Sam Neill
New Zealand actor (1947–2026)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (14 September 1947 – 13 July 2026) was a New Zealand actor and businessman. Known as a leading man in film and television, he received nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1991 Queen's Birthday Honours for services as an actor.
14 September 1947
- New Zealand
- UK
- Ireland
Sam Neill | |
|---|---|
Neill in 2010 | |
| Born | Nigel John Dermot Neill 14 September 1947 Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland |
| Died | 13 July 2026 (aged 78) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Citizenship |
|
| Education | |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1969–2026 |
| Works | Full list |
| Spouse |
Noriko Watanabe
(m. 1989; sep. 2017) |
| Children | 4 |
Born in Northern Ireland to an English mother and a 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), followed by leading roles in My Brilliant Career (1979), The Final Conflict (1981), Possession (1981), Evil Angels/A Cry in the Dark (1988), Dead Calm (1989), Death in Brunswick (1990), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Piano (1993), In the Mouth of Madness (1994), Event Horizon (1997), The Dish (2000) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016). He came to international prominence as Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park (1993), a role he reprised in Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).
On television, he portrayed Merlin in the miniseries Merlin (1998) and Merlin's Apprentice (2006), the former of which earned him nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award and the Golden Globe Award. He was also Golden Globe-nominated for playing historic spy Sidney Reilly in Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983) and a British officer during World War II in One Against the Wind (1991). He also played Thomas Wolsey in The Tudors (2007) and Major Chester Campbell in Peaky Blinders (2013–2014). He was also known for narrating various documentary projects.
Early life, education and early theatre work
Nigel John Dermot Neill was born on 14 September 1947 in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to an English mother, Priscilla Beatrice Ingham, and a New Zealand father, Dermot Neill.[1] As a result, he held three documented nationalities: New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.[2][3] His great-grandfather, Percival "Percy" Neill, the son of a wine merchant who imported wine from France, had left Belfast for Australia, where he joined a firm of merchants in Melbourne, eventually moving to New Zealand and settling in Dunedin in 1863.[4][5][6] At the time of Neill's birth, his father was stationed in Northern Ireland, serving as an officer with the Royal Irish Fusiliers.[7] His father's family owned Neill and Co., later part of the listed hospitality group Wilson Neill.[8][9]
In 1954, the Neill family moved to New Zealand and settled in the Christchurch suburb of Cashmere.[10] Neill attended Cashmere Primary School and Medbury School, a private preparatory school.[11] 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 they were free to roam during the holidays.[12] As a child, Neill had a stammer; during a 2004 interview on the Australian talk show Enough Rope, Andrew Denton briefly discussed this stutter, and Neill recalled how deeply it had affected him and said he often found himself "hoping that people wouldn't talk to [him]" so he would not have to answer, adding "I kind of outgrew it [but] you can still detect me as a stammerer."[13] He began calling himself "Sam" at school because several other boys were named Nigel, and because he felt the name Nigel was "a little effete for ... a New Zealand playground".[13][14][15] From 1961, he was a boarding pupil at Christ's College, an Anglican boys' boarding and day school in Christchurch.[10]
He attended the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, but was uncertain about a career, deciding not to follow his father into the army or the family firm. He considered law, but failed all four units in his first year.[16] He appeared in several university productions, including playing Theseus in 1969 in A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Ngaio Marsh for the Canterbury University Drama Society.[17]
Neill acted in the 1969 production by Mervyn Thompson of Marat/Sade, and when it transferred to Wellington at the Downstage Theatre at the end of 1969 and an actor withdrew, Neill replaced him as Jacques Roux.[18] He described the experience as "the time of [his] life" and observed that the arts were "part of the fabric of the city" unlike in Christchurch or Dunedin.[18] Having relocated to Wellington, he transferred to Victoria University of Wellington for a year to complete his Bachelor of Arts,[19][20] and graduated from Victoria University with a bachelor's degree in English literature in 1970.[21][22] He played Macbeth in a university production directed by Phillip Mann.[23] He then joined Downstage as a professional actor as Pentheus in Euripides' The Bacchae, earning $35 per week plus leftover food from the kitchen after the audience dinner.[23]
