Liev Schreiber

Isaac Liev Schreiber (born October 4, 1967) is an American actor, born in San Francisco, California to a German-American father and a Jewish mother. When he was a one-year-old his family moved to Canada, but at age 4, due to his parent's divorce, he moved to New York City, where he grew up. His mother, who now lives in an ashram in Virginia, forbade him from seeing color movies as he grew up. His favorite actor, then, was Charles Chaplin. As a child, Liev was considered a rebel. Liev attended high school with actress Amanda Peet. When he was a senior, she was a freshman.

Related Topics:
October 4 - 1967 - American - San Francisco, California - German-American - Jewish - Canada - New York City - Ashram - Virginia - Charles Chaplin - Amanda Peet

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His mother claims that she named him after her favorite author, Leo Tolstoy, while his father claims that Liev was named after the doctor who saved his mother's life. His nickname, adopted by his mother is "Huggy".

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Liev is 6'3" and has four half brothers and a half sister. One of his brothers, Pablo, is an actor and amateur rapper. He is also accompanied by a Jack Russell terrier named Chicken. Liev enjoys basketball, fencing, cycling, and played football in the past.

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Schreiber started acting at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Yale University School of Drama in 1992. He also attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He originally wanted to be a screenwriter, but was steered toward acting instead.

Related Topics:
Hampshire College - Amherst, Massachusetts - Yale University - 1992 - Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

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Schreiber had several small roles until his big break, as the accused murderer Cotton Weary in the horror film Scream and its sequels, Scream 2 and Scream 3. He portrayed the young Orson Welles in the HBO original movie RKO 281, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award, and appeared as Laertes in the 2000 movie version of the William Shakespeare play Hamlet.

Related Topics:
Scream - Scream 2 - Scream 3 - Orson Welles - HBO - RKO 281 - Emmy Award - 2000 - William Shakespeare - Hamlet

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He has done narration work in a number of documentaries, many of them aired as part of PBS series such as American Experience and Secrets of the Dead. Schreiber is also the voice of the HBO Sports documentaries under the Sports of the 20th Century heading.

Related Topics:
Narration - Documentaries - PBS - American Experience - Secrets of the Dead - HBO

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He recently starred in The Sum of All Fears. 2004's remake of The Manchurian Candidate was another major film for the actor, stirring some controversy as it opened during a heated presidential election cycle. He is also completing his first directed and screenwritten film starring Elijah Wood, called Everything Is Illuminated, scheduled to be released in 2005. Beginning in the spring of 2005, he co-stars as Richard Roma in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross, for which he won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play.

Related Topics:
The Sum of All Fears - 2004 - The Manchurian Candidate - Presidential election - Elijah Wood - Everything Is Illuminated - 2005 - David Mamet - Glengarry Glen Ross - Tony Award - Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

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