Editing Jason Isaacs (section)

==Early life==
Isaacs was born to [[Jews|Jewish]] parents in [[Liverpool]] on 6 June 1963.<ref name=Marx>{{cite web |last=Marx |first=Rebecca Flint |title=Jason Isaacs: Biography |url=http://www.moviefone.com/celebrity/jason-isaacs/1802996/biography|website=[[Moviefone]] |access-date=29 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218232651/http://www.moviefone.com/celebrity/jason-isaacs/1802996/biography |archive-date=18 December 2008 |quote=Although he first became interested in acting in part because 'it was a great way to meet girls,' Isaacs soon found deeper meaning in the theatre (in one interview he was quoted as saying 'I could release myself into acting in a way that I was not released socially') and duly dropped out of Bristol to hone his skills at London's [[Central School of Speech and Drama]].}}</ref> His father was a jeweller.<ref name="mass-hysteria">{{cite news |last=Gilbert |first=Gerard |title='It was mass hysteria': Jason Isaacs on groupies, theatre bores and snogging James Bond |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/it-was-mass-hysteria-jason-isaacs-on-groupies-theatre-bores-and-snogging-james-bond-8617981.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=18 May 2013 |access-date=1 September 2017 |archive-date=25 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825233957/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/it-was-mass-hysteria-jason-isaacs-on-groupies-theatre-bores-and-snogging-james-bond-8617981.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He has two older brothers and one younger brother.<ref name=Marx/> He spent his earliest childhood years in the Liverpool suburb of [[Childwall]], in a "closely knit & integrated" Jewish community co-founded by his [[Eastern European Jews|Eastern European Jewish]] great-grandparents.<ref name=Pfefferman>{{cite news |last=Pfefferman |first=Naomi |title=Once a 'wimp,' Actor Thrives on Portraying Villains |url=http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/000714/wimp.shtml |work=Jewish News of Greater Phoenix |date=14 July 2000 |access-date=29 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210024846/http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/000714/wimp.shtml |archive-date=10 December 2008}} Rpt. from ''Jewish Journal of Los Angeles'', 14 July 2000.</ref> He has said that being Jewish played a big role in his childhood, as he attended youth club in the local [[synagogue]] of [[King David High School, Liverpool|King David High School]] in Liverpool's [[Childwall]] district, as well as a ''[[cheder]]'' twice a week as a young adult.<ref name=Lester>{{cite news |last=Lester |first=Paul |title=JC Interview: Jason Isaacs |url=http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m12s28&SecId=28&AId=57814&ATypeId=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080204152349/http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m12s28&SecId=28&AId=57814&ATypeId=1 |archive-date=4 February 2008 |work=[[The Jewish Chronicle]] |date=1 February 2008 |access-date=28 June 2008}}</ref><ref name=Pfefferman2>{{cite news |last=Pfefferman |first=Naomi |title=More Than a Villain: With "The Patriot," Jason Isaacs, a British Jew, Cements His Reputation as One of Hollywood's Hottest Heavies |url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/hollywood_jew/article/more_thana_villain_20000630/ |work=[[The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles]] |date=29 June 2000 |access-date=29 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403035818/https://jewishjournal.com/hollywood_jew/article/more_thana_villain_20000630/ |archive-date=3 April 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/culture/celebrities/jason-isaacs-i-remember |title=Jason Isaacs "I remember..." |website=[[Reader's Digest]] |access-date=4 January 2020 |archive-date=28 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928052508/https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/culture/celebrities/jason-isaacs-i-remember |url-status=live }}</ref> When he was 11, he moved with his family to [[London]] and attended the [[Haberdashers' Boys' School|Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School]] in nearby [[Elstree]] at the same time as [[David Baddiel]], [[Sacha Baron Cohen]], [[Mark Kermode]], and [[Matt Lucas]].<ref name=Lester/> He describes the bullying and intolerance he observed and experienced during his childhood as "preparation" for portraying the "unattractive" villains he has most often played.<ref name=Rees /><ref name=Lester/>

As a Jewish teen in London, Isaacs endured [[antisemitism]] by the [[National Front (UK)|National Front]], a [[far-right extremist]] organisation. His parents eventually [[Aliyah|emigrated to Israel]].<ref name=Lester/> He later told an interviewer, "There were constantly people beating us up or smashing windows. If you were ever, say, on a Jewish holiday, identifiably Jewish, there was lots of violence around. But particularly when I was 16, in 1979, the National Front were really taking hold, there were leaflets at school, and [[Sieg Heil]]ing and people [[goose-stepping]] down the road and coming after us."<ref name="mass-hysteria"/> Following in the footsteps of his three brothers (one who became a doctor, one a lawyer, and one an accountant),<ref name=Marx/> he studied law at [[Bristol University]] from 1982 to 1985, becoming involved in the university's theatre club there; he eventually acted in over 30 plays and performed each summer at the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe]], first with Bristol University and then twice with the National Student Theatre Company. After graduating, he went immediately to train at London's [[Central School of Speech and Drama]] from 1985 to 1988.<ref name=Rees /><ref name=Marx/><ref name=Yahoo>{{Cite web |url=http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/artists/i/Jason-Isaacs/biography-396683.html |title=Jason Isaacs Biography |work=[[Yahoo! Movies]] UK & Ireland|year=2006 |access-date=24 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825161339/http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/artists/i/Jason-Isaacs/biography-396683.html |archive-date=25 August 2007}}</ref>