The reason Liam Neeson was once fired as a school teacher
Once a film actor becomes heavily cemented in the industry, it’s difficult to imagine them in any other career field. However, many of today’s biggest film stars tried out at other jobs before we came to know them as leading names.
One image that is hard to imagine is Liam Neeson, known for his action-thriller roles, being a school teacher. Nonetheless, the Irish actor took up a job in education before his performances on the big screen.
Taking into account his intense and serious roles, picturing Neeson as a school teacher conjures up thoughts of a stern, authoritative figure. He has played mentor roles. His most notable is Ra’s al Ghul in Nolan’s Batman Begins, who trains Bruce Wayne to become a skilled fighter using martial arts.
This role was someone who values control and mental strength, as well as pushing his students to their limits to achieve success. Neeson’s other famous roles also exemplify commitment and disciplined work. This is the case in Taken, released in 2008, where an ex-CIA officer tracks down his kidnapped daughter.
All these character traits can bleed into teaching as a line of work. Anyone who teaches can tell you dealing with a room of young impressionable people calls for some tunnel vision. Neeson’s students most likely felt this strict persona the actor has effortlessly embodied in his current job.
However, Neeson had to let go of teaching after being fired from the job. The story behind him being let go is ironically similar to the film stories he has since appeared in. So what exactly happened to kickstart Neeson’s transformation from teacher to action star?
During an interview where he was asked about his pre-acting jobs, Neeson spoke about his time as a teacher and gave details about the incident that ended it. He explained the incident in the context of misbehaving students who just will not listen to the rules. The actor revealed, “sometimes there is a discipline problem, so [the issue is] getting them to settle down before you start teaching them, you know?”
He then went on to discuss one specific pupil who was causing some trouble. Neeson attempted to reason with the young man and take back control of the situation. However, “this particular kid just didn’t want to settle down, and he wanted to disrupt the whole class, you know?”
Having realised the situation called for more than a verbal warning or two, Mr Neeson took a more active disciplinary approach. He stated, “I went over to him and asked him to leave the classroom and stand outside, and the next thing I know, he pulled a knife on me”.
This is a shocking turn of events in the story. It sounds like a Neeson film, not something that happened in his real life as a teacher. The next part embodies this even more as Neeson shares his response to having a knife pulled out on him: “My immediate reaction was to punch him”. This very response is what cost Neeson his teaching career, so what does he think of the situation now?
He acknowledges and admits his own faults for getting physical, citing the punch as something “I shouldn’t have done”. He gives some perspective by emphasizing, “I felt threatened, so I punched him”.
