Trivia

Growing up, his mother didn't allow him to watch color movies. The first color movie he saw was Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) in 1977.

Became a father for he second time at age 41 when his ex-fiancée Naomi Watts gave birth to their child Kai Schreiber on December 14, 2008.

Was a fan favorite for the role of District Attorney Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight (2008), and expressed interest in it. He eventually lost out to Aaron Eckhart.

Became a father for the first time at age 39 when his ex-fiancée Naomi Watts gave birth to their son Alexander Pete Schreiber (Sasha Schreiber) on July 25, 2007.

His mother says she named him after her favorite author, Lev Tolstoy, whose Russian name was Lev (pronounced "l'yehv" -- the letter e in Russian is pronounced "yeh," and the standard English transliteration of the name is Lev). His father says he was named after a doctor in San Francisco who saved his mother's life. The word schreiber means "writer" in German.

Grew up in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City. Graduated from Friends Seminary High School in Manhattan.

Attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Hampshire College and graduated with a Master's degree from the Yale School of Drama in 1992.

Son of Tell Schreiber and Heather Schreiber. Has four half-brothers and one-half sister, including younger half-brother, Pablo Schreiber.

Accompanied his girlfriend Naomi Watts to the King Kong (2005) premiere in New York. It was their first public appearance together. On February 28, 2007, they announced they are expecting their first child.

The role for which he won his first Tony Award (Richard Roma in "Glengarry Glen Ross") also won Joe Mantegna the Tony Award best featured actor in a play for the same role 21 years earlier in 1984. The 2005 production was directed by Joe Mantello.

Attended Friends Seminary High School in New York City with Amanda Peet when he was a senior and she was a freshman.

His father has German, Swiss, Danish, Dutch, English, French, Norwegian, Belgian Flemish, Scottish and Welsh ancestry. His mother is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family (from Poland and Ukraine).

Has appeared in two movies with Hugh Jackman : Kate & Leopold (2001) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).

Counts A Walk on the Moon (1999) as a personal favorite of his own films.

His first name is often mispronounced as "leave" or "LEE-ev." It is actually pronounced "lee-EV.".

After his parents divorced, he and his siblings saw their father very little during childhood.

Along with David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and Jamie Kennedy, he is one of only five actors to appear in all three "Scream" films.

Both he and Gary Sinise appear as criminal co-conspirators in Ransom (1996). Approximately ten years later, in a complete turnabout, both actors independently took roles as the crime-fighting team leaders of the widely popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000) television series. Gary's CSI: NY (2004) character is "Detective Mac Taylor" and Liev's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000) is "Michael Keppler".

As of 2022, he has been in 2 films that were Oscar nominated for Best Picture: Spotlight (2015) and Don't Look Up (2021). Of these, Spotlight is a winner in the category.

Has worked with Rose McGowan in two different horror films: Scream (1996) and Phantoms (1998).

Has appeared in two movies with Ben Affleck: Phantoms (1998) and The Sum of All Fears (2002).