Screen career
1971–1979: Early work in New Zealand
_(20937182478).jpg)
Neill's first film was The City of No (1971), a New Zealand television film.[24] He followed it with a short film, The Water Cycle (1972), and the television film Hunt's Duffer (1973). Neill wrote and directed films for the New Zealand National Film Unit including Phone (1974),[25] Flare - A Ski Trip (1977) and Architect Athfield (1977).[26][27] He also appeared in Landfall (1975).[28] His breakthrough performance in New Zealand was Sleeping Dogs (1977), the first local film to be widely screened overseas.[29]
Neill moved to Australia where he had a guest role in the drama TV show The Sullivans. He was the romantic male lead in My Brilliant Career (1979), opposite Judy Davis, which achieved international success.[30] He appeared in several Australian films that were less widely seen, including The Journalist (1979), Just Out of Reach (1979) and Attack Force Z (1981), and in television productions such as Young Ramsay[31] and Lucinda Brayford.[32]
1981–1989: Transition to Hollywood
In 1981, Neill won his first major international role as Damien Thorn in The Final Conflict.[33] In the same year, he played a leading role in Andrzej Żuławski's cult film Possession.[33]
The 1982 adaption of Ivanhoe made Neill a local celebrity in Sweden, where the film has been broadcast on SVT every New Year's Day for four decades.[34]
He was one of the leading candidates to succeed Roger Moore as James Bond, but the role ultimately went to Timothy Dalton.[35] Among his Australian roles was Michael Chamberlain in Evil Angels (1988) (released as A Cry in the Dark outside Australia and New Zealand),[36] a film about the case of Azaria Chamberlain.
Neill played heroes and occasional villains in a succession of film and television dramas and comedies. In the UK, he gained early fame and a Golden Globe nomination for portraying Sidney Reilly in the miniseries Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983).[37] An early American starring role was in Amerika (1987), in which he played a senior KGB officer overseeing the occupation and division of a defeated United States.[38] His leading and co-starring roles in films included Dead Calm (1989)[33] and the two-part historical epic La Révolution française (1989), in which he portrayed the Marquis de Lafayette.[39]
1990–1999: Leading man roles
Neill solidified his leading-man status with The Hunt for Red October (1990), Death in Brunswick (1990)[33] (in which he was re-teamed with old friend John Clarke), Jurassic Park (1993),[40] 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),[33] and Jurassic Park III (2001). He continued to act in New Zealand films, including Jane Campion's The Piano (1993),[41] Perfect Strangers (2003),[41] Under the Mountain (2009),[41] and Taika Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016).[41]
He returned to directing with the documentary Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill (1995), which he wrote and directed with Judy Rymer.[42]
In 1993, Neill co-starred with Anne Archer in Question of Faith, an independent drama based on a true story. In 2000, he voiced Sam Sawnoff in The Magic Pudding. In 2001, he hosted and narrated the BBC documentary series Space (titled Hyperspace in the United States).[43] He portrayed the titular character in the 1998 miniseries Merlin and later reprised the role in Merlin's Apprentice (2006).[1]
2000–2025: Television work and final roles
Neill starred in the historical drama TV series The Tudors as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. "I have to say I really enjoyed making The Tudors", he said,[44] "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."[44]
He acted in the short-lived Fox TV series Alcatraz (2012) as Emerson Hauser. He played Otto Luger in the fantasy adventure film The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box (2014).[45] He appeared in Peaky Blinders as Chief Inspector Chest Campbell, a corrupt and sadistic policeman sent by Winston Churchill to clean up post-war Birmingham. In the 2015 BBC miniseries And Then There Were None, based on Agatha Christie's novel, he played General John MacArthur.[46]
In 2016, he starred in the New Zealand-made film Hunt for the Wilderpeople and the ITV miniseries Tutankhamun. In 2017, Neill appeared in Thor: Ragnarok portraying an actor playing Odin. He reprised the same meta‑role in Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).[41]
