Liev Schreiber Biography

Liev Schreiber (born October 4, 1967) is an American actor, born in San Francisco, California

Biography

When Liev Schreiber 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.

Liev Schreiber's 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".

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.

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.

Liev 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.

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

Liev Schreiber recently starred in The Sum of All Fears. And the 2004 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 screen written film starring Elijah Wood, called Everything Is Illuminated, 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.

Schreiber is currently dating Australian actress Naomi Watts.

Film List

The Omen 666 (2006)
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
The Sum of All Fears (2002)
Spring Forward (2002)
Kate & Leopold (2001)
Do You Believe in Miracles? (2001)
Scream 3 (2000)
Hamlet (2000)
The Hurricane (1999)
A Walk on the Moon (1999)
Jakob the Liar (1999)
RKO 281 (1999)
Sphere (1998)
Phantoms (1998)
Twilight (1998)
Since You've Been Gone (1998)
Scream 2 (1997)
His and Hers (1997)
The Sunshine Boys (1997)
Scream(1996)
Big Night (1996)
Ransom (1996)
The Daytrippers (1996)
Walking and Talking (1996)
Buffalo Girls (1995)
Denise Calls Up (1995)
Party Girl (1995)
Mixed Nuts (1994)