Sam Neill

Sir Sam Neill KNZM OBE
Neill in 2022
Born	Nigel John Dermot Neill (1947-09-14) 14 September 1947 Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Citizenship	New Zealand United Kingdom Ireland
Education	University of Canterbury Victoria University of Wellington
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1970–present
Spouse	Noriko Watanabe ​ ​ (m. 1989; sep. 2017)​
Children	4

Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill KNZM OBE (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor and vintner. Neill's career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he is regarded as one of the most versatile actors of his generation.

Born in Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, Neill moved to Christchurch with his family in 1954. He first achieved recognition with his appearance in the 1977 film Sleeping Dogs, which he followed with leading roles in My Brilliant Career (1979), Omen III: The Final Conflict, Possession (both 1981), Evil Angels (also known as A Cry in the Dark) (1988), Dead Calm (1989), The Hunt For Red October (1990), The Piano (1993) and In the Mouth of Madness (1994). He came to international prominence as Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park (1993), a role that he reprises in Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).

Outside of film, Neill has appeared in numerous television series in guest and recurring roles, including Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983), The Simpsons (1994), The Tudors (2007), Crusoe (2008–2010), Happy Town (2010), Alcatraz (2012), and Rick and Morty (2019), starring as Merlin in Merlin (1998) Merlin's Apprentice (2006) and Major Chester Campbell in the first two series of Peaky Blinders (2013–2014). He has presented and narrated several documentaries.

Neill is the recipient of the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the Longford Lyell Award, the New Zealand Film Award and the Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actor. He also has three Golden Globe and two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He won the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor at the 2023 Logies.

Early life

Northern Ireland

Neill was born on 14 September 1947 in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to Priscilla Beatrice (née Ingham) and Dermot Neill. His father, an army officer, was a second-generation New Zealander, while his mother was English.

His great-grandfather Percival "Percy" Neill left Belfast, Ireland, and moved to Melbourne, Australia, joining a firm of merchants. Four years later, in 1863, he moved to New Zealand, settling in Dunedin. He was the son of a wine merchant importing wine from France.

At the time of Neill's birth, his father was stationed in Northern Ireland, serving with the Royal Irish Fusiliers. His father's family owned Neill and Co. (later part of the listed hospitality group Wilson Neill).

New Zealand

In 1954 the Neill family moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, living in Cashmere. In Christchurch Sam attended Cashmere Primary School, then Medbury School a private prepatory (prep) school. After a year his parents and younger sister Juliet moved south to his father's home city of Dunedin. They lived at Macandrew Bay, where the kids could roam free in the holidays.

He first took to calling himself "Sam" at school because there were several other students named Nigel, and because he felt the name Nigel was "a little effete for ... a New Zealand playground".

From 1961 he attended the Anglican boys' boarding and day secondary school Christ's College in Christchurch.

He went on to study at the University of Canterbury. He was uncertain about a career, rejecting following his father into the Army or the family firm. He considered law but wasted one year when he failed all four law units.

He was in several plays, such as Ngaio Marsh's A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of Marsh's Shakespeare productions for the Canterbury University Drama Society, in which Neill played Theseus. He acted in a production of ‘‘Marat/Sade’’ by Mervyn Thompson, and when another actor dropped out of a Wellington season, he replaced him as Jacques Roux, a role he played ‘’frothing and raving in a straitjacket’’.

The play was staged at Downstage Theatre. Sam had ‘’the time of [his] life’’ and saw that the arts and drama were ‘’part of the fabric of the city, ‘’ unlike in Christchurch or Dunedin. He transferred from the University of Canterbury to Victoria University of Wellington to finish his BA degree with a philosophy unit; and passed the ‘’logic’’ paper with some last-minute coaching by John Clarke. He played ‘’Macbeth’’ in a university production directed by Phillip Mann. Then he joined Downstage as a professional paid actor, paid thirtyfive dollars a week; plus food from the kitchen left over from the meal served to the audience before the show.

