A liquid crystal display device and a controlling method thereof are provided. The liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel screen divided into a plurality of areas; a plurality of backlight sources to selectively irradiate light respectively to the divided areas of the screen; and a controller to obtain at least one intermediate brightness value associated with data for at least one of the divided areas and to control a brightness of at least one of the backlight sources corresponding to the at least one divided area according to the at least one intermediate brightness value.