Sam Wilkes Sr.

**Sam Wilkes Sr.** is an Australian actor.

## Career

### Island Life

Best known for his lead role as Cameraman on Island Life. He also serves as director and editor. He was formerly producer until July 2023 and had introduced characters in to Island Life until January 2021, when he had transferred the positions to someone else. He is the only actor to have been in every episode of Island Life and following the death of his co-star on March 1, 2022, is the only actor of the aforementioned YouTube series still in the program since the beginning. He is a high-skilled actor and cameraman, as seen in Island Life Postcards. Since 2022, he is the last person from the original team still working on Island Life as the original production team had slowly disbanded from May 2022 (some were transferred to the new production team) and the last of the originals that were with Sam's New VIP Office 2020 productions (and transferred to Island Life Productions in 2022) had left in early 2023, leaving Wilkes Sr. as the sole person working on Island Life since the beginning.

### Other Ventures

Outside Island Life, he also participated in annual Invasion Day events in Brisbane CBD and has done so since 2021 and has gone to Karaoke and Open Mic events at the local RSL since October 2021, extending the footprint to Macleay Island in 2024.

### Personal Life

Wilkes Sr. lives alone on Russell Island. He is not in good health at this time having been diagnosed with an array of health issues and mental disabilities (Autism Spectrum, Plantar Fasciitis, undetected amnesia-related problems etc.) as well as declining mental health (as a result of living long-term on Russell Island) but he is reported to be living in poverty. One person from his extended family (usually a Russell Island resident) visits him every day. On most Saturdays, one person from his extended family visit him in the morning for a few minutes before returning in the early evening so the two make their way to the local RSL for one of Sam's favourite interests, Karaoke while on most Sunday afternoons, he is down at the RSL for Open Mic (check Trivia for more information).

As far back as his teen years, he describes himself as "running out of petrol" on many days. As the years went on, he has said he wakes up with the very little energy he has to start. His mental health has been falling since 2021, mostly due to a population surge and the unwillingness of change on the side of the sole passenger island ferry service.

He has announced in 2023 that he is retiring from acting in a few years time.

### Lifelong Amnesia

In July 2020, shortly after relocating to Russell Island, he self-diagnosed himself with some type of memory issue (later diagnosed himself with lifelong amnesia). He sometimes references it dated back as far back as 2018. He has tried various fixes but to no avail, stating it is slowly worsening over time. As at 2023, it is still getting worse and it came to the point where he is forgetting about many things. He later learned that it was part of his autism. He is unsure as to how it remained dormant until 2018.

### Car Crash (7 September 2021)

He recalled a little bit of the 2021 car crash, which he nicknamed his "near-death experience". Both he and John were on their way home in a white station wagon after grabbing a few items over at the local IGA. Sam was heading home ready to watch Chuggington (one of the cartoons he likes watching) when the two approached the Minjerriba & Centre Rd intersection, a blue hatchback came out of nowhere at full speed (well over the speed limit) and t-boned the station wagon. The other driver laughed at the situation and soon fled the scene while John and Sam suffered trauma. Wilkes Sr. was already in terrible health and already had trauma after his mum had the major stroke and losing Wilkes Jr. (both of those traumatic events took place in early 2020). He stated that he was about to die right then and there and his last thoughts were "I'm surprised this idiot (in the hatchback) passed driving school!". Luckily, there weren't any deaths but Wilkes Sr. almost died in the incident. The car crash incident still haunts him to this day. He has survived two car crashes but stated that because of his health now after that, he cannot survive a third crash. He said "If I end up in one more, it will cost me my life.", so he has gone to extreme lengths to avoid it. The suspect has been charged for his actions since the incident but Wilkes Sr. has not received any compensation regarding the car crash.

## Filmography

 2020 - Present Day
 2021
 2021 - 2022

## Trivia

* He has Autism Spectrum, thus why he has various services in place, since living in Russell Island, he only has one service in place and has some mutual contacts with other islanders. Because of his diagnosis, he is very conscious regarding his sensitivity.
* Years ago, he was well known on Coochiemudlo Island (mostly from raffle auctions at the local island golf course back in the 2000s). Today, he is well known on Russell Island, mostly with the local RSL patrons and staff (including much of the Russell Island regulars at karaoke events).
* Since 2021, he labels himself as the Karaoke King (which he claims he has been the karaoke king since 2018) during the Karaoke and Open Mic sessions at his local RSL and in 2023, he acquired a Karaoke King T-shirt for verification. He is seen performing songs during karaoke events on some Saturdays and Sundays at the RSL as well as adding various other performers to a whiteboard list.
* He is high-skilled with photography, videography and recording on a camcorder or smartphone with superior camera specs and is computer literate.
* His health had been declining even before he began filming Island Life, he says the decline dated back to 2016, having been diagnosed with various health problems since then including Plantar Fasciitis.
* He has lived in Queensland all his life and has lived as an islander before, at Coochie in 2003 - 2008, thus explaining why he is a current and former islander at the same time since 2020.
* He was known to be in to sports long time ago as his spark of interest began in 2008, particularly in to Swimming and Tennis. He gave up on Tennis at the end of 2011 but while in Year 8 for a short time, he was in with cricket. He gave up swimming as he got older, particularly no longer interested in the small Kurrimine Beach water park by 2015. The reason was because his interest with sport died over the years. However in 2021, he had an interest to return to sports and has gone to the local swimming pool and in June 2022, took part in Tennis against three opponents and won against two opponents but by 2023, his interests with sport silently had fizzled away again, with the exception of having a dip in the swimming pool in summer. He says that he is still keen going down to the public pool during the summertime once in a while. However, he has planned to return to Tennis again in Winter 2024, when the weather cools down.
* He is a fan of kids cartoons and programs. Some of them include Chuggington, Bambaloo, Larry the Lawnmower, Bluey, Remy & Boo and Work It Out Wombats! (among others).