Sam Neill - Biography - IMDb Sam Neill Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trivia (18) | Personal Quotes (10) Overview (3) 5' 11¾" (1.82 m) Mini Bio (1) Sam Neill was born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to army parents, an English-born mother, Priscilla Beatrice (Ingham), and a New Zealand-born father, Dermot Neill. His family moved to the South Island of New Zealand in 1954. He went to boarding schools and then attended the universities at Canterbury and Victoria. He has a BA in English Literature. Following his graduation, he worked with the New Zealand Players and other theater groups. He also was a film director, editor and scriptwriter for the New Zealand National Film Unit for 6 years. Sam Neill is internationally recognised for his contribution to film and television. He is well known for his roles in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park and Jane Campion's Academy Award Winning film The Piano.

Other film roles include The Daughter, Backtrack opposite Adrian Brody, Deux Ex Machina, F2014, A Long Way Down, The Tomb, The Hunter with Willem Dafoe, Daybreakers, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls Of G'Ahoole, Little Fish opposite Cate Blanchett, Skin, Dean Spanley, Wimbledon, Yes, Perfect Strangers, Dirty Deeds, The Zookeepers, Bicenntial Man opposite Robin Williams, The Horse Whisperer alongside Kristin Scott Thomas, Sleeping Dogs, My Brilliant Career. He received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the NBC miniseries Merlin. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for One Against The Wind, and for Reilly: The Ace of Spies. The British Academy of Film and Television honoured Sam's work in Reilly by naming him Best Actor. Sam received an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in Jessica. Other television includes House of Hancock, Rake, Doctor Zhivago, To the Ends of Earth, The Tudors with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Cruseo, Alcatraz and recently in Old School opposite Bryan Brown, Peaky Blinders alongside Cillian Murphy, The Dovekeepers for CBS Studios.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Shanahan Management Spouse (2) (1978 - 1989) (divorced) (1 child) Trivia (18) One son, Tim Neill (b.1983), with Lisa Harrow , a daughter Elena Neill with Noriko Watanabe , and a step-daughter Maiko. Met wife Noriko Watanabe on the set of Dead Calm (1989), where she worked as a make-up artist. He has homes in Beverly Hills, Sydney and New Zealand. Awarded the O.B.E. for Service to Acting (1993). "Best Actor on British Television" for Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983), Australian Film Institute Award "Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role" for A Cry in the Dark (1988) (aka "Cry in the Dark (1988)"). His vineyard is in the Gibbston Valley, Otago. His wine is a Pinot Noir called Two Paddocks.

One of the original candidates for the fourth and fifth actor to portray James Bond - 007 in The Living Daylights (1987) and GoldenEye (1995). Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan ended up as James Bond, respectively. Montana is a recurring element in his films: in The Hunt for Red October (1990) he wants to live in Montana; in The Horse Whisperer (1998) he goes to Montana to find with his wife; in Jurassic Park (1993) he is digging up fossils in Montana. He is one of the three founders of Huntaway Films, along with his good friends John Clarke and Jay Cassells . Was considered for the role of the villainous "Doc Ock" in Spider-Man 2 (2004). His wife ended up as the principal make-up & hair stylist for Kirsten Dunst in the movie. He is a big fan of The Beach Boys . Moved to New Zealand at age 7. Good friends with musicians Neil Finn , Tim Finn and Jimmy Barnes . Born to Priscilla Beatrice (Ingham), who was English, and Dermot Neill, a New Zealand army officer.

His ancestry includes English, Anglo-Irish (Northern Irish), and Irish. Studied at the University of Canterbury and at the Victoria University in Wellington, from which he graduated with a BA in English Literature. Owns a winery, Two Paddocks, in the Central Otago region of New Zealand. It was started in 1993. Suffered with a stammer when he was younger. Has fluent Irish accent. Personal Quotes (10) "Of all the characters I've played, I think I have more in common with that guy than with Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983) referring to Carl Fitzgerald in Death in Brunswick (1990). Who Weekly (NZ) 8/23/93. Referring to The Simpsons (1989): "I'm playing a cat burglar. I've made it. This is the high point of my career. I'm really chuffed". EW, 7/23/93. "Perhaps we should look at somewhere else where they recently used the time-old bribe of tax cuts, and see how it worked. In 2000, George W.

