The sequel “Taken 2” hits theaters on October 5th, so we’ll be seeing a lot of its handsome star Liam Neeson over the next couple of weeks. What do we know about this tall, dashing Irishman?

-Liam John Neeson was born in 1952 in Northern Ireland. He caught the acting bug early, doing his first school play at the age of eleven.

-He dropped out of Queens University in Belfast to take a job as a forklift operator in a Guinness beer brewery.

-Neeson spent two years at the Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast before making his 1978 screen debut playing Jesus Christ in the religious film “Pilgrims Progress.”

-He met actress Helen Mirren on the set of the film “Excalibur” and the two lived together in London for a time.

-After starring in five films between 1982 and 1987, Neeson moved to Hollywood in search of more high-profile roles. He found them, and the 1990 film “Darkman” was his major breakthrough as a star.

-Neeson was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Oskar Schindler in Stephen Spielberg’s holocaust drama “Schindler’s List,” but lost to Tom Hanks for “Philadelphia.”

-In 1993, he co-starred with Natasha Richardson on Broadway in the play “Anna Christie.” The pair wed in 1994 and had two sons, Michael and Daniel. Richardson, the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave, died in March 2009 following a skiing accident.

-Neeson kicked his heavy smoking habit, but took it up again long enough to play Hannibal in the 2010 remake of “The A-Team.”

-Neeson’s next role will be portraying President Lyndon Johnson in the film “Selma,” about the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.