In 2004, on the Australian talk show Enough Rope, interviewer Andrew Denton briefly touched on the topic of Neill's stuttering. He recalled how deeply it had affected him in his life and, as a result, he often found himself "hoping that people wouldn't talk to [him]" so he would not have to answer. He also stated, "I kind of outgrew it. I can still ... you can still detect me as a stammerer."

Acting career

New Zealand

Stills from Landfall – A Film About Ourselves (1974)

Neill's first film was a New Zealand television film The City of No (1971). He followed it with a short, The Water Cycle (1972) and the television film Hunt's Duffer (1973). Neill wrote and directed a film for the New Zealand National Film Unit, Telephone Etiquette (1974). He also appeared in Landfall (1975).

Neill's breakthrough performance in New Zealand was the film Sleeping Dogs (1977), the first local film to be widely screened abroad.

Australia

Neill went to Australia where he had a guest role on the TV show The Sullivans. He was the romantic male lead in My Brilliant Career (1979), opposite Judy Davis, which was a big international success.

He made some Australian films that were less widely seen: The Journalist (1979), Just Out of Reach (1979) and Attack Force Z (1981), and appeared in television productions such as Young Ramsay and Lucinda Brayford.

International career

Neill in Evil Angels (1988)

In 1981, he won his first big international role, as Damien Thorn, son of the devil, in Omen III: The Final Conflict; also in that year, he played an outstanding main role in Andrzej Żuławski's cult film Possession.

The 1982 film of Ivanhoe made Neill a local celebrity in Sweden, where it has been aired on SVT every New Years Day for 40 years.

He was one of the leading candidates to succeed Roger Moore in the role of James Bond, but lost out to Timothy Dalton. Among his many Australian roles is playing Michael Chamberlain in Evil Angels (1988) (released as A Cry in the Dark outside of Australia and New Zealand), a film about the case of Azaria Chamberlain.

Neill at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

Neill has played heroes and occasionally villains in a succession of film and television dramas and comedies. In the UK, he won early fame and was Golden Globe nominated after portraying real-life spy, Sidney Reilly, in the mini-series Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983). An early American starring role was in 1987's Amerika, playing a senior KGB officer leading the occupation and division of a defeated United States. His leading and co-starring roles in films include the thriller Dead Calm (1989), the two-part historical epic La Révolution française (1989) (as Marquis de Lafayette), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Death in Brunswick (1990) (in which he was re-teamed with old friend John Clarke), Jurassic Park (1993), Sirens (1994), The Jungle Book (1994), John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness (1995), Event Horizon (1997), Bicentennial Man (1999), the comedy The Dish (2000), and Jurassic Park III (2001).

Neill has occasionally acted in New Zealand films, including The Piano (1993), Perfect Strangers (2003), Under the Mountain (2009), and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016). He returned to directing in 1995 with the documentary Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill (1995) which he wrote and directed with Judy Rymer.

In 1993, he co-starred with Anne Archer in Question of Faith, an independent drama based on a true story about one woman's fight to beat cancer and have a baby. In 2000, he provided the voice of Sam Sawnoff in The Magic Pudding. In 2001, he hosted and narrated a documentary series for the BBC entitled Space (Hyperspace in the United States).

He portrayed the eponymous wizard in Merlin (1998), a miniseries based on the legends of King Arthur. He reprised his role in the sequel, Merlin's Apprentice (2006).

Neill starred in the historical drama The Tudors, playing Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. "I have to say I really enjoyed making The Tudors", he said, "It was six months with a character that I found immensely intriguing, with a cast that I liked very much and with a story I found very compelling. It has elements that are hard to beat: revenge and betrayal, lust and treason, all the things that make for good stories."

Neill at Burghound Asia in Singapore in 2011

He acted in the short-lived Fox TV series Alcatraz (2012) as Emerson Hauser. He played the role of Otto Luger in the fantasy adventure film The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box (2014). He had a role in the BBC series Peaky Blinders, set in post-World War I Birmingham. He played the role of Chief Inspector Chester Campbell, a sadistic corrupt policeman, who came to clean up the town on Churchill's orders. In the 2015 BBC TV miniseries And Then There Were None, based on Agatha Christie's thriller, he played the role of General MacArthur.

