Age: 77
male
Jeremy John Irons (born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre productions, including the Shakespeare plays The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew and Richard II. In 1984, he made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, receiving the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. Irons's break-out role came in the ITV series Brideshead Revisited (1981) and is frequently ranked among the greatest British television dramas as well as greatest literary adaptations. It would earn him a Golden Globe Award nomination. His first major film role came in the romantic drama The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. After starring in dramas, such as Moonlighting (1982), Betrayal (1983), and The Mission (1986), he was praised for portraying twin gynaecologists in David Cronenberg's psychological thriller Dead Ringers (1988). Irons has won multiple awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his portrayal of the accused attempted murderer Claus von Bülow in Reversal of Fortune (1990). Irons had roles in Steven Soderbergh's mystery thriller Kafka (1991), the period drama The House of the Spirits (1993), the romantic drama M. Butterfly (1993), voiced Scar in Disney's The Lion King (1994), played Simon Gruber in the action film Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Humbert Humbert in Lolita (1997) and Aramis in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998). He starred in the action adventure Dungeons & Dragons (2000), played Antonio in The Merchant of Venice (2004), appeared in Being Julia (2004), the historical drama Kingdom of Heaven (2005), the fantasy-adventure Eragon (2006), the Western Appaloosa (2008), and the indie drama Margin Call (2011). In 2016, he appeared in Assassin's Creed and portrayed Alfred Pennyworth in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League (2017), and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021). On television, Irons appeared in the historical miniseries Elizabeth I, receiving a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor. From 2011 to 2013, he starred as Pope Alexander VI in the Showtime historical series The Borgias. In 2019, he appeared as Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias in HBO's Watchmen. He is one of the few actors who have achieved the "Triple Crown of Acting" in the US, winning an Oscar for film, an Emmy for television and a Tony Award for theatre. In October 2011, he was nominated the Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
In life, Spawn was Albert Francis Simmons, who was born in Detroit, Michigan, as the second eldest of three children born to Bernard Simmons, a traveling salesman, and Esther Simmons, a devil worshipper. Simmons was once a very intelligent, physically strong, and highly decorated officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel while serving with Force Recon. He later joined the Secret Service, where he became a high-ranking official who was recruited into the Central Intelligence Agency. Once he joined the CIA, Simmons joined the U.S. Security Group, an umbrella agency encompassing the CIA, NSA, and NSC, commanded by Director Jason Wynn. He became a capable assassin. During a mission in Botswana, Wynn grew tired of Simmons' increasing sense of morality and secretly hired Simmons' friend and partner Bruce Stinson (codename Chapel), to kill him. Simmons was burned to death and sent to Hell. Making a deal with the devil Malebolgia, Simmons agreed to become a Hellspawn and served Malebolgia if he was allowed to see his wife Wanda one last time. Malebolgia agreed and returned Simmons to the living realm but without most of his memories, a severely burned body, and a demonic guardian named the Violator. After his death and rebirth, Simmons, now called Spawn, arrives on Earth in a daze, off-balance and disoriented. With only vague recollections of his past, all he knows is his name and that he died. He realizes five years have passed since his death.
