he seizes control of the pride after unsuccessfully trying to wed Nala) exists, but the song was cut from the final film.

Irons also made several stage appearances, performing some of the music of Noël Coward at The Proms in 1999, playing the role of Henrik Egerman in a revival of A Little Night Music, and starring as King Arthur in a one night production of Camelot at the Hollywood Bowl in 2005.

Irons is also one of the actors who can be heard on the charity album Unexpected Dreams - Songs From the Stars on which he sings "To Make You Feel My Love".