Sam Neill Biography, Career, Wife, Age, Children , Movies and Net Worth

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 Photo

In 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

1. 1975 Landfall
2. Ashes
3. 1977 Sleeping Dogs
4. 1979 Just Out of Reach
5. The Journalist
6. My Brilliant Career
7. 1981 Omen III: The Final Conflict
8. Possession
9. From a Far Country
10. 1982 Ivanhoe
11. Attack Force Z
12. Enigma
13. 1984 The Blood of Others
14. The Country Girls
15. 1985 Robbery Under Arms
16. Plenty
17. 1986 For Love Alone
18. 1987 The Good Wife
19. 1988 Evil Angels (A Cry in the Dark)
20. 1989 Dead Calm
21. La Révolution française
22. 1990 The Hunt for Red October
23. Shadow of China
24. 1991 Death in Brunswick
25. Until the End of the World
26. 1992 The Rainbow Warrior
27. Memoirs of an Invisible Man
28. Hostage
29. 1993 The Piano
30. Jurassic Park
31. Sirens
32. 1994 Country Life
33. The Jungle Book
34. In the Mouth of Madness
35. 1995 Restoration
36. 1996 Children of the Revolution
37. Victory
38. 1997 Event Horizon    William Weir
39. Snow White: A Tale of Terror
40. 1998 The Horse Whisperer
41. Sweet Revenge
42. 1999 Molokai
43. Bicentennial Man
44. 2000 My Mother Frank
45. The Dish
46. The Magic Pudding
47. 2001 Jurassic Park III
48. The Zookeeper
49. 2002 Dirty Deeds
50. Leunig Animated
51. 2003 Perfect Strangers
52. Yes
53. 2004 Wimbledon
54. 2005 Gallipoli
55. 2006 Irresistible
56. 2007 Angel    Théo
57. 2008 Dean Spanley
58. Skin Abraham Laing
59. 2009 In Her Skin
60. Iron Road
61. Under the Mountain
62. Daybreakers
63. 2010 Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
64. 2011 The Dragon Pearl
65. The Hunter
66. 2012 The Vow
67. 2013 Escape Plan
68. The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box
69. 2014 United Passions
70. A Long Way Down
71. 2015 Backtrack
72. The Daughter
73. 2016 Hunt for the Wilderpeople
74. Tommy’s Honour
75. 2017 Thor: Ragnarok
76. MindGamers
77. Sweet Country
78. 2018 The Commuter
79. Peter Rabbit

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