Bush , under the reasonable sounding 'compassionate conservatism', offered huge tax cuts. And he delivered. Take a look at America now. The rich are certainly richer, but the economy is in the tank, a healthy surplus has been converted into a massive deficit, and the U.S. is a place that cannot even afford the basics. Like maintaining levees in low-lying Louisiana. Might I suggest that tax cuts led indirectly to the flooding of New Orleans?". If all I did was acting, I'd go out of my mind. The pathetic thing about actors is they don't feel valid unless they're acting. (2012, on My Brilliant Career) A most important role for me, I must say, because that's the film that took me out of New Zealand, the film that allowed me to live and work in Australia, which I love. Yeah, that was probably more transformative than anything else I've done, in a way.

Without that film, I never would've-prior to that, I'd done Sleeping Dogs, and I thought, "That was a one-off, I'll never do another film." And if you look at Sleeping Dogs, you think, "Well, I wouldn't use that bugger again." But I did get cast in Brilliant Career, I kind of understood a little bit more about what was necessary, and it was a great opportunity for me. That film changed me into an actor rather than just a part-time thespian. (2012, on Dead Calm) Well, that was fantastically good fun, actually, although quite a lot of the time we were seasick and cold and wet and stuff like that. It was a very interesting film to do, as there were only three characters, you know, but it works very well, and it built quite a few careers. For [director] Phillip Noyce, it launched him into big action films, and there's this Australian actress called Nicole Kidman in it who you might've heard of...

(2012, on filming Sleeping Dogs and working with Warren Oates) You see, that was my first feature film of all, with my friend Roger Donaldson, and there I really had no idea what I was doing. In fact, none of us did. Apart from Michael Seresin, who shot it, no one on that production had ever made a feature film before. In fact, there hadn't been a feature film made in New Zealand for something like 17 years. So we were really... We lit a little candle, which didn't illuminate much of the darkness in front of us, but we got through it. It's a very uneven film, and I'm pretty uneven in it. Oh, actually, the other person on the film who had any experience was, of course, the wonderful Warren Oates. He came in for about two weeks, I think, and... He discovered on day one, I think, that in the area of New Zealand where we were working, they grow the best marijuana, and so he was basically smoking joints all day. In some of the scenes where he's playing Col. Willoughby, a U.S.

army advisor in New Zealand, he's addressing his men with his hands behind his back, and you might even possibly detect the little curving smoke behind his right shoulder, because he wouldn't even put the joint aside when the camera was rolling. He just put it behind his back! But Warren was a lovely guy, and when he left-I'll never forget this, actually: He shook my hand, and he said, "Goodbye, Sam! I'll see you in the movies!" It was such a surprising thing for him to say, but I was very touched by it. I never saw him again, because he died rather young not very long after that. But he lived hard, you know. And he had some great stories of the madness of working with Sam Peckinpah. [2014, on socializing with Michael Williams and Warren Clarke during the making of Enigma (1982)] My liver is still recovering. [on changing his name from Nigel to Sam, aged ten] I saved myself a lifetime of pain. See also Sam Neill - IMDb IMDb Actor | Director | Writer Sam Neill was born in Omagh, Co.

Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to army parents, an English-born mother, Priscilla Beatrice (Ingham), and a New Zealand-born father, Dermot Neill. His family moved to the South Island of New Zealand in 1954. He went to boarding schools and then attended the universities at Canterbury and Victoria. He has a BA in English ... See full bio » Born: Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence. a list of 22 people created 13 Mar 2011 a list of 38 people created 13 Apr 2012 a list of 21 people created 02 Mar 2014 a list of 28 people created 25 Apr 2014 a list of 25 people created 18 Jan 2015 Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Sam Neill's work have you seen?

User Polls Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 5 wins & 25 nominations. See more awards » Known For Jurassic Park III Dr. Alan Grant (2001) Event Horizon Dr. William Weir (1997) 2015 The Dovekeepers (TV Mini-Series) Josephus 2014 Short Poppies (TV Series) Mr. Neal 2006 Two Twisted (TV Series) Mick 1998 The Games (TV Series) Citytrans World CEO 1994 The Simpsons (TV Series) Molloy 1993 Family Pictures (TV Movie) David Eberlin 1988 Leap of Faith (TV Movie) Oscar Ogg 1986 Strong Medicine (TV Movie) Vince Lord 1984 The Country Girls (TV Movie) Mr.

Gentleman 1980 Lucinda Brayford (TV Mini-Series) Tony Duff 1980 Young Ramsay (TV Series) Crossland 1976 The Sullivans (TV Series) Ben Dawson (1980) 2004 The Brush-Off (TV Movie) (producer) 2004 Stiff (TV Movie) (producer) Hide 1983 Reilly: Ace of Spies (TV Mini-Series) (1 episode) - Shutdown (1983) ...

