Sam Neill Biography
Sam Neill,born Nigel John Dermot Neill on 14th September 1947, is a New Zealand actor who first achieved leading roles in films such as Omen III: The Final Conflict, Possession, and Dead Calm and on television in Reilly, Ace of Spies. Neill was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to Priscilla Beatrice , born Ingham and Dermot Neill. His father, an army officer, was a third-generation New Zealander, while his mother was born in England. His father was stationed in Northern Ireland, serving with the Irish Guards at the time of Neill’s birth . His father’s family owned Neill and Co. , the largest liquor retailers in New Zealand at the time. Neill holds British citizenship through his place of birth, but identifies primarily as a New Zealander.
Neill moved to New Zealand with his family in 1954. while there he attended the Anglican boys’ boarding school Christ’s College, Christchurch. Later he went on to study English literature at the University of Canterbury, where he had his first exposure to acting. He moved to Wellington to continue his tertiary education at Victoria University, where he graduated with a BA in English literature. In 2004, on the Australian talk show Enough Rope, interviewer Andrew Denton briefly touched on the issue of Neill’s stuttering which affected most of his childhood and as a result he was “hoping that people wouldn’t talk to him” so he would not have to answer back. He also stated, “I kind of outgrew it.
Sam Neill Career
Sam Neill, after working at the New Zealand National Film Unit as a director, he was later cast for the lead role in the 1977 New Zealand film Sleeping Dogs. Following this, he appeared in Australian romance My Brilliant Career in 1979, opposite Judy Davis. He won his first big international role, in 1981 ,as Damien Thorn, son of the devil, in Omen III: The Final Conflict; that same year, he also played an outstanding main role in Andrzej Żuławski’s cult film, Possession. Later, Neill 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 in 1988 about the case of Azaria Chamberlain.
Neill has played heroes and occasionally villains in a succession of film and television dramas and comedies. He won early fame in the UK, and was Golden Globe nominated after portraying real-life spy, Sidney Reilly, in the mini-series Reilly, Ace of Spies in 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 thriller Dead Calm in 1989, two-part historical epic La Révolution française in 1989 , as Marquis de Lafayette, The Hunt for Red October in 1990, Death in Brunswick (1990), Jurassic Park (1993), Sirens (1994), The Jungle Book (1994), John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness (1995), Event Horizon (1997), Bicentennial Man (1999), and comedy The Dish (2000).
Neill has from time to time acted in New Zealand films, notably The Piano in 1993 , Perfect Strangers in 2003 , Under the Mountain in 2009 , and Hunt for the Wilderpeople in 2016. He returned to directing in 1995 with the documentary Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill in 1995 which he wrote and directed with Judy Rymer.Neill in 1993, 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. He hosted and narrated a documentary series for the BBC entitled Space ,Hyperspace in the United States, in 2001.
In 1998, he portrayed the eponymous wizard in Merlin , 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”, Neill 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.”
Sam Neill PhotoIn 2012 he acted in the short-lived Fox TV series Alcatraz as Emerson Hauser. He played the role of Otto Luger in the fantasy adventure movie The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box in 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.
He starred in the New Zealand-made film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople,in 2016, which was directed by Taika Waititi, as well as the ITV miniseries Tutankhamun. In 2017 Neill appeared in a comedic scene in the fantasy sequel Thor: Ragnarok, in which he portrays an actor playing Odin alongside Luke Hemsworth and Matt Damon playing Thor and Loki respectively. In 2018, Neill portrayed Mr. McGregor and also the voice of Tommy Brock in Peter Rabbit.
Sam Neill Age
Neill was born in 1947 in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to Priscilla Beatrice and Dermot Neill. He is 70 years old.
Sam Neill Wife
Neill was married to actress Lisa Harrow from 1978 to 1989 . They have a son, Tim, born in 1983. Later he married make-up artist Noriko Watanabe in 1989 and they have one daughter, Elena born in 1991. Neill is also stepfather to Maiko Spencer, a daughter from Noriko’s first marriage. Neill has another son, Andrew, born in his early twenties, but was adopted by someone else. In 2014, Neill said the two “went looking for one another ” and that their reunion was “much more grown-up” than expected. In early 2018, Neill was reported to be in a relationship with Australian journalist Laura Tingle.
Sam Neill Children
Sam has two children, a son, Tim, born in 1983 and a daughter, Elena born in 1991.
Sam Neill Net Worth
Sam Neill net worth: Sam Neill is a Northern-Irish born, New Zealander actor who has a net worth of $18 million.
Sam Neill Movies
- 1975 Landfall
- Ashes
- 1977 Sleeping Dogs
- 1979 Just Out of Reach
- The Journalist
- My Brilliant Career
- 1981 Omen III: The Final Conflict
- Possession
- From a Far Country
- 1982 Ivanhoe
- Attack Force Z
- Enigma
- 1984 The Blood of Others
- The Country Girls
- 1985 Robbery Under Arms
- Plenty
- 1986 For Love Alone
- 1987 The Good Wife
- 1988 Evil Angels (A Cry in the Dark)
- 1989 Dead Calm
- La Révolution française
- 1990 The Hunt for Red October
- Shadow of China
- 1991 Death in Brunswick
- Until the End of the World
- 1992 The Rainbow Warrior
- Memoirs of an Invisible Man
- Hostage
- 1993 The Piano
- Jurassic Park
- Sirens
- 1994 Country Life
- The Jungle Book
- In the Mouth of Madness
- 1995 Restoration
- 1996 Children of the Revolution
- Victory
- 1997 Event Horizon William Weir
- Snow White: A Tale of Terror
- 1998 The Horse Whisperer
- Sweet Revenge
- 1999 Molokai
- Bicentennial Man
- 2000 My Mother Frank
- The Dish
- The Magic Pudding
- 2001 Jurassic Park III
- The Zookeeper
- 2002 Dirty Deeds
- Leunig Animated
- 2003 Perfect Strangers
- Yes
- 2004 Wimbledon
- 2005 Gallipoli
- 2006 Irresistible
- 2007 Angel Théo
- 2008 Dean Spanley
- Skin Abraham Laing
- 2009 In Her Skin
- Iron Road
- Under the Mountain
- Daybreakers
- 2010 Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
- 2011 The Dragon Pearl
- The Hunter
- 2012 The Vow
- 2013 Escape Plan
- The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box
- 2014 United Passions
- A Long Way Down
- 2015 Backtrack
- The Daughter
- 2016 Hunt for the Wilderpeople
- Tommy’s Honour
- 2017 Thor: Ragnarok
- MindGamers
- Sweet Country
- 2018 The Commuter
- Peter Rabbit
