Biography
Date of Birth
1 December 1977, New York City, New York, USA
Birth Name
Liv Rundgren
Nickname
Liver
Livy
Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)
Mini Biography
Liv Tyler is an actress of international renown and has been a familiar face on our screens for over two decades and counting. She began modelling at the age of fourteen before pursuing a career in acting. After making her film debut in Bruce Beresford's Silent Fall, she was cast by fledgling director James Mangold (who would go on to direct such hits as Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line and Logan) in his first feature Heavy, a critical and commercial success that went on to gain cult status. This was followed by another indie cult hit, Empire Records, but it was the leading role in Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty that catapulted her to stardom at the age of eighteen.
Liv was next seen in Tom Hanks' hugely successful passion project That Thing You Do!, his paean to the glory days of 1960s rock 'n' roll (as the child of a rock 'n' roll background, this was a film whose subject was also dear to Liv's heart). This was followed by Michael Bay's action blockbuster Armageddon, starring alongside Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Steve Buscemi, who would later go on to direct Liv in Lonesome Jim.
Liv had come to the attention of director Robert Altman in Stealing Beauty and the late, great auteur went on to cast her in two of his final projects, Cookie's Fortune and Dr T and the Women, describing her as "very serious, very prepared and very professional...I am crazy about her."
In between her work for Altman, Liv starred opposite Ralph Fiennes in Onegin, directed by his sister Martha, from the classic novel by Alexander Pushkin. Ralph Fiennes said of Liv, "We tested a lot of actresses but Liv has an acute sense of emotional truth that's not performed or projected, but just is."
In 2001, Liv portrayed Arwen in the ground-breaking epic The Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
Nothing if not eclectic, Liv then defied expectations by starring in cult director Kevin Smith's gentle low-budget comedy Jersey Girl, re-uniting her with her Armageddon co-star Ben Affleck, before playing Betty, the female lead to Edward Norton's Bruce Banner in Marvel's The Incredible Hulk.
An actress who consistently refuses to be pigeonholed, Liv's career is one that cuts across genres; she cannot be defined by the roles she has chosen and is led, above all, by what speaks to her on an instinctual and emotional level. "It's very difficult to say no to whatever comes along," Tom Hanks has said of her, "...But she's saying no to all the right things."
In addition to her acting work, Liv has forged a decade-long relationship with Givenchy as the spokesperson for their fragrance and cosmetics line. Liv is also a brand ambassador for Triumph lingerie, developing a capsule collection that celebrates the company's commitment to body confidence, as exemplified by Liv herself, "a modern woman in every sense, a mother and actress with a fierce sense of femininity that women across the world can relate to."
Liv's previous design collaboration was with Belstaff, resulting in two capsule collections for the iconic British heritage brand. Liv has also been the face of commercial campaigns for several global brands, including Visa and Pantene.
Trivia
Liv's mother named her after Liv Ullmann because she was on the cover of TV Guide several weeks prior to Liv's birth, on March 5, 1977.
Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (1997).
A cameo role in Everyone Says I Love You (1996), a musical directed by Woody Allen, was cut; Allen was impressed enough by her performance to write a personal letter explaining that her role was cut in editing.
Her half-sister, Mia Tyler, is a fashion model for Lane Bryant.
The science fiction epic Armageddon (1998) opened on her 21st birthday.
Aerosmith's music video "Crazy", in which Liv co-starred with Alicia Silverstone, was voted #23 in VH1's top 100 music videos of all time.
During filming for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), she left her pair of prosthetic ears on the dashboard of her car. When she returned, they had melted.
She quit smoking after starting at age 14 (2002).
Voted the 6th Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine. [September 2002]
She did not meet her father until 1988.
Her name Liv means "life" in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish.
Learned swordfighting for her role as Arwen in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). But the script was changed and she never got to use her skills.
Was nicknamed Liv Taylor by film critics and the media when she first began acting because her dark hair and striking blue eyes reminded them of Elizabeth Taylor.
The decision to cast her in the music video "Crazy" was based on seeing her Pantene commercial, with absolutely no knowledge her father was in the band.
Was born at 6:08 a.m.
Celebrity spokesperson for Givenchy Perfume and Cosmetics.
