Hollywood star Liam Neeson's popularity isn't falling with age. It is the opposite.

After the English-language French action thriller Taken became a sleeper hit in 2008, he saw his fame grow at the age of 56. The movie, starring him as a former CIA operative who seeks to rescue his kidnapped daughter, reshaped his career, bringing Neeson a dozen similar roles in films such as Non-Stop and The Commuter.

During a recent visit to Beijing to promote The Commuter, which will be released in Chinese mainland theaters on Friday, Neeson said it was China that changed his professional life.

Neeson, now 65, went to the annual Shanghai International Film Festival in 2006 to support his late wife Natasha Richardson's film The White Countess, which is an epic romance set in 1930s Shanghai. The 135-minute feature also starring Neeson's friend, British actor Ralph Fiennes, is a coproduction of China and the United Kingdom, and was selected as the festival's opening film.

Richardson passed away after suffering serious injuries in a ski accident in 2009.

"I had read the script of Taken before (touring Shanghai). The story is very cool. My agent found that Luc Besson was there. I think, 'Great! I would get the chance to ask him: Can you think of me to be a part of this movie?'" he recalls, with a smile.