Sam Neil: biography, personal life, films and photos

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Sam Neill is a New Zealand actor, director, producer, screenwriter and editor. He is best known for his roles in the films Jurassic Park, The Hunt for Red October, The Piano, and Through the Horizon, as well as the TV series Peaky Blinders. In total, he participated in one hundred and thirty full-length and television projects during his career.

Childhood and youth

Sam Neill was born on September 14, 1947 in Omagh, Northern Ireland. His real name is Nigel John Dermot Neal. His father is a military man, a third-generation New Zealander, his mother is English. The future actor was born in the United Kingdom and, thanks to this, received British citizenship, but he considers himself primarily a New Zealander.

In 1954 the family moved to New Zealand. Sam Neill, after graduating from high school, entered the University of Canterbury, where he studied English literature. At the same time, he became interested in theater and decided to try himself as an actor. At the same time, he introduced himself as Sam.

Later in interviewthe actor has repeatedly stated that as a child he suffered from severe stuttering, which later simply outgrew, but sometimes he still has difficulty speaking to this day.

Career start

In the early seventies, Sam Neill began acting in short films and television projects. Also worked as a second director on several feature films.

In 1977, the young actor got the lead role in Roger Spottiswoode's political thriller Sleeping Dogs. The film was the first ever film to be entirely produced in New Zealand.

First successes

In 1979, Sam Neill starred in the melodrama "My Brilliant Career", where the famous actress Judy Davis became his on-screen partner. In 1981, the actor appeared in the horror film Omen 3: The Last Stand, which became his first American project.

In the same year, Sam Neill appeared in the horror film "Possessed" by the famous Polish director Andrzej Zulawski. The provocative film caused much controversy and was even banned in the UK, but received positive reviews from critics and later gained cult status.

In subsequent years, Sam Neill continued to be active at home and abroad, his most notable films from the period of the late eighties are the historical drama "Scream in the Dark" and the spy thriller "The Hunt for Red October".

Also, several successfultelevision projects. He starred in the British mini-series Rayleigh: King of Spies. For this work, the actor was nominated for the prestigious Golden Globe Award. In 1987, he played a KGB colonel in the American mini-series America.

International success

The breakthrough year for Sam Neil's career was 1993. He co-starred in Jane Campion's historical drama The Piano, which won the Palme d'Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for several Academy Awards.

Also, the actor starred in the ambitious project of the famous director Steven Spielberg "Jurassic Park". The picture became one of the first blockbusters where computer graphics were used. The film did well at the box office, grossing nearly a billion dollars and kickstarting an entire franchise. Jurassic Park made the main actors real Hollywood stars, to this day you can find memes on the Internet, the basis for which was a photo of Sam Neill in the image of Dr. Alan Grant.

In subsequent years, the actor continued to work actively, successfully balancing between independent films and big-budget projects. During this period, among the films of Sam Neill, one can note the film adaptation of The Jungle Book and the sci-fi horror film Horizon Horizon, which failed at the box office, but later became a cult forfans of the genre.

Also in 1998, the actor played a major role in the mini-series "The Great Merlin". In the new century, there were almost no high-profile projects in Sam Neill's filmography, except for the Jurassic Park triquel, where the actor again played Alan Grant, but the continuation of the series did not become as successful as the original.

Also in the early and mid-2000s, Neil appeared in the romantic comedy "Wimbledon", the vampire action movie "Warriors of the Light" and voiced one of the characters in Zack Snyder's cartoon "Legends of the Night Watchmen".

Television work

During this period, the actor began to work actively again on television. He played one of the main characters in the first season of the massive historical series "The Tudors", and a few years later appeared as the main villain in the crime drama "Peaky Blinders" from the famous screenwriter Stephen Knight.

Also, Sam Neill appeared in one of the main roles in the adventure series based on the works of Daniel Defoe "Crusoe". Also in 2009, the actor joined the American drama series Happy City, which was canceled after the first season due to insufficient ratings.

Return to the big screen

Throughout this time, Sam Neill continued to act in feature films, but there were no successful projects that won a large audience in his track record. A kind of return for the actor was the adventure comedy directed by Taika Waititi "The Hunt for the Savages".

The film received critical acclaim and grossed over $20 million at the box office on a budget ten times smaller. After that, Sam Neill worked with Waititi again, appearing in a small role as the actor playing Odin. Neil also played a supporting role in the thriller "Passenger", which performed well at the box office, and voiced one of the characters in the children's film "Peter Rabbit".

Missed roles

There were several disappointments in Sam Neill's creative biography when he could get roles in successful films, but the creators did not choose him in the end. From the very beginning of his career, he attracted the attention of major Hollywood studios, who began to call the actor for auditions. As a young man, Sam Neill was considered twice by producers for the role of James Bond. The first time he lost the fight for the role of Timothy D alton, the second - Pierce Brosnan. In addition, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas considered Neal for the role of Indiana Jones, but settled on Harrison Ford.

Also during his long career, the actor claimed the roles of Hans Gruber in the action movie "Die Hard", Sheriff of Nottingham in the historical film "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", Dr. Otto Octavius in Sam Raimi's blockbuster "Spider-Man 2" and Aramisa in the painting "The Man in the Iron Mask".

Sam Neil could also be the eighthDoctor Who, but the role of the legendary British character has gone to another actor.

Private life

From 1980 to 1989 Neal was in a relationship with Lisa Harrow, the couple have a son, Tim. In 1989, the actor married make-up artist Noriko Watanabe, and their daughter Elena was born in the marriage. In 2017, the couple announced their breakup, at the moment Sam is dating Australian journalist and political commentator Laura Tingle.

In an interview, the actor revealed that in his early twenties, he and his then-girlfriend had a son who was given up for adoption. Later, they found each other and began to maintain a relationship.

Sam Neill owns a wine business in New Zealand, he owns several vineyards and a processing plant. He is the owner of the Order of the British Empire for services to acting.