The Irish star also told the funny way he bagged his first professional gig and being mistaken as a lookalike Hollywood star

Liam Neeson : The star ‘punches’ Jimmy Fallon as he shows off on-screen fighting skills on his show (Image: Credit: Jimmy Fallon Show – YouTube)

Liam Neeson brought his movie skills to life as he taught late-night TV host Jimmy Fallon how to throw a fake punch as he celebrated his 100th movie.

The Belfast-born actor was on The Tonight Show to promote his new movie, Marlowe, which marks a huge milestone in his ever-growing movie catalog.

To celebrate the occasion, and ‘perm week’ on the show, the popular host kicked off the interview with a throwback picture of a youthful Neeson in his 20s, posing barefoot with long hair.

Neeson said he looked back at the time fondly, as he noted how it was just before he got his first start in the business back home with his pal Ciaran Hinds.

Asked if he was a hippy by Fallon, Neeson said: “That was 1972, with [my dog] Tara, who is long since dead, looms, the big flared [jeans], ah – barefooted as well..”

Looking back at the time fondly, the Ballymena-born star went on: “Funny enough this is just after I met my brother, Ciaran Hinds, I regard him as my brother, we were at a theatre festival south of Amsterdam, first time ever on an airplane and all that stuff.

“And started professional [acting] in 1976.”

Liam Neeson playing Qui-Gon Jinn in the 1999 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Recalling how he landed his first-ever gig as he celebrates his 100th, he said:

“There’s a theatre that Ciaran and myself are patrons of in Belfast called the Lyric Theatre – a very, very good theatre,” he said.

“I was working in an architect’s office doing prints and stuff and I kept saying to these guys I’m going to be a professional actor.

“One of them called my bluff one lunchtime and said ‘call up the Lyric Theatre’ they literally pushed the telephone, it was one of the old ones, and I called and the lady who formed the theatre called Mary O’Malley she picked it up and I started vomiting ‘I want to be an actor I’ve done all these amateur plays and I want to be professional’.

“And she said ‘what height are you?’ and I said 6ft 4, then she said ‘be up here next Thursday’ and that was kind of it.

“The height got me the gig,” he added.

The Taken star also laughed off other funny encounters throughout his career, including being mistaken as fellow acting star Ralph Fiennes whilst in Paris.

“So I signed [my autograph] Ray Fiennes,” he laughed. “I’ve told him that, he’s a good pal.”

Neeson finished the show with another bang as he gave in to host Fallon’s request to teach him how to throw a fake movie punch.

He said: “I love it[action scenes], I feel like, seriously, like a kid in a toy shop, hanging out with stunt guys who are there to make me look good.”