Neeson’s performance in Suspect is remarkable since it denied the brooding thesp his strongest feature: his voice. As murder suspect Carl Wayne Anderson, Neeson plays support to Cher and Dennis Quaid yet ultimately steals the show as a death and mute homeless man with the odd staked against him.

Sam Raimi’s first foray into the superhero genre featured Neeson in an equally creepy and hilarious central role as a disfigured scientist hell bent for revenge, Neeson proving he can do over the top camp just as well as understated drama.

The film which launched Neeson’s “mentor figure” era, the sprawling space opera ... The Phantom Menace benefited from Neeson’s grounded portrayal as Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn, mentor to Obi Wan Kenobie, and discoverer of Anakin Skywalker, who in the hands of Neeson becomes one of the coolest Jedi’s to grace Goerge Lucas’s universe.

A counter performance to his Michael Collins, Five Minutes of Heaven looks at the aftermath of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, with Neeson portraying a man haunted by a horrific crime committed during his youth, whose desire to reconcile with the younger brother of his victim (James Nesbitt) leads to an eventual confrontation. The film also marked Neeson’s return to intimate drama after starring in a succession of genre blockbusters.

Liam Neeson always had his foot in the action genre, yet it was with Taken that he became a bonadife action star, kicking ass across Europe with his “skills” in an attempt to save his teenage daughter (Maggie Grace) before she is sold into the slave trade. Neeson’s stern warning to his daughters abductees still ranks as one of the coolest in action cinema.

Released in the shadow of Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, this other bloody tale of a crusading Scotsman taking on the ruling British ariocracty saw Neeson in heroic, period, revenge driven mode as Robert Roy MacGregor, roaming across the highlands with sword and kilt, and featuring in one of the most highly regarded sword duals in cinema history.   

More than just “Liam Neeson punching wolves”, Neeson’s performance as haunted mercenary John Hottway in The Grey saw the Irish leading man blend his dramatic chops with his action skills, creating a hard man with a soul who is forced to face himself and the brutality of nature.

Inseparable from Neeson’s standing as one of the great actors is his identity as an Irishman. It was with this in mind that director Neil Jordan cast him as Irish patriot and revolutionary Michael Collins, and it was Neeson’s rousing performance which injected the film with some much needed passion.

As this list shows, Neeson is no stranger to portraying real life figures. Yet Alfred Kinsey proved to be a different type of character for Neeson: controversial, unconventional, and obsessed with changing the view of sex by conducting a nationwide survey in the sexual behaviour of all individuals. But it was Kinsey’s family life and relationship with his researchers which saw Neeson utilise that infamous range of his, creating a complex and engrossing performance which, sadly, went unnoticed in that years’ awards season.

Schindler’s List launched Liam Neeson into the stratosphere. Handpicked by director Steven Spielberg, the Irish actor won universal praise on his portrayal of German businessman Oskar Schindler, who saved over a thousand Jews from certain death by employing them in his factory.

Neeson’s qualities of honour, nobility, and stern morality were brought forth in his portrayal of Schindler, who throughout the process of the film transforms from exploitative hustler to haunted saviour; a strong, tall man who saw the financial gains which war presented, to a regret wrecked former millionaire who breaks down at the end, when the thought of the lives he could have saved cripples his soul.

It is of no wonder that so many filmmakers look to Neeson to portray the wise, the strong, the justifiably righteous, and the humane. No doubt it is what Spielberg saw.