Hollywood star Liam Neeson has been awarded an honorary degree from his former university at a ceremony in New York.

The Northern Ireland-born actor, who has appeared in blockbuster films including Schindler's List and Michael Collins, enrolled at Queen's University Belfast in 1971 as a physics and computer science student, before leaving to work at Guinness.

Vice-Chancellor of Queen's, Professor Peter Gregson, presented Neeson with a Doctorate of the University (DUniv) for his Outstanding Contribution and Service to the Arts at an event at the residence of Her Majesty's Consul-General.

But he surprised guests at the ceremony by revealing details from Dr Neeson's original university application form from 1970.

As well as commenting on his pleasant personality and hard-working approach, Neeson's academic referee from Ballymena Technical College said: "Liam's chief interest would appear to be amateur dramatics, in which he has played the leading role in the last two productions of the college play."

Accepting his honorary degree, Dr Neeson joked that at last he would be able to tell his mother he had graduated from university.

"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 said.

In March the actor's wife, Natasha Richardson, died from head injuries suffered in a skiing accident.

Neeson has starred in more than 50 television and film productions and has received numerous awards and nominations.

He is a patron of the Lyric Theatre in Belfast and has been an ambassador for Unicef Ireland, raising more than £1.1 million.

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