Has three younger half-siblings: Chelsea Tallarico, Taj Tallarico and Mia Tyler.
She got married in Barbados.
Ranked #2 in The Age.com's Top 100: Natural Beauties of All Time (Audrey Hepburn took the top spot).
Ex-sister-in-law of Dave Buckner.
Gave birth to an 8-lb. son named Milo William Langdon on December 14, 2004, in Manhattan.
(December 14, 2004) Her son Milo was born on the same day as the release of the Platinum Series Special Extended Edition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
She has never taken acting lessons.
On a TV documentary about the making of the Lord of the Rings movies, she said she really liked delivering her lines when they were in the fictional Elvish language.
Liv has one eighth Italian, one eighth Polish, as well as German, English, Welsh, and more distant Scottish and Irish, ancestry; also, on the show Who Do You Think You Are? (2010), Liv discovered that her great-great-great-great-grandfather, Robert J. Elliott, was of half or part African-American ancestry. He was married to her ancestor, English-born Elizabeth "Betsey"/"Betsy" Rollins, in New York.
Recorded a song for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), but because Peter Jackson didn't feel the song was right for the intended scene, he put it into the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). Since then, Liv has stated how much she enjoyed singing and recording and how she has always felt a strong relationship towards music.
Best friends with Kate Hudson.
Godmother of Marlon Richards' (Keith Richards' son) children.
Granddaughter of etiquette books author Dorothea Johnson.
Is only eight years younger than Cate Blanchett, but plays her granddaughter in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
She and her Lord of the Rings castmate John Rhys-Davies have both appeared in films about "The Incredible Hulk". Rhys-Davies played Wilson Fisk aka The Kingpin in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989), while Tyler played Betty Ross in The Incredible Hulk (2008). Daredevil and Kingpin have also been played by her Armageddon (1998) castmates Ben Affleck and Michael Clarke Duncan.
Friends with Orlando Bloom, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Moss, Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Dax Shepard, Elijah Wood, Helena Christensen, Stella McCartney Justin Theroux, and David Beckham.
Ex-stepdaughter of Cyrinda Foxe and Teresa Barrick.
Daughter of Bebe Buell and Steven Tyler.
Believed until she was 8 years old that Todd Rundgren was her father. Rundgren and Liv's mother were in a relationship when Liv was born and conceived.
Considers Todd Rundgren, whom she believed to be her father until she was 8 years old, as her "spiritual dad".
Her two "dads" Steven Tyler and Todd Rundgren met for the first time at her wedding to Royston Langdon.
She has had ADHD since childhood.
Has played the daughter character to a bunch of influential actors like Will Patton in Inventing the Abbotts (1997), Bruce Willis in Armageddon (1998), Hugo Weaving in "The Lord of the Rings", William Hurt in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and Frank Langella in Robot & Frank (2012).
Gave birth to her 1st child at age 27, a son named Milo William Langdon on December 14, 2004. Child's father is her now ex-husband, Royston Langdon.
Is in a relationship with Dave Gardner since the spring 2014 and they became engaged in early 2015. They have two children together and reside in London, England [2020]. .
Gave birth to her 2nd child at age 37, a son named Sailor Gene Gardner on February 11, 2015 who was six and a half weeks early. Child's father is her fiancé, Dave Gardner .
David Beckham is godfather of her son Sailor.
Has appeared in two franchises as the love interest of a main character: Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In both series, her on-screen father (Hugo Weaving and William Hurt) disapproved of the relationship. Though Tyler has never played either role since, both of her on-screen fathers did, in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and Captain America: Civil War (2016). Both of those films also featured Martin Freeman).
Returned to work 3 months after giving birth to her son Sailor to begin filming the 2nd season of The Leftovers (2014).
Her grandfather, Victor A. Tallarico, passed away on September 14, 2011, he lived to be 95.
Gave birth to her 3rd child at age 39, a daughter named Lula Rose Gardner on July 8, 2016. Child's father is her fiancé, Dave Gardner.
Was 9 months pregnant with her daughter Lula when she completed filming the 3rd season of The Leftovers (2014).
One of her favorite films is Wild at Heart (1990), and she named two of her children, Sailor and Lula, after its main characters.
