Jordans Biography

On February 25, 1950 Neil Jordan was born to parents Angela O'Brien, a painter, and Michael Jordan, a university professor, in Sligo County, Ireland. His parents were Catholics so they educated their son at St. Paul's College. Neil Jordan once said "I was brought up a Catholic and was quite religious at one stage of my life, when I was young. But it left me with no scars whatever; it just sort of vanished."[1] He is currently an atheist and stated that "God is the greatest imaginary being of all time. Along with Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, the invention of God is probably the greatest creation of human thought."[1]. Jordan later attended University College in Dublin and studied Irish history and English literature. Neil has 5 children, Anna and Sarah from his first marriage with Vivienne Shields; Dashiel and Daniel from his second and current marriage with Brenda Rawn; and Ben, a child from a former relationship with Mary Donohoe, an architect. Jordan once said "I'm fascinated by monsters [and] monstrous people and fascinated with illogic and irrationality"[1] and doesn’t understand why “so many Irish plays now have the structure of a dream and use the language of poetry? There is a lack of astringency about the whole thing which is vaguely irritating."[1]

[1] Sragow, Michael. "Beautiful Dreamer." (1999): n. pag. Web. 24 Mar 2010. http://www.salon.com/entertainment/col/srag/1999/12/09/jordan/index.html

"Neil Jordan Biography." NetIndustries (2009): n. pag. Web. 25 Mar 2010. http://www.filmreference.com/film/73/Neil-Jordan.html