Some of this article'slisted sourcesmay not bereliable. It includes attribution to IMDb, which may not be a reliable source for information. Please help improve this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged and removed.(October 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Isaac Liev Schreiber was born in San Francisco, California,[2][better source needed] the son of Heather Milgram,[3] a painter, and Tell Schreiber, an actor and carpenter.[4][5] His father wasProtestant and his mother is Jewish.[6][7][8] His maternal grandfather, Alex Milgram, emigrated from theRussian Empire. Milgram, who was the most significant male in Schreiber's youth, played the cello and ownedPierre-Auguste Renoir etchings, and made his living by delivering meat to restaurants.[9][10][11][12] His mother, who is an aficionada of classical music andRussian literature, has said that she named Liev after her favorite Russian author,Leo Tolstoy, while his father has stated that Schreiber was named after the doctor who saved his mother's life. His family nickname, adopted when Schreiber was a baby, is "Huggy".[13][9]
When Schreiber was one year old, his family moved to theunincorporated rural community ofWinlaw, in the southern interior ofBritish Columbia.[14] Over the next four years, his mother was hospitalized on several occasions and underwent therapy related to a bad experience onLSD that she had near the beginning of her marriage (in San Francisco), according to Schreiber's father.[9] After Schreiber's father threatened to have Schreiber's mother admitted to amental institution, Schreiber was kidnapped by his mother, eventually leading to his mother gaining full custody of him.[15] Theysquatted on theLower East Side in New York City.[16]
Schreiber has described his mother as a "far-outSocialist Labor Partyhippiebohemianfreak who hung out withWilliam Burroughs".[9][17][18] She was "a highly cultured eccentric" who earned a living by splitting her time between driving a cab and creatingpapier-mâché puppets." In 1983, his mother bought him a motorcycle on his 16th birthday to "promote fearlessness."[9] The criticJohn Lahr wrote in a 1999New Yorker profile that, "To a large extent, Schreiber's professional shape-shifting and his uncanny instinct for isolating the frightened, frail, goofy parts of his characters are a result of being forced to adapt to his mother's eccentricities. It's both his grief and his gift."[9]
Her bohemian proclivities led to actions such as making Schreiber take the Hindu name Shiva Das, wear yoga shirts, consume a vegetarian diet, and briefly attendSatchidanandaAshram inPomfret, Connecticut, when he was 12.[19] Schreiber's mother also forbade her son from seeing color films. As a result, his favorite actors wereCharlie Chaplin, Andrew Cartwright, andBasil Rathbone. In retrospect, Schreiber said in a 2008 interview that he appreciates his mother's influences, saying: "Since I've had Sasha, I've completely identified with everything my mother went through raising me ... and I think her choices were inspired."[20]
Along with his screen work, Schreiber is a well-respected classical actor; in a 1998 review of theShakespeare playCymbeline,The New York Times called his performance "revelatory" and ended the article with the plea, "More Shakespeare, Mr. Schreiber."[36] A year later, Schreiber played the title role inHamlet in a December 1999 revival atThe Public Theater, to similar raves. In 2000, he went on to playLaertes in the filmHamlet, a modern adaptation of the play.[37] His performance in the title role ofHenry V in a 2003 Central Park production of that play causedThe New Yorker magazine critic John Lahr to expound upon his aptitude for playing Shakespeare characters. "He has a swiftness of mind," Lahr wrote, "which convinces the audience that language is being coined in the moment. His speech, unlike that of the merely adequate supporting cast, feels lived rather than learned."[38]
Schreiber toldThe New Yorker in 1999, "I don't know that I want to be an actor for the rest of my life." For a time in the late 1990s, he hoped to produce and direct an adaptation ofThe Merchant of Venice starringDustin Hoffman.[9] During that time, Schreiber started writing a screenplay about his relationship with hisUkrainian grandfather, a project he abandoned when, according toThe New York Times, "he readJonathan Safran Foer's hit novel,Everything Is Illuminated, and decided Mr. Foer had done it better."[39] Schreiber'sfilm adaptation of the short story from which the novel originated, which he both wrote and directed, was released in 2005. The film, which starredElijah Wood, received lukewarm-to-positive reviews,[40] withRoger Ebert calling it "a film that grows in reflection."[citation needed] In 2002, he starred inNeil LaBute's playThe Mercy Seat along withSigourney Weaveroff-Broadway that was critically and commercially very successful.
