Actor Liam Neeson is facing a backlash, after he admitted he once hoped to carry out a racially-motivated revenge killing.

The Northern Irish Oscar nominee said he wanted to attack and kill a black man, after a female friend told him she had been raped by a person of colour.

The 66-year-old said his reaction was to roam the streets armed with a club, seeking a confrontation with a black person.

In an interview with the UK Independent for his new film 'Cold Pursuit', Neeson said he was ashamed of what he had done.

"She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way," he said.

"But my immediate reaction was... I asked, did she know who it was? No. What colour were they? She said it was a black person.

"I went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping I'd be approached by somebody - I'm ashamed to say that - and I did it for maybe a week, hoping some 'black b******' would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know?

"So that I could... kill him".

"It took me a week, maybe a week and a half, to go through that. She would say, 'Where are you going?' and I would say 'I'm just going out for a walk'".

He added: "I come from a society - I grew up in Northern Ireland in the Troubles - and, you know, I knew a couple of guys that died on hunger strike, and I had acquaintances who were very caught up in the Troubles, and I understand that need for revenge, but it just leads to more revenge, to more killing and more killing, and Northern Ireland's proof of that.

"All this stuff that's happening in the world, the violence, is proof of that, you know. But that primal need, I understand."

Former England footballer John Barnes has defended Neeson over his admission - and said he deserves 'a medal' for his honesty.