Neeson receives honorary doctorate from Queen's

8 May 2009 -

Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson has been presented with an honorary degree by Queen's University.

The establishment's vice-chancellor professor Peter Gregson awarded the actor with a doctorate of the university for his outstanding contribution and service to the arts at an event at the residence of Her Majesty's Consul-General in New York.

Neeson, who has starred in movies such as Schindler's List and Michael Collins, enrolled at Queen's in 1971 as a physics and computer science student, before leaving to work at Guinness.

Accepting his degree, he joked that he would at last be able to tell his mother he had graduated from Queen's.

"My home will always be Northern Ireland. I have often found that no matter where I meet people in the world, there is a path that leads back to Queen's," he added.

Neeson's latest film, Adoration, which tells the tale of an adolescent recreating his life on the internet, is currently on limited release.