In 2016, he starred in the New Zealand-made film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, directed by Taika Waititi, as well as the ITV miniseries Tutankhamun. In 2017, Neill appeared in a scene in Waititi's fantasy sequel Thor: Ragnarok, in which he portrays an actor playing Odin (as depicted by Anthony Hopkins), alongside Luke Hemsworth and Matt Damon as actors playing Thor and Loki, respectively. He portrays the same actor in Thor: Love and Thunder in 2022.

In 2018, he portrayed Mr. McGregor and also provided the voice of Tommy Brock, in Peter Rabbit. In 2019, he was cast for the role of Denis Goldberg in Escape from Pretoria; however, the role was subsequently recast with Ian Hart. In late 2019, he was announced to reprise his character of Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic World Dominion, which released in July 2022.

In 2022, Neill appeared in the Foxtel legal drama The Twelve as Brett Colby. When the series was renewed for series 2, Neill would reprise the role of Colby being the only member of the original season one cast to do so. On 16 September 2024, it was announced that The Twelve had been renewed for a third season and Neill would be returning as Colby.

On 21 June 2024, Neill was named in the cast for the Netflix drama Untamed.

Personal life

In 1980, Neill met actress Lisa Harrow while filming Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981) and they have a son. He married make-up artist Noriko Watanabe in 1989 and they have one daughter together. He also adopted Watanabe's daughter from her first marriage. He separated from Watanabe in 2017, and dated Australian political journalist Laura Tingle from 2018 to 2021.

In his early twenties, Neill fathered a son who was placed for adoption. They reunited in 1994.

Neill lives in Alexandra, New Zealand, South Island, and owns a winery called Two Paddocks, consisting of a vineyard at Gibbston and two near Alexandra, all in the Central Otago wine region. His avocation is running Two Paddocks. "I'd like the vineyard to support me but I'm afraid it is the other way round. It is not a very economic business", said Neill, "It is a ridiculously time- and money-consuming business. I would not do it if it was not so satisfying and fun, and it gets me pissed once in a while." He enjoys sharing his exploits on the farm through social media. He names his farm animals after film-industry colleagues.

Neill supports the New Zealand Labour Party and the Australian Labor Party. He has been a member of the Equity New Zealand trade union since 1979.

In March 2023, Neill revealed that he had been undergoing chemotherapy since March 2022 after being diagnosed with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, following swollen glands that were first noticed during publicity for Jurassic World Dominion. He stated that the cancer is in remission, but he will require monthly chemotherapy for the rest of his life.

Neill used his year away from work while undergoing his cancer treatment to write a memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This?, published in March 2023.

Honours and awards

Neill was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1991 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services as an actor. In the 2007 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM). When knighthoods were returned to the New Zealand royal honours system in 2009, those with DCNZM or higher honours were given the option of converting them into knighthoods. Neill chose not to do this, saying the title of Sir was "just far too grand, by far". However, in June 2022, he accepted redesignation as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, granting him the title Sir.