In 2018, he portrayed Mr. McGregor and voiced Tommy Brock in Peter Rabbit. In 2019, he was initially cast as Denis Goldberg in Escape from Pretoria, but the role was later recast. In late 2019, he was announced to reprise Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic World Dominion, released in June 2022.[47]
In 2022, Neill appeared in the Foxtel legal drama The Twelve as Brett Colby. When the series was renewed for a second season, he was the only returning cast member.[48] On 16 September 2024, it was announced that The Twelve had been renewed for a third season, with Neill again returning.[49] On 6 December 2024, he was nominated for a 2025 AACTA Awards for his role on The Twelve.[50]
On 21 June 2024, Neill was named in the cast for the Netflix drama Untamed.[51] On 15 April 2025, his casting in Godzilla x Kong: Supernova was announced.[52] On 16 May 2025, Neill was seen filming in the Philippines for the romantic comedy The Last Resort.[53]
Personal life
In his early 20s, Neill fathered a son who was placed for adoption, with whom he later reunited in 1994.[54] In 1980, Neill met actress Lisa Harrow while filming The Final Conflict (1981), and they had a son.[55] He married make-up artist Noriko Watanabe in 1989, and they had one daughter together. He also adopted Watanabe's daughter from her first marriage.[56][57] They separated in 2017,[58][59] and Neill dated Australian political journalist Laura Tingle from 2018 to 2021.[60][61][62] As of 2023, he had eight grandchildren.[63]
Neill lived in Alexandra, South Island, New Zealand, and owned a winery called Two Paddocks, consisting of a vineyard at Gibbston and two near Alexandra, all in the Central Otago wine region.[64] His avocation was 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,[44] adding, "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."[44] He enjoyed sharing his farm exploits on social media.[65] He named his farm animals after film industry colleagues.[66]
He wrote a memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This? published in March 2023.[67][68]
Politics
In 2016, he criticised the policies of New South Wales premier Mike Baird on lockout laws and the ban on greyhound racing.[69] Neill spoke positively about the premiership of Jacinda Ardern.[70] He was a member of the Equity New Zealand trade union from 1979 until his death in 2026.[71]
In 2025, New Zealand resources minister Shane Jones called Neill "wrong and anti-Kiwi" for his opposition to an open-cast gold mine proposed near Cromwell.[72] Neill supported the local advocacy group Sustainable Tarras, which organised events against the mining proposal. He described Santana Minerals' proposal as "ruinous for the region".[73] Following his death, Neill's friend Roger Donaldson says that online abuse and hostility Neill received, starting with Jones's comments, "took its toll" on Neill and may have "undermined his health in the very end."[74]
Health and death
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.[68] He stated that the cancer was in remission, but he would require monthly chemotherapy for the rest of his life.[75][68] In April 2026, Neill said that after his chemotherapy had stopped working, he underwent CAR T-cell therapy as part of an Australian clinical trial. He said a recent scan showed no cancer in his body, and he advocated wider access to the treatment for blood cancer patients in Australia and New Zealand.[76]
Neill died from pneumonia in Sydney, Australia, on 13 July 2026,[77] aged 78.[78]
Acting credits and accolades
| Year | Organisations | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Golden Globes Awards | Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film | Reilly: Ace of Spies | Nominated | [79] |
| 1989 | AFI Awards | Best Actor in a Leading Role | Evil Angels / A Cry in the Dark | Won | [80] |
| 1991 | Death in Brunswick | Nominated | [81] | ||
| 1992 | Golden Globes Awards | Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film | One Against the Wind | Nominated | [79] |
| 1993 | AFI Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | The Piano | Nominated | [82] |
| American Television Awards | Best Actor in a Miniseries | Family Pictures | Nominated | [83] | |
| Saturn Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Memoirs of an Invisible Man | Nominated | [84] | |
| 1998 | Online Film & Television Awards | Best Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Merlin | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | Nominated | [85] | ||
| Fangoria Chainsaw Awards | Best Actor | Event Horizon | Nominated | [83] | |
| 1999 | Golden Globes Awards | Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film | Merlin | Nominated | [79] |
| Blockbuster Entertainment Awards | Favourite Supporting Actor – Drama/Romance | The Horse Whisperer | Nominated | [83] | |
| 2000 | AFI Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | My Mother Frank | Nominated | [86] |
| 2001 | Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival | Best Actor | The Zookeeper | Won | [87] |
| Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards | Best Actor – Male | The Dish | Nominated | [83] | |
| 2004 | AFI Awards | Best Telefeature or Mini-Series | The Brush-Off | Nominated | [88] |
| Best Direction in Television | Nominated | ||||
| Best Leading Actor in a Television Drama or Comedy | Jessica | Nominated | |||
| 2005 | Logie Awards | TV Week Silver Logie For Most Outstanding Actor | Won | [89] | |
| Most Outstanding Mini-Series / Telemovie | The Brush-Off | Nominated | |||
| New Zealand Screen Awards | Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | Perfect Strangers | Nominated | [83] | |
| Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Little Fish | Nominated | [83] | |
| 2006 | Saturn Awards | Best Supporting Actor on Television | The Triangle | Nominated | [83] |
| 2008 | Gemini Awards | Best Supporting Actor in a Dramatic Series | The Tudors | Nominated | [83] |
| Monte-Carlo TV Festival | Outstanding Actor – Drama Series | Nominated | |||
| 2009 | Qantas Film and Television Awards | Best Lead Actor in a Feature Film | Dean Spanley | Nominated | [90] |
| 2010 | Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film | Under the Mountain | Nominated | ||
| New Zealand Screen Awards | Best New Zealand Export | Won | [91] | ||
| 2012 | Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards | Best Actor – Supporting Role | The Hunter | Nominated | [83] |
| AACTA Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated | [83] | ||
| 2016 | The Daughter | Nominated | [92] | ||
| Logie Awards | Most Outstanding Actor | House of Hancock | Nominated | [93] | |
| Australian Movie Convention | AIMC Lifetime Achievement Award | Won | [94] | ||
| Film Club's The Lost Weekend Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Hunt for the Wilderpeople | Won | [95] | |
| 2017 | Rialto Channel New Zealand Film Awards | Won | [96] | ||
| NCFCA Awards | Nominated | [97] | |||
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Narrator | New Zealand: Earth's Mythical Islands | Nominated | [83] | |
| Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards | Best Actor – Supporting Role | The Daughter | Nominated | [83] | |
| AFCA Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Won | [83] | ||
| 2019 | Sweet Country | Won | [83] | ||
| Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards | Best Actor – Supporting Role | Nominated | [83] | ||
| New Zealand Television Awards | Best Presenter: Entertainment | The Pacific: In The Wake of Captain Cook with Sam Neill | Nominated | [98] | |
| AACTA Awards | Longford Lyell Award | Won | [83] | ||
| The Equity Ensemble Awards | Equity New Zealand Lifetime Achievement Award | Won | [99] | ||
| Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival | Grand Honorary Award | Won | [100] | ||
| 2020 | AFCA Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Ride Like a Girl | Nominated | [83] |
| AACTA Awards | Best Lead Actor | Rams | Nominated | [83] | |
| 2022 | Best Lead Actor In A Drama | The Twelve | Nominated | [83] | |
| 2023 | Logie Awards | Most Outstanding Actor | Nominated | [83] | |
| TV Week Silver Logie For Most Popular Actor | Won | [83] | |||
| 2025 | AACTA Awards | Best Lead Actor In A Drama | Nominated | [83] | |
| 2025 | Logie Awards | Best Lead Actor in a Drama | Won | [101] |
Reputation and honours
Neill's career, which spanned over five decades, involved leading roles in both independent films and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he was regarded as one of the most versatile actors of his generation.[102][103] He was 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 received three Golden Globe and two Primetime Emmy Award nominations.[104] He won the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor[105] at the 2023 Logies.
Neill was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1991 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services as an actor.[106] In the 2007 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM).[107] 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".[108] However, in June 2022, he accepted redesignation as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.[109]
Neill was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Canterbury in 2002.[110] He 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.[71] In 2020, he received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon Award, an honour limited to 20 living recipients at any one time.[111]
Published works
| Year | Title | Publisher | Pages | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Did I Ever Tell You This? A Memoir | Melbourne: The Text Publishing Company | 400 | Booktopia's Top 10 Favourite Books, 2024 |
| 2024 | Did I Ever Tell You This? A Memoir (fully revised and updated with new writing) | Melbourne: The Text Publishing Company | 432 |
- 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)
