Jeremy Irons was born on September 19, 1948 in Cowews (on The Isle of Wight), England. His mother is Barbara Anne (Sharpe) Irons, and his father, Paul Dugan Irons, was an accountant. When he was just a boy of seven, he was sent off to the first of a series of rigid English boarding schools. The cruel practice of sending so young children away to school was traditional for upper-middle-class English lads of his generation. His love of animals and country life fueled his desire to become a veterinarian, but his poor academic performance in the physical sciences forced him to consider other options. After his graduation from the Sherborne School in 1965, he exchanged his upper-middle-class surroundings for a tough neighborhood in South London, where he became a social worker. It was when he started to supplement his social worker’s salary by moonlighting as a busker that he found his true calling. He joined Bristol Old Vic repertory company where he gained much experience working in everything from Shakespeare to contemporary dramas.
He moved to London in 1971 and had a number of odd jobs before landing the role of John the Baptist in the hit musical Godspell. He went on to a succesfull early career in the West End theatre and on TV. His work in the West End and at Stratford culminated with his performance of Richard III for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He married actress Sinead Cusack in 1978 and they have two children, Sam and Max. His first film role was a forgettable one in Herbert Ross’ failure NIJINSKY (1980). However Irons didn’t have to wait long until BBC offered him a starring role in the TV serial adaption of Evelyn Waugh’s "Brideshead Revisited". In it Irons plays Charles Ryder, an aristocrate who sees his world fall together before his very eyes. This film gave Irons much attention in the US, and he quickly become a popular romantic leading man. He went on to a steady film-career.