From June to July 2006, he played thetitle role inMacbeth oppositeJennifer Ehle at theDelacorte Theater.Variety critic David Rooney praised his performance, writing: "The complexities behind Macbeth's surrender to evil and to overpowering destiny are compellingly embodied in Schreiber's contained performance".[45] He appeared in the Broadway revival ofEric Bogosian'sTalk Radio, portrayingshock jock Barry Champlain. The show began previews at theLongacre Theatre on February 15, 2007, in preparation for its March opening. On May 11, 2007, he won theDrama League Award for distinguished performance inTalk Radio, and has received Tony, Drama Desk, andOuter Critics Circle Award nominations for the role.The New York Times' Ben Brantley called his performance "the most lacerating portrait of a human meltdown this side of a Francis Bacon painting."[20] Schreiber played the womanizing Lotario Thurgot inMike Newell's 2007 screen adaptation ofLove in the Time of Cholera,. In a January 2007 interview, Schreiber mentioned that he was working on a screenplay.[27] Late in 2008, Schreiber portrayed Jewishresistance fighterZus Bielski in the filmDefiance, alongsideDaniel Craig. In 2009, Schreiber played themutant supervillainVictor Creed in theMarvel Comics filmX-Men Origins: Wolverine.[46]
Wes Anderson, Koyu Rankin, Schreiber,Jeff Goldblum,Kunichi Nomura, and panel moderator Anatol Weber at the press conference ofIsle of Dogs at Berlinale 2018.
Schreiber at the March 2018 premiere ofIsle of Dogs
In 2016 he starred as the professional boxerChuck Wepner in the filmChuck which he also wrote and produced. The film premiered at the73rd Venice International Film Festival to positive reviews. Schreiber returned to Broadway playing the Machiavellian seducer Vicomte de Valmont acting alongsideJanet McTeer in the 2016 revivalLes Liaisons Dangereuses.[68] The play ran from October 2016 to January 2017. Marilyn Stasio ofVariety gave the production a mixed review, and wrote of his performance, "[He] is a strong actor and a studly kind of male, and despite a constricting costume and skull-pinching wig, he exudes a modern manliness that hardly suits the effete Valmont."[69] That same year Schreiber returned to play Ross "The Boss" Rhea in the sports comedyGoon: Last of the Enforcers, a sequel to the 2011 filmGoon of which he also acted in. In 2016 he playedVictor Lustig in theComedy Central sketch seriesDrunk History. During the story development forLogan, Liev had been approached about the potential of Victor Creed to return to theX-Men film universe. Following the film's release, Hugh Jackman revealed that early versions of the script included the character but that element was eventually removed from the final screenplay.[70] In 2017, Liev was cast to voice the Storm King, the main antagonist in the 2017 filmMy Little Pony: The Movie, based on the showMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. On his acceptance of the part, Live said that, because of his children's exposure to his adult-oriented film work, he wanted something more child-friendly for them to watch.[71]
In 2020,Showtime endedRay Donovan after its seventh season. As a conclusion to the series, aRay Donovan film was released in January 2022. Schreiber co-wrote the script along with the directorDavid Hollander.[74] In a second collaboration with filmmakerWes Anderson, he appeared inThe French Dispatch in the role of an unnamed talk show host. The film was originally set to be released in 2020, but it was delayed numerous times due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. The film ultimately premiered at theCannes Film Festival on July 12 and was released theatrically in the U.S. on October 22, 2021. Schreiber worked ona film adaptation ofAcross the River and into the Trees. In the film, he played the leading role of Colonel Richard Cantwell, originally set to be played byPierce Brosnan.
Schreiber was in a relationship with British actressNaomi Watts (with whom he appeared inThe Painted Veil).[77] They have two children.[78][79][80] On September 26, 2016, Schreiber and Watts separated after 11 years together.[81]
Schreiber has been in a relationship with Taylor Neisen since 2017. They married in July 2023 and their daughter was born in August 2023.[82][83]
Schreiber has lived in a loft apartment inNoho, in Lower Manhattan in New York City, that was shown inArchitectural Digest.[84]
On July 6, 2022, Liev Schreiber became the ambassador ofUnited24, a fundraising platform forUkraine in the field of medical care.[85]
In an address published on the President's website,Zelenskyy said that BlueCheck Ukraine, founded by the actor, had funded programs for psychological support and evacuation of more than 20,000 orphans from boarding schools and orphanages in Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chernihiv, and Odesa regions. He also partnered with an organization called "Kidsafe" which had rescued over 10,000 women and children from war worn areas of Ukraine.[86]
On August 16, 2022, Schreiber and another ambassador, famous Ukrainian footballerAndriy Shevchenko, visitedKyiv and held talks withUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Schreiber and Shevchenko also visitedBucha andBorodianka, which were heavily damaged by Russian bombardment.[87]
^abcd"Liev Schreiber (Visual Voices Guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. RetrievedOctober 4, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
.jpg)
