The Perfect Couple's Liev Schreiber's real name and family life off screen

The murder mystery drama, The Perfect Couple, is set to air on Netflix from September 5. The series is based on the novel of the same name by Elin Hilderbrand.

The story revolves around the Nantucket Winbury family, led by Greer Garrison Winbury, portrayed by Nicole Kidman, and her husband Tag, played by Liev Schreiber.

Schreiber, a 56 year old American actor, is also a director, screenwriter, and producer. He gained recognition in the late 1990s for his work in independent films before starring in Hollywood hits such as Scream, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and The French Dispatch.

Born Isaac Liev Schreiber in California, he is the son of painter Heather and actor Tell. His maternal grandfather, Alex Milgram, emigrated from Ukraine.

His mother named him Liev after her favourite Russian author, Leo Tolstoy, while his father claimed he was named after the doctor who saved his mother's life, reports the Express.

The star revealed that his affectionate family nickname from childhood is 'Huggy'.

Raised by his independent mother, Heather, a left-wing Jewish intellectual who shunned material comforts, Liev grew up differently from his three older half-brothers from his mother's previous relationship, who lived more affluently with their biological father.

His father, residing near Seattle, describes his ex-partner Heather as an exciting woman with a nonconformist spirit. Speaking to Esquire, he said: "When I met Heather, she was an artist. I loved her wholeheartedly. Heather has always been a Greenwich Village communist."

"She could whistle Mozart and paint; she was the most interesting woman I'd ever met."

When Tell moved to a smaller farm in Canada, Heather relocated to Manhattan with five year old Liev, who would not reunite