(: (uncredited] - (performer: "When the Red, Red Robin Goes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along", uncredited) Hide 1995 Forgotten Silver (TV Movie) (special thanks) Hide 2011-2012 The Hour (TV Series) Himself 2009 Storm Stories (TV Series documentary) Himself 2009 Beached Az (TV Series) Himself 2008 A Taste of My Life (TV Series documentary) Himself 2008 Séries express (TV Series) Himself 2008 Verity Lambert: Drama Queen (TV Movie documentary) Himself - Narrator (voice) 2006 3 News (TV Series) Himself 2006 Richard & Judy (TV Series) Himself 2005 At the Movies (TV Series) Himself 2005 The Tem Show (TV Series) Himself 2004 Making of 'Wimbledon: The Movie' (TV Movie documentary) Himself 2001-2003 Rove Live (TV Series) Himself 2002 This Is Your Life (TV Series documentary) Himself 2001 SuperCroc (

TV Movie documentary) Narrator (voice) 2001 Hyperspace (TV Mini-Series documentary) Himself - Presenter 2001 Live Lunch (TV Series) Himself - Interviewee 2001 Numero Bruno (TV Movie documentary) Himself 1999 Intimate Portrait (TV Series documentary) Himself Himself - Nominated: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie 1998 Gomorron (TV Series) 1995 Forgotten Silver (TV Movie) Himself - Actor / Director 1993 Entertainment UK (TV Series) Himself - Interviewee 1988 CBS This Morning (TV Series) Himself 2015 Entertainment Tonight (TV Series) Himself 2002 Before Stardom (TV Movie) Himself 1997 Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Dr.

William Weir 1995 The Celluloid Heroes (TV Movie) Himself Personal Details Other Works: "On the Beach", by Nevil Shute . (1981) Audiocassette version read by Sam Neill. Published by Listen for Pleasure, Ontario Canada. See more » Publicity Listings: 4 Interviews | 2 Articles | 1 Magazine Cover Photo | See more » Official Sites: Did You Know? Personal Quote: "Perhaps we should look at somewhere else where they recently used the time-old bribe of tax cuts, and see how it worked. In 2000, George W. Bush , under the reasonable sounding 'compassionate conservatism', offered huge tax cuts. And he delivered. Take a look at America now. The rich are certainly richer, but the economy is in the tank, a healthy surplus has been converted into a massive deficit,... See more » Trivia: He has homes in Beverly Hills, Sydney and New Zealand.

See more » Star Sign: Sam Neill Biography | Fandango Sam Neill Biography Sep 14, 1947 Birth Place: Omagh, Northern Ireland Biography One of the most famous film personalities to hail from the South Pacific, New Zealand-bred actor Sam Neill possesses the kind of reassuring handsomeness and soft-spoken strength that have made him an ideal leading man. Born Nigel Neill to a military family in Omagh, Northern Ireland, Neill relocated to New Zealand in 1953 at the age of six. There he picked up the nickname that would become his stage name, and attended both the University of Canterbury and the University of Victoria before beginning his acting career. Neill labored as a director/editor/screenwriter for the New Zealand National Film Unit for several years; he made his first movie in 1975 and scored his first significant film success four years later as the romantic lead opposite Judy Davis in director Gillian Armstrong 's My Brilliant Career . Shortly thereafter, Neill was brought to England under the sponsorship of star James Mason (who undoubtedly recognized the marked similarity between his acting style and Neill's).

The actor's subsequent movie work included two memorable collaborations with actress Meryl Streep and director Fred Schepisi : Plenty (1985) and A Cry in the Dark (1988). Neill's British TV credits were highlighted by his starring role in the unorthodox espionage drama Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983), for which he won the British television BAFTA Best Actor award. He also began working on American films during the '80s, including the 1981 Omen sequel The Final Conflict (in which he demonstrated a considerable breadth of range as Satan's son Damien) and the 1987 TV miniseries Amerika. Neill also kept busy with projects down under, with perhaps his most memorable film being Dead Calm (1989), a masterfully crafted thriller that starred the actor as Nicole Kidman 's husband. Neill truly came to international prominence during the '90s (as evidenced by his guest spot as a cat burglar on an episode of The Simpsons). He experienced a bumper-crop year in 1993, portraying the raptor-fearing Dr.

Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg 's blockbuster Jurassic Park , before returning to New Zealand to portray Holly Hunter 's taciturn, unexpectedly violent husband in The Piano (1993). He was also honored with the Order of the British Empire that same year. Neill continued to work on a wealth of diverse international projects throughout the rest of the decade, notably John Duigan 's Sirens (1994), which cast him as a '30s bohemian artist; the Australian satire Children of the Revolution (1996), reuniting him with Judy Davis ; Revengers' Comedies (1997), which cast him as a suicidal businessman; the acclaimed miniseries Merlin (1998), in which he played the titular wizard; Robert Redford 's The Horse Whisperer (1998), as the husband of Kristin Scott Thomas (the two had previously co-starred in Revengers' Comedies); and Bicentennial Man (1999), which featured the actor as the head of a family who purchases an uncannily human robot played by Robin Williams .

Though Neill was notably absent from the 1997 sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the second sequel in the series, 2001's Jurassic Park III, found the stalwart actor once again fleeing ornery dinosaurs on a tropical island and living to tell the tale. A turn as Victor Komarovsky in the made-for-TV remake of Doctor Zhivago quickly followed, and over thecourse of the next decade Neill would alternate frequently between television (Triangle, Merlin's Apprentice) and film (Wimbledon, Dayberakers), while still managing to land the occasional meaty role in projects like The Tudors (2007) and Dean Spanley (2008). In 2011, Neill brought an impressive air of menace to the ecological thriller The Hunter with his turn as an outwardly benevolent Aussie with a dark secret, and the following year he returned to television as a federal agent on the trail of convicts who mysteriously vanished without a trace in Alcatraz. In addition to acting and managing a New Zealand winery, Neill directed an acclaimed 1995 documentary about the New Zealand film industry, Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill.

— Hal Erickson, Rovi SAM NEILL at THESPIAN NET September 14, 1947 Omagh, Northern Ireland Three countries claim actor Sam Neill as their own: Ireland, where he was born to Army parents; New Zealand, where he grew up and started his prolific film career; and Australia, where he and his family spend much of their time in between movies shot on locations around the world. In reality he travels on a New Zealand passport and has no qualms about his agent describing him as "a man of the world" ... his career has taken him to scores of countries around the globe. Nigel Neill was seven when his New Zealand parents returned home from their Ireland postings, and like most Army siblings, spent much of his boyhood in boarding schools before graduating from Canterbury University with a BA in literature. (The nickname Sam started when he was a youngster in Ireland). He had been involved for years with the New Zealand Players Group in theatre presentations before embarking on a career as a writer, editor then director for the Government-operated NZ Film Unit. But he soon realised he enjoyed more being in front of the cameras.

He acted in two movies - Landfall and Ashes (both in 1975) before gaining prominence co-starring with Warren Oates in Sleeping Dogs (1978), a political thriller directed by Australian Roger Donaldson. But it was his next movie and shift to Sydney in Australia that launched his international career. He starred alongside another breakthrough player in Judy Davis in My Brilliant Career (1979), directed by an emerging director, Gillian Armstrong. James Mason, at the time married to Australian actress Clarissa Kaye, was so impressed with Neill's work he lobbied producers in London to showcase the young actor in The Omen: The Final Conflict (1981). And since, he's never looked back and made more than 5o movies and mini-series around the world. Neil says he doesn't want to be "a star." He varies his roles from small independent outings to major Hollywood offerings like Jurassic Park, The Hunt For Red October, The Horse Whisperer and Bicentennial Man, and the big-rating Merlin mini-series.

But he is happy to have been called back for Jurassic Park 3 and the role of Dr Alan Grant, the dino scientist (now shooting in Hawaii for producer Steven Spielberg and director Joe Johnson). Neill and British actress Lisa Harrow had a long relationship into the mid-80s before he married Japanese make-up artist Noriko Watanabe in 1989. While she usually works on most of Neill's films, she is also well-known for other major credits on the likes of My Best Friend's Wedding and Holy Smoke. When he's not away filming or resting in Sydney in between films, Neill is often on the Souh Island of Kiwiland establishing a third vineyard for his Two Paddocks pinoir red wine label in Gibbston Valley at the foot of the Coronet Peak ski field near the picturesque Queenstown, home to many local and international movies, including the recent Chris O'Donnell Hollywood actioner Vertical Limits. Says the actor: "I enjoy being a winemaker of sorts, even if my choice of wine means cultivating a very tricky and elusive grape.

More and more of my friends at home and on film locations are after the Two Paddocks label, so I need this third vineyard. But I really do enjoy the commitment away from my real job, the one that pays all the bills - it's good for your soul to balance your work and life." Photo © Unknown Bio contributed by Terry Bourke. Please let us know of any errors. Get Sam's OFFICIAL fanmail/contact address. Colossal Database of over 50,000 addresses! CLICK NOW! Keep scrolling for more SAM info! Sam Neill News Feel free to contribute info on Sam. Send It Here. NOTE: Please click [report] if you find a dead link, and hit SEND. FILM/TV CREDITS Sam Neill biography and filmography | Sam Neill movies Sam Neill Date of Birth: September 14, 1947 Born in Northern Ireland, Neill was raised in the country he still calls homeNew Zealand. And being far away from the Hollywood spotlight is just the way he likes it.