Neill was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Canterbury in 2002. Neill was awarded the 2019 Equity New Zealand Lifetime achievement award, celebrating his distinguished performance career, as well as his leadership and mentoring towards others in the acting industry. In 2020, he received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon Award, limited to 20 living people.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Landfall	Eric
	Ashes	Priest
1977	Sleeping Dogs	Smith
1979	Just Out of Reach	Mike
	The Journalist	Rex
	My Brilliant Career	Harry Beecham
1981	Omen III: The Final Conflict	Damien Thorn
	Possession	Mark
	From a Far Country: Pope John Paul II	Marian
1982	Attack Force Z	Sergeant D. J. (Danny) Costello
	Enigma	Dimitri Vasilikov
1984	The Blood of Others	Bergman
	The Country Girls	Mr Gentleman
1985	Robbery Under Arms	Captain Starlight
	Plenty	Lazar
1986	For Love Alone	James Quick
1987	The Umbrella Woman	Neville Gifford
1988	Leap of Faith	Oscar Ogg	Also known as Question of Faith
1988	Evil Angels	Michael Chamberlain	Won – AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Also known as A Cry in the Dark
1989	Dead Calm	John Ingram
	La Révolution française	Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
1990	The Hunt for Red October	First Officer Vasily Borodin
	Shadow of China	TV reporter	Credited as John Dermot
1991	Death in Brunswick	Carl 'Cookie' Fitzgerald	Nominated – AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
	Until the End of the World	Eugene Fitzpatrick
1992	Memoirs of an Invisible Man	David Jenkins	Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Hostage	John Rennie
1993	The Piano	Alisdair Stewart	Nominated – AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
	Jurassic Park	Dr. Alan Grant
	Sirens	Norman Lindsay
1994	Country Life	Dr. Max Askey
	The Jungle Book	Colonel Geofferey Brydon
	In the Mouth of Madness	John Trent
1995	Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill	Narrator
	Restoration	King Charles II
1996	Children of the Revolution	Nine
	Victory	Mr. Jones
1997	Event Horizon	Dr. William Weir
	Snow White: A Tale of Terror	Lord Fredrick Hoffman
1998	The Horse Whisperer	Robert MacLean
	Sweet Revenge	Henry Bell
1999	Molokai: The Story of Father Damien	Walter Murray Gibson
	Bicentennial Man	'Sir' Richard Martin
2000	My Mother Frank	Professor Mortlock	Nominated – AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
	The Dish	Cliff Buxton
	The Magic Pudding	Sam Sawnoff	Voice
2001	Jurassic Park III	Dr. Alan Grant
	The Zookeeper	Ludovic	Won – Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2002	Dirty Deeds	Ray
	Leunig Animated	Narrator
2003	Perfect Strangers	The Man
2004	Yes	Anthony
	Wimbledon	Dennis Bradbury
2005	Gallipoli	Narrator	Voice
	Little Fish	The Jockey
2006	Irresistible	Craig
2007	Angel	Théo
2008	Dean Spanley	Dean Spanley
	Skin	Abraham Laing
2009	In Her Skin	Mr. Reid
	Iron Road	Alfred Nichol
	Under the Mountain	Mr. Jones
	Daybreakers	Charles Bromley
2010	Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole	Allomere	Voice
2011	The Dragon Pearl	Chris Chase
	The Hunter	Jack Mindy	Nominated – AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
2012	The Vow	Bill Thornton
2013	Escape Plan	Dr. Kyrie
	The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box	Otto Luger
2014	United Passions	João Havelange
	A Long Way Down	Minister Crichton	Jess's father
2015	Backtrack	Duncan Stewart
	The Daughter	Walter Finch	Nominated – AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
2016	Hunt for the Wilderpeople	Uncle Hec
	Tommy's Honour	Alexander Boothby
2017	MindGamers	Kreutz
	Sweet Country	Fred Smith
	Thor: Ragnarok	Odin Actor	Cameo
2018	The Commuter	Captain David Hawthorne
	Peter Rabbit	Mr. McGregor Tommy Brock (voice)
2019	Palm Beach	Leo
	Blackbird	Paul
	Ride Like a Girl	Paddy Payne
	Take Home Pay	Wedding Planner	Cameo
2020	Rams	Colin
2021	Daisy Quokka: World's Scariest Animal	Frankie Scales	Voice
	Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway	Tommy Brock
2022	Jurassic World Dominion	Dr. Alan Grant
	Thor: Love and Thunder	Odin Actor
2023	The Portable Door	Dennis Tanner
	Assassin Club	Jonathan Caldwell
	Scarygirl	Dr. Maybee
	Bring Him to Me	Frank McCarthy

