Celebrities

Before he became the most feared voice on a phone call, Liam Neeson was a forklift driver from Ballymena who boxed as an amateur and nearly became a teacher. 🎬 Few careers in Hollywood bend the way his has — from stage actor to Oscar nominee to action hero at an age when most stars

John Malkovich has spent five decades being impossible to pin down — and 2026 might be his biggest year yet. 🎭 Born John Gavin Malkovich on December 9, 1953, in Christopher, Illinois, he is 72 in 2026 — and still collecting some of the best reviews of his career. Then: The Steppenwolf Years Malkovich was

Willem Dafoe Then: The Wisconsin Outsider Who Stormed Hollywood William James “Willem” Dafoe was born on July 22, 1955, in Appleton, Wisconsin — the seventh of eight children. 🎬 Long before the fame, he dropped out of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee to join an experimental theater troupe. He later moved to New York and became

Jeff Goldblum doesn’t just act — he Goldblums. 🦖 For five decades, the lanky Pittsburgh native has turned eccentric charm, jazz piano and perfectly timed pauses into an art form all his own. Jeff Goldblum Then Jeff Goldblum in 1990 — the Jurassic Park era just around the corner. Photo: Alan Light / CC BY

William Shatner Then: From Montreal to the Captain’s Chair William Shatner was born on March 22, 1931, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 🚀 He studied commerce at McGill University, but the stage called louder. After Canadian theater and television, he made his Broadway debut in 1956 — and even appeared on The Twilight Zone. Then, in

Some actors disappear into their characters. Christopher Lloyd does the opposite — he makes them unforgettable. The wild-eyed scientist shouting about gigawatts. The burnt-out cabbie dispensing stoner philosophy. The judge whose eyes bulge like cartoon saucers. ⚡ In 2026, at 87 years old, he’s still working — new films announced, a memoir on the way,

Maggie Smith Then Maggie Smith, born on December 28, 1934, in Ilford, Essex, England, grew up in a family with diverse cultural backgrounds. Her mother, who worked as a secretary, was of Scottish descent, while her father, an Anglican, was a pathologist at the University of Oxford.  Smith was the youngest in her family, with

A young Judi Dench in 1959. Photo: Stevan Kragujević / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Then: The Yorkshire Girl Who Conquered the Stage 🎭 Judith Olivia Dench was born on December 9, 1934, in Heworth, York, North Yorkshire — the daughter of a GP and a wardrobe mistress with a love of theatre. She trained

🎭 Few performers command a screen the way Dame Helen Mirren does. Over six decades, she has moved from Shakespearean stages to Oscar glory to streaming-era stardom — never once slowing down. Now 81, she is somehow busier than stars half her age. A global Netflix hit, a gritty crime series, and a prestige family

Ian McKellen in the National Theatre’s Amadeus in 1981. Photo: Zoe Dominic / Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Then: A Stage Obsessive from Burnley 🎭 Ian Murray McKellen was born on May 25, 1939, in Burnley, Lancashire — the son of a civil engineer and a homemaker. His family moved to Wigan when he was young,