"The one thing I find sad when I come to Los Angeles," he says, "is that the world here is populated by millions of people who want to be actors and never will be. And it's a particularly American thing, I think, to advise people to follow their dreams. You ought to be very careful about advising such things, because people have all kinds of entirely unrealistic dreams. As a result, so many people here think of themselves as losers, which is the worst thing you can be called in America." But "loser" is certainly not the category Neill fell into with a film career that has netted him three Golden Globe nominations. Since his wonderful performance in My Brilliant Career (1979) he's worked non-stop. "I'm a useful actor," he says. "I don't come to the audience with any particular baggage. When I turn up on the screen, you don't necessarily know whether I'm going to solve everything as the good guy or whether I will turn out to be something else entirely." Neill has managed to carve out a successful career as an actor. Many will remember him from the series of Jurassic Park films.

He's also starred in several television shows, including The Tudors, Crusoe, Happy Town and Alcatraz. The veteran actor's most recent films include The Vow (2012), with Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams , The Hunter (2012) alongside Willem Dafoe and Frances O'Connor , Escape Plan (2013) opposite Sylvester Stallone , Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), and The Daughter (2016). Neill married Noriko Watanabe, a makeup artist, in September 1989. They have a daughter, Elena. He also has a son, Tim, from a previous relationship with a New Zealand actress. Neil was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1993 for his service to acting. He and his family divide their time between homes in Los Angeles, Australia and New Zealand. Filmography: Sam Neill - Actor - YouTube 241,604 views Last updated on Jun 21, 2014 Born in Northern Ireland to army parents, his family returned to the South Island of New Zealand in 1954.

He went to boarding schools and then attended the universities at Canterbury and Victoria. He has a BA in English Literature. Following his graduation, he worked with the New Zealand Players and other theater groups. He also was a film director, editor and scriptwriter for the New Zealand National Film Unit for 6 years. His first feature film was Sleeping Dogs (1977). He then moved to Australia and his performance in My Brilliant Career (1979) was noticed in London by British actor James Mason who lobbied for Neill to get the lead role in The Final Conflict (1981). Because of this, Neill moved to England where he also became famous as the title character in "Reilly: Ace of Spies" (1983). After his Great Britain stint, he moved back to Australia in the late 1980s. He now makes films all over the world. In 1993, he achieved "commercial and critical success" with Jurassic Park (1993) and The Piano (1993). less Born in Northern Ireland to army parents, his family returned to the South Island of New Zealand in 1954.

He went to boarding schools and then attended the universities at Canterbury and Victoria. He has a BA in English Literature. Following his g... more Sam Neill - FAQ 1.2 Biography 1.2.1 Early Years (1947-1974) Sam Neill was born on September 14, 1947 Omagh, Northern Ireland. His father, Dermot Neill, was a third-generation New Zealander descending from the family that owned Neill & Co (now Wilson Neill & Co), one of the country's largest liquor wholesalers. According to Sam (while doing publicity for The Jungle Book), many generations on both sides of his family served in the British army, a career carried on by his father. Dermot Neill was sent to England for an education at Harrow and then he attended Sandhurst Military Academy. At a ball at the academy, Dermot met and fell in love with Priscilla. (Very little information is available about her, but it is known that she is English.) In approximately 1943, their first son, Michael, was born in England. The father's regiment was posted to Northern Ireland soon after, serving in the Irish Guards.

Nigel followed in 1947 in Omagh, County Tyrone, and his sister was born in approximately 1950. In 1954, the family returned to New Zealand where the elder Neill joined the family business. He also served for 20 years as the French consul in Dunedin and after retirement took up the equestrian art of dressage. Because of the number of Nigels at school, Sam soon got his nickname which he continues to use as his stage name. "I encouraged the nickname because I thought I'd be slightly less likely to be victimized during the tender years," he says. "Nigel was a little effete for the rigours of a New Zealand playground." The family lived in Dunedin on the South Island and Sam went to boarding school at Christchurch's Christ College, an Anglican boys' school. Both there and at Canterbury University, he participated in school drama productions, though apparently never took an acting class. His interest in acting was fueled by Dame Ngaio Marsh, who annually produced Shakesperian plays during Neill's time at the university and director Mervyn Thomson. He has a B.A. in English, reflecting his interest in Shakespeare.

