Sam Neill

Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. His 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 Northern Ireland to an English mother and New Zealand father, Neill moved to Christchurch with his family in 1954. He first achieved recognition with his appearance in the film '' Sleeping Dogs'' (1977), 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), reprising the role 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). He also starred as the titular character Merlin in ''Merlin'' (1998) and '' Merlin's Apprentice'' (2006), and as 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

Nigel John Dermot Neill was born in Omagh on 14 September 1947, the son of English mother Priscilla Beatrice (née Ingham) and New Zealand father Dermot Neill. Consequently he has three documented nationalities for New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom. His great-grandfather Percival "Percy" Neill had left Belfast for Australia, joining a firm of merchants in Melbourne. Four years later, in 1863, he moved to New Zealand and settled in Dunedin. He was the son of a wine merchant who imported wine from France. At the time of Neill's birth, his father was stationed in Northern Ireland, serving as an officer with the Royal Irish Fusiliers. His father's family owned Neill and Co. (later part of the listed hospitality group Wilson Neill).

In 1954, the Neill family moved to New Zealand and settled in the Cashmere suburb of Christchurch. He attended Cashmere Primary School and Medbury School, a private 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 children 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 but was uncertain about a career, deciding not to follow his father into the army or the family firm. He considered law, but wasted one year when he failed all four law units.

Neill was in several plays, such as playing Theseus in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', directed by Ngaio Marsh for the Canterbury University Drama Society. He acted in a production of ''Marat/Sade'' by Mervyn Thompson, and when another actor dropped out of a Wellington season, Neill replaced him as Jacques Roux. The play was staged at Downstage Theatre. He had "the time of islife" and saw that the arts and drama were "part of the fabric of the city" unlike in Christchurch or Dunedin. He transferred from Canterbury to Victoria University of Wellington to finish his Bachelor of Arts with a philosophy unit, and passed the "logic" paper with some last-minute coaching by John Clarke.

Neill played Macbeth in a university production directed by Phillip Mann, then joined Downstage as a professional paid actor for $25 per 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 im so he would not have to answer them. He also stated, "I kind of outgrew it utyou can still detect me as a stammerer."

Career

New Zealand

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 overseas.

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

In 1981, he won his first big international role, as Damien Thorn, son of the devil, in '' Omen III: The Final Conflict'';For Your Consideration: Sam Neill for the FANGORIA Hall of Fame!
, Fangoria.com, 11 January 2015. also in that year, he played a 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 Australia and New Zealand), a film about the case of Azaria Chamberlain.

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."

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 6 December 2024, Neill was announced as a nominee for the 2025 AACTA awards for his role on ''The Twelve.''

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."Pam Brown
The West. "A glorious romp through history"
5 February 2008. 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.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

As himself

Books

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Honours, awards and nominations

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.

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.

Awards and nominations

See also

* List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Neill, Sam
1947 births
1970s in New Zealand cinema
20th-century male actors from Northern Ireland
20th-century New Zealand male actors
20th-century New Zealand male writers
21st-century male actors from Northern Ireland
21st-century New Zealand male actors
21st-century New Zealand male writers
Actors awarded knighthoods
Audiobook narrators
Best Actor AACTA Award winners
Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Living people
Logie Award winners
New Zealand documentary film directors
New Zealand expatriates in Australia
New Zealand male voice actors
New Zealand male television actors
New Zealand male film actors
New Zealand memoirists
New Zealand people of English descent
New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire
New Zealand screenwriters
New Zealand television producers
New Zealand winemakers
Emigrants from Northern Ireland to New Zealand
People educated at Christ's College, Christchurch
People educated at Medbury School
People from Northern Ireland of English descent
People from Northern Ireland of New Zealand descent
People from Omagh
People from Queenstown, New Zealand
Actors from Otago
University of Canterbury alumni
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Actors from County Tyrone
21st-century memoirists from Northern Ireland
New Zealand male screenwriters
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Male film actors from Northern Ireland
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British expatriate male actors in Australia
Expatriates from Northern Ireland in Australia