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1979–1980	The Sullivans	Ben Dawson	Episodes 519–558
1980	Lucinda Brayford	Tony Duff	Four-part miniseries ABC Television, Melbourne Australia
1982	Ivanhoe	Brian de Bois-Guilbert	Television film
1983	Reilly, Ace of Spies	Sidney Reilly	12 episodes Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1985	Kane & Abel	William Lowell Kane	Miniseries
1986	Strong Medicine	Vince Lord	Television film
1987	Amerika	Colonel Andrei Denisov	Miniseries
1991	Fever	Eliott	Television film
	One Against the Wind	Sergeant James Liggett	Television film Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1993	Family Pictures	David Eberlin	Television film
	The Rainbow Warrior	Alan Galbraith
1994	The Simpsons	Molloy	Voice, episode: "Homer the Vigilante"
1996	In Cold Blood	Agent Alvin Dewey	Miniseries
1998	Merlin	Merlin	Miniseries Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
	The Games	Citytrans CEO	Episode: "Transport"
2000	Sally Hemings: An American Scandal	Thomas Jefferson	Miniseries
2001	Submerged	Lt. Cmdr. Charles B. 'Swede' Momsen	Television film
2002	Doctor Zhivago	Victor Komarovsky	Miniseries
	Framed	Eddie Meyers	Television film
2004	Stiff	Lionel Merricks
	Jessica	Richard Runche	Miniseries Logie Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series Nominated – AACTA Award for Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama
2005	The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant	Governor Arthur Phillip	Miniseries
	To the Ends of the Earth	Mr. Prettiman
	The Triangle	Eric Benerall	Miniseries Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television
2006	Merlin's Apprentice	Merlin	Miniseries
	Two Twisted	Mick	Episode: "Von Stauffenberg's Stamp"
2007	The Tudors	Cardinal Thomas Wolsey	10 episodes Nominated – Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama Series Nominated – Monte-Carlo Television Festival Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
2008–2010	Crusoe	Jeremiah Blackthorn	14 episodes
2009	Happy Town	Merritt Grieves	8 episodes
2010	Rake	Dr. Bruce Chandler	Episode: "R v Chandler"
2011	Ice	Anthony Kavanagh	Miniseries
2012	Alcatraz	Emerson Hauser	13 episodes
2013	Harry	Jim "Stocks" Stockton	Miniseries
2013–2014	Peaky Blinders	Major Chester Campbell	12 episodes
2014	Old School	Ted Macabe	8 episodes
	House of Hancock	Lang Hancock	Miniseries
2015	And Then There Were None	General John Gordon MacArthur
2016	Tutankhamun	Lord Carnavon	Miniseries
2019	Rick and Morty	Monogatron Leader	Voice, episode: "The Old Man and the Seat"
2020	Flack	Duncan Paulson	Season 2
2021	Invasion	Sheriff John Bell Tyson	Season 1, Episode 1
2022–present	The Twelve	Brett Colby SC	Main role: 18 episodes
2024	Apples Never Fall	Stan Delaney	Miniseries: 7 episodes
TBA	Untamed	Paul Souter	In production

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Lego Jurassic World	Alan Grant	Archive Audio from the films.
2018	Jurassic World Evolution		Voice role, Return to Jurassic Park Expansion
2021	Jurassic World Evolution 2		Voice role, Biosyn Dominion expansion

Self appearance

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
2024	The Assembly	Himself / interviewee	Documentary series, 1 episode
2018	The Pacific: In the Wake of Captain Cook with Sam Neill	Himself	Documentary series, 6 episodes (known as Captain Cook's Pacific with Sam Neill in the UK)
2017	Get Krack!n	Himself	Season 1, Episode 1
2016	Why Anzac with Sam Neill	Himself	Documentary, wrote and produced
	New Zealand: Earth's Mythical Islands	Narrator	Documentary series, 3 episodes Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator
	Country Calendar	Himself	Episode: "Film Noir"
2009	bro'Town	Himself	Voice, episode: "To Sam with Love"
2001	Space	Himself	Documentary series
1995	Forgotten Silver	Himself	Television film

Books

• Neill, Sam (2023). Did I Ever Tell You This?: A Memoir. London: Michael Joseph Ltd. ISBN 9780241648988. OCLC 1356450549.
• Neill, Sam (2023). Did I Ever Tell You This?: A Memoir. Melbourne: The Text Publishing Company. ISBN 9781922790309. (Australian edition)

See also

• List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards

External links

• Sam Neill on Instagram
• Sam Neill on Twitter
• Sam Neill at IMDb
• Sam Neill at Rotten Tomatoes