This interest is shared by his brother, who did some acting in school productions and is now an English professor. 1.2.2 An Actor Down Under (1974-1981) After college, Sam toured for a year in a minibus with the Players Drama Quartet. He then began working with the New Zealand National Film Unit in Wellington, directing documentaries such as Telephone Etiquette , Surf Sail, and Architect Athfield and also acting in fringe productions and short films such as Ashes and Landfall. After six years with the Film Unit he landed the lead role in the feature film Sleeping Dogs, the first New Zealand film ever to be released in the United States. Noticed by Australian casting director Margaret Fink, he was asked to audition for the male protagonist in Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career . After he got the role, "I came back to New Zealand and all in the same day resigned my job, put my house on the market. I left about two weeks later and never looked back." It was another 14 years before Sam Neill made a film in New Zealand. Moving to Australia, Sam finally discovered that he could make acting his vocation.

"It was when I started My Brilliant Career that I thought, this is something I can do and want to do." He subsequently made The Journalist, Just Out of Reach, and Attack Force Z. He also worked on some television programs such as The Sullivans and Lucinda Brayford. While working on the latter project, he received a call from English actor James Mason, who had been very impressed by Neill's performance in My Brilliant Career . Mason recommended Neill for the lead role in The Final Conflict: Omen III and offered Neill a ticket to London. 1.2.3 On to the Motherland (1981-1985) Sam Neill handily won the leading role in Omen III, his first American film, one shot in London. During the course of filming, he began a relationship with leading lady Lisa Harrow. They have one son named Tim, but were unable to settle down as a couple and separated after a few years. Sam went on to share the screen with her in From a Far Country, a movie about Pope John Paul II, and with James Mason in Ivanhoe. In this period he also filmed Enigma, The Country Girls, Possession and Plenty.

One might also say the London period was his 'mini-series' period, as he finished The Blood of Others, Kane and Abel, Arthur Hailey's Strong Medicine, and the Australian western Robbery under Arms. However, his most famous role is, of course, Sidney Reilly in the Thames Television series, Reilly: Ace of Spies. Neill notes "One of the big satisfactions for me with Reilly was that I discovered I could cut that particular mustard ... at the end of it I acquired confidence as I'd never known it." Others agreed that the Kiwi actor with no formal training was among the best. In 1983 he received a Golden Globe nomination and won "The Most Popular Actor in the UK" award for the series as well. When it was broadcast on PBS' Mystery in the United States, Neill was discovered by new admirers and re-discovered by fans of My Brilliant Career. Because of Reilly, Sam Neill became one of the names bandied about for the role of James Bond, after Roger Moore announced his decision to retire from it. The speculation was repeated again in the 1990s, after Timothy Dalton and the film series parted ways.

In the middle of the decade, he took on a series of roles in films all over the world which only increased his reputation as a solid character actor. Though he remained one of the most popular actors in Australia and commanded leading roles in films and television down under, it was ten years before he received a comparable degree of recognition as a lead actor in a film with world-wide distribution -- Jurassic Park, where his screen time competed with that of computer-generated dinosaurs. However, that film made him as well-known to a new generation as "Reilly" had 10 years previously. 1.2.4 All the World's a Stage (1985-1993) Between 1984 and 1988, Neill remained a loyal member of the Australian film community as well as filming the American mini-series Amerika and the U.S. made-for-TV movie Leap of Faith (Question of Faith) . For Love Alone and The Umbrella Woman (The Good Wife) signaled this return and both films garnered him critical acclaim in Australia. With his familiar co-star Meryl Streep, he made the controversial Evil Angels (A Cry in the Dark) for which he won an Australian Film Institute Best Actor award (Ms.

Streep won for Best Actress and the film won Best Picture for 1988 as well). Rumors began about a possible Oscar nomination, but in a trend which has become familiar to Neill's fans, he was overlooked in the wave of acclaim for his female co-star. On the set of Dead Calm , Neill met make-up artist Noriko Watanabe; they married in 1989. Dead Calm introduced America to director Phillip Noyce who went on to direct Patriot Games and actress Nicole Kidman who attracted Tom Cruise's attention and a role in Days of Thunder, and to lesser extent, actor Billy Zane, now best known as the insufferable fiance in Titanic. Death in Brunswick brought him his second Australian Film Institute Best Actor nomination, but he lost to Hugo Weaving (Proof). Two off-beat roles came to Sam at the end of the 1980s. The first was a cameo in Shadow of China, credited under the pseudonym John Dermot. His future wife Noriko Watanabe was the make-up artist on this Japanese production, filmed in Hong Kong.

