Sam Worthington

Sam Worthington
Worthington in Manhattan, April 4, 2010
Born	Samuel Henry J. Worthington
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2000–present
Partner(s)	Maeve Dermody (2005–2008) Natalie Mark (2008–present)

Samuel Henry J. "Sam" Worthington (born 2 August 1976) is an English-Australian actor. After almost a decade of roles in Australian TV shows and films, Worthington gained Hollywood's attention by playing the role of Marcus Wright in Terminator Salvation (2009), the lead role as Jake Sully in the James Cameron-directed film Avatar (2009), and Perseus in the movie Clash of the Titans (2010).

In 2004, Worthington received Australia's highest film award for his lead performance in Somersault. He performed predominantly in leading roles in a variety of low-budget films before transitioning to major studio films, ranging from romantic drama and comedy-drama to science fiction and action.

Early life

Sam Worthington was born in Godalming, England, UK and moved to Perth, Western Australia when he was two months old. He grew up in Warnbro, a suburb of Rockingham. His father, Ronald, was a power plant employee while his mother, a homemaker, raised him and his sister. At 17, he dropped out of school and attended John Curtin College of the Arts, when his father also sent him on a one way trip to Cairns on the northeast coast of Australia and told him to "work his way home". He began working on construction and odd jobs, eventually settling in Sydney. At 19, he worked as a bricklayer when he auditioned for the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and was accepted with scholarship.

Career

2000–03

In 2000, Worthington made his film debut in the Australian film Bootmen. He was featured in a leading role as Mitchell Okden. Worthington was nominated for Best Lead Actor by the Australian Film Institute (AFI) for his performance. The same year, he guest starred in television series: JAG, Water Rats and Blue Heelers. Dirty Deeds was a critical and financial success, earning AU$5,034,142 at the box office in Australia.

Worthington went on to act in a series of Australian movies and TV series; including leading roles in Dirty Deeds (2002) and Gettin' Square (2003). He also appeared in Hart's War (2002).

2004–08

Worthington played the lead characters in Somersault (2004) and in a modern Australian retelling of Macbeth (2006). Worthington won the AFI Award for Best Lead Actor for his role in Somersault. He is well known in Australia for his role as Howard in the acclaimed Australian TV series Love My Way, where he played the main love interest of the female lead. Worthington's international film career began with a series of small roles in Hollywood production The Great Raid (2005), which was filmed in Australia.

2009–present

In Terminator Salvation, Worthington plays cyborg Marcus Wright who assists the humans despite their suspicions of him.

Shot prior to the release of Terminator Salvation, the James Cameron-directed science-fiction film Avatar was Worthington's next project. In the film, he played Jake Sully, a paraplegic U.S. Marine who, assigned to control an alien body called an avatar through a neural link, finds himself at the center of a war between his own species and the indigenous Na'vi people of the moon Pandora. The film went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time, grossing more than US$2.730 billion ($3.9 billion) in box-office receipts worldwide.

Worthington played Perseus in the 2010 remake of the 1981 Clash of the Titans. Worthington won the 2009 GQ Australia Actor and countless Man of the Year Awards. Later that year, he played Michael Reed in the romantic drama Last Night.

Later in 2010, Worthington is set to star in The Debt, a remake of the 2007 Israeli film of the same name. He also signed to appear in The Fields alongside Chloe Moretz, and The Candidate, also to be released in 2010, and Dracula Year Zero in 2011.

Personal life

Worthington says that when he was about 30, he sold most of his possessions and ended up with around $2000 to his name. He says he bought a car with the proceeds and was living in it before he successfully auditioned for his role in Avatar He then found a place to live.

Filmography

Actor

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2000	Bootmen	Mitchell Okden	Nominated — Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
2001	A Matter of Life	Our Hero	Short film
2002	Hart's War	Cpl. B.J. 'Depot' Guidry
	Dirty Deeds	Darcy	Nominated — Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Supporting Actor - Male
2003	Gettin' Square	Barry 'Wattsy' Wirth
2004	Somersault	Joe	Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated — Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor - Male Nominated — Inside Film Award for Best Actor
	Thunderstruck	Ronnie
	Blue Poles	Miles	Short film
2005	The Great Raid	Pfc. Lucas
	Fink!	Able
2006	A Fairytale of the City	The Artist	Short film
	Macbeth	Macbeth
2007	Rogue	Neil
2009	Terminator Salvation	Marcus Wright	Nominated — Scream Award Breakout Performance-Male Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Best Fresh Face Male
	Avatar	Jake Sully	Saturn Award for Best Actor Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actor Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (shared with Stephen Lang) Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Zoe Saldana) Teen choice award:Actor Sci-Fi
2010	Clash of the Titans	Perseus
	Last Night	Michael Reed	Post Production
	The Debt	Young David	completed
2011	The Fields	Jack
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	JAG	Dunsmore	Episode: "Boomerang: Part 1"
	Water Rats	Phillip Champion	Episode: "Able to Leap Tall Buildings"
	Blue Heelers	Shane Donovan	Episode: "Bloodlines"
2004	Love My Way	Howard Light	2004-2005 (10 episodes)
2005	The Surgeon	Dr. Sam Dash	2005 (8 episodes)
2006	Two Twisted	Gus Rogers	Episode: "Delivery Man"
2012	The Grass Crown	Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus	In-production

Writer credits

Year	Film	Notes
2004	Enzo	love by fans

Video games

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Call of Duty: Black Ops	2010	Captain Alex Mason	Voice actor

External links

• ArtistDirect.com Video Interview - Clash Of the Titans