Trademarks:
Long dark hair and pale skin
Blue eyes and full rosy lips
Statuesque, model-like figure
Soft gentle voice
Quotes
I have these slumber parties with my father and when we can't sleep we stay up all night trading beauty tips. He knows all about the good creams and masks.
[on her favorite smell] Those smells that remind me of home. I can smell my dad [Steven Tyler] from a mile away. I can smell it whenever he's worn my clothes. He has this ambery smell that just melts into him.
[on playing Arwen in The Lord of the Rings] It wasn't until I came back home after such a long time away that I realized how much hype there was about this. I get to play someone 3,000 years old. I'm 23, so that's quite an acting challenge.
I've been told that if I'd lose weight I'd have more work, but I refuse to submit myself to those standards. To the rest of the world, I'm slim, and I like the way I am.
When I did Stealing Beauty (1996), I was just a kid. I'd done a couple of movies, but I'd never been to an acting class in my life. But what I took away from it more than anything was the sense that, even though I was the central character, it was my job to get completely lost in the film. I had a real awareness of Bernardo Bertolucci as a filmmaker, not just a director, painting a canvas in which I was just one element.
Subtlety is my favourite thing in cinema. It lets you dream. When everything is on the nail and on show, it leaves no questions in your mind. I find that so boring.
Clothes have become too important and films are saturated with fashion. So you find yourself wearing designer clothes that aren't relevant to your character. I'm always so intrigued by Christopher Guest and his movies, like Best in Show (2000) and A Mighty Wind (2003). He hires the actors and they all come up with the story and the concept, improvise. And they are all responsible for their own hair and make-up. They buy their own clothes, are in control of creating their characters. I would love to do that.
Life excites me. I'm not talking about appearing in movies or doing interviews, but just little, normal, everyday things. Getting out of bed. Getting dressed. Making food. I find it all exciting, you know?
I don't live a very posh life. There are no drivers waiting or people doing everything for me. I pretty much live like a normal person... It's not good to have a life without responsibilities, you know?
It's cool to be compared to her [Elizabeth Taylor], but honestly, who gives a damn?
There were times when I would get mad at him (Viggo Mortensen) because he would push me harder. There was a weekend when I got really sick and had a horrible flu, and that was my one and only day to sleep and recover and not work. We were supposed to go horseback riding together and I cancelled it because I wasn't feeling well, and Viggo gave me a really hard time about it. So I went, and it was one of the greatest days of my life. It was actually the one time, while I was riding, that I really broke through to the other side with the canter and becoming more comfortable on the horse. I had a beautiful day and am incredibly grateful to Viggo for pushing me further. He taught me so much about that, about really being willing to submit and submerge yourself into making the film and the character work.
My mom [Bebe Buell] was so amazing. She was a singer and she'd been a model so she had all these beautiful clothes and makeup, and in the bathroom all her jewelry was pinned to the wall... it was more than a little girl could ever dream of! When she went out, she would always say, "Don't get into my stuff!" and the first thing I would do was go mad dressing up.
I was in New Zealand for a long time and preparing for fight sequences - all of these kind of elaborate things. And the more I did that stuff the further we were getting away from why they cast me and what was true of Arwen. And we all realized that. And we went back into the book and into the appendix. And... reshaped it. I think originally that, when they were looking at this character, they wanted her to be a strong character. She is a strong character, but... maybe they thought, "Oh, well if she's a fighter she's strong." And over time they realized that you don't have to put a sword in a woman's hand to make her seem tough. That's little actual makeup of who Arwen is, and her sheer will and strength and love for this man was strong enough.
[on Edward Norton] Edward is the best! He is so sweet and wonderful and he did such a great job with everything he did for this film (The Incredible Hulk (2008)) and everything he brought to it. I'm really grateful to have been in it. There were points when I was like, "Wait! We cannot do this love scene because his body looks so much more beautiful than mine!".
[on Ben Affleck] Ben is an angel! By some reason we have a special chemistry. I've worked with some of the world's most fantastic actors and actresses and I love them all, but I actually feel a special spark when we act together. It's easy for us to be very free together.
[on Mary Helen Bowers] Mary Helen is wonderful! We train together using her Ballet Beautiful program doing leg work, butt lifts, and stretches. I love working out with her.
I'm not perfect at all.
I love observing people.