The second was a small, but pivotal role as the Marquis de Lafayette in the grand epic La Revolution francaise . The scenes were all originally filmed in both French and English, but an English version of the film has never been officially been released on video. It was shown on Canadian television in English. Most of the non-native French speakers, including Neill, have had all their lines dubbed by other actors for the French version. The 1990s brought Neill a succession of roles which have kept him extremely busy. The Hunt for Red October and Wim Wenders' epic Until the End of the World began the decade. A full 5-6 hour version of the already 2hour 40minute Until the End of the World has been produced, but is not widely available; Neill aided the re-cut by adding additional narration. The HBO film Fever and Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation One Against the Wind nicely concluded 1991 and the latter film re-united him with his My Brilliant Career co-star Judy Davis (who received an Emmy nomination for the role).

In 1991, Sam Neill was awarded an O.B.E (Order of the British Empire) for services to acting: "The only award I have ever been thrilled to receive was the OBE ... given to me four days before my father died of cancer. It made him proud of me and I'm pleased he knew about it." 1992 brought Memoirs of an Invisible Man and Hostage. 1993 was a signifcant year for Mr. Neill -- films released then included two which had allowed him to film in his home country for the first time in 14 years: The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and award-winning the Piano . In addition, in February 1993, the mini-series Family Pictures was broadcast in the United States (gaining co-star Angelica Huston an Emmy nomination). June was the monster month, coming just after the Piano made its huge splash at Cannes, where Neill accepted the Palme d'Or on behalf of director Jane Campion and coinciding with the long-awaited release of Steven Spielberg's dinosaur extravaganza Jurassic Park. While doing publicity for JP, Neill stated "It's a good double act to have ...

this commercial success and this critical success." The attention did get him one role which signifies success in 1990s America: a cameo on The Simpsons as a David Niven-esque figure. 1.2.5 Current Work (1994-Present): Neill has been making movies almost continuously through the 1990s, from Sirens with Hugh Grant and Elle McPherson, to John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness, Miramax's epic Restoration (which won Oscars for Best Costumes and Best Art Direction), Michael Blakemore's adaptation of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" -- Country Life, the live-action Disney adventure The Jungle Book, and the adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Victory, which is still in release limbo four year later. In 1995, his documentary about New Zealand film-making, Cinema of Unease, was shown at Cannes and received widespread critical acclaim. It formed part of the British Film Institute's Century of Cinema series, which asked representative directors (including Martin Scorsese, Stephen Frears, George Miller, and Jean-Luc Godard) from a number of different countries to write and direct a retrospective of their country's film history.

In 1995, he began filming, on location in Prague the live-action fairy tale -- The Grimm Brothers: Snow White in the Black Forest, a darker, more gothic version of the traditional tale in which Sigourney Weaver plays the evil stepmother and Sam Neill plays her hapless husband, Snow White's father. After two years in limbo, Showtime finally broadcast the film on television in the summer of 1997 and it resulted in a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Weaver. Children of the Revolution was finally screened in 1996 to much critical acclaim, winning several Australian Film Institute Awards including one for Judy Davis, for best actress. Although no other film of Mr. Neill's got a theatrical release in 1996, it was a productive year. During the summer, he joined Anthony Edwards and Eric Roberts in Alberta to film a remake of In Cold Blood, broadcast on the American network CBS in November 1996. The fall was spent in England filming a screen adaptation of Alan Ackybourne's excellent play The Revengers' Comedies with Helena Bonham Carter and Kristin Scott Thomas.

As the year came to a close, he stayed in England to film the science-fiction thriller Event Horizion with Laurence Fishburne which was released in the summer of 1997. The summer of 1997 found Mr. Neill in New York and Montana filming his role in Robert Redford's adaptation of the novel The Horse Whisperer . Fans were reminded of Vassily Borodin's final words in The Hunt for Red October. Originally scheduled for a December release against Titanic , The Horse Whisperer was re-scheduled for May 1998 so it could vye for the audiences who would be unimpressed by Godzilla (released only a few days later). This also gave Redford time to trim the film down from his original 3 hour plus cut. In fact the movie did extremely well, making over $70 million in the United States in a summer filled with blockbusters. Neill spent the fall and winter of 1997-8 in Great Britain again, this time in Wales, filming the Hallmark Entertainment mini-series Merlin. Playing the eponymous wizard, Sam Neill led an excellent cast to a ratings victory for NBC in April 1998.

The first half of the mini-series was watched by approximately 37 million viewers. That gave NBC its highest ratings for a movie since Jurassic Park in 1995 and the best miniseries rating in fourteen years. The mini-series was a critical success as well, garnering excellent reviews from publications such as Variety and Entertainment Weekly. It also won 15 Emmy nominations, including a Leading Actor in a Mini-Series or Television Movie nomination for Mr. Neill. Neill's co-stars, Helena Bonham Carter, Martin Short (both for Merlin), and Sigourney Weaver (Snow White) all garnered Emmy nominations in the same year. Additionally, Neill, Bonham Carter, and Miranda Richardson all received Golden Globe nominations for their work in Merlin . Following these events, Mr. Neill spent the summer in Hawaii playing the politician and adventurer Walter Murray Gibson in Molokai, a film based on the true story of Father Damien who worked with Hawaiian lepers and who died of leprosy himself. As the millenium comes to an end (at least for non-pedants), Sam Neill has returned to a busy film schedule.

At the beginning of 1999, he took on the twin tasks of portraying Professor Mortlock in the Australian drama My Mother Frank and voicing the penguin bold Sam Sawnoff in the animated version of Norman Lindsay's The Magic Pudding. The former film stars Sinead Cusack, the wife of actor Jeremy Irons (whom Sam claims to do a fair imitation of). The Magic Pudding is a famous Australian children's book and attracted other Down Under greats as Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving, John Laws, and Jack Thompson; John Cleese rounds out the cast as Albert, the Magic Pudding. In the spring, Mr. Neill went to San Francisco to work with Robin Williams on The Bicentennial Man, an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's classic tale of a robot who wants to find his own humanity. The summer found him in Melbourne working on The Dish , a comedy by the writers of the Aussie TV series Frontline and the extremely popular film (in Australia) The Castle. Returning to the U.S. in the late summer, Mr.

Neill spent two months in Richmond, Virginia starring in a mini-series about the alleged relationship between America's third president, Thomas Jefferson, and his slave Sally Hemings. In February 2000, the mini-series Sally Hemings: An American Scandal broadcast on CBS and helped give America a new perspective on a familiar icon; two weeks before the broadcast, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation announced its acceptance of the Hemings-Jefferson liasion as probable fact thanks to DNA testing and circumstantial, historical evidence. <NOTE: in April 2001, a panel finished its examination of the evidence in this case and concluded Jefferson did not father Sally Hemings children. For more info on this side of the debate, read The Scholars Commission Report > In early 2000, Sam Neill went to Prague in the Czech Republic to film The Zookeeper with Om Puri and numerous elephants. During this time Two Paddocks released its 1998 vintage of Neill Pinot Noir. It wasn't long before the Jurassic Park III rumors began and in late June, it was confirmed that for the first time he would be reprising one of his charcters, playing Dr.

Alan Grant in the third installment of the internationally successful movie series. Filming commenced in Hawaii in September, moved to California, and completed in January 2001 and the film was scheduled to open in mid-July 2001. Meanwhile, the trio of Australian films Sam Neill made in 1999 began opening Down Under. My Mother Frank debuted in August; The Magic Pudding opened at Christmastime and in between was the runaway success of The Dish. Now one of the highest-grossing Australian films in the country's history, The Dish opened in October 2000 to mostly good reviews and sailed to more than AU$17 million at the box office. The film won the Silver Medal Audience Award at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival and Mr. Neill and director Rob Sitch were also found promoting it at Sundance 2001. The movie opened in the North America in March 2001, garnering very good reviews from the US and Canadian press. My Mother Frank yielded Sam his third nomination at the Australian Film Institute Awards and The Dish led him to an Australian Film Critics' Circle Best Actor Nomination.

After completing work on Jurassic Park III, Sam Neill returned to New Zealand to film Space/Final Frontiers, a BBC documentary about the beginning of the universe. 1.3 Family Sam Neill married make-up artist Noriko Watanabe in September 1989. They met on the set of Dead Calm in 1987 and have subsequently worked together on several movies including Death in Brunswick and The Jungle Book . She continues to have an active career outside of her husband's, working on other projects, especially in Australia, including the 1994 Australian Film Institute Best Picture Muriel's Wedding and director P.J. Hogan's American film My Best Friend's Wedding. In 1983, Neill had a son, Tim, with actress Lisa Harrow. Tim spends time with both his parents. Lisa Harrow is now married to a marine biologist. Noriko Watanabe has a daughter named Maiko who is a couple of years older than Tim. Neill and Watanabe have another daughter Elena, born in 1990. The family resides in Sydney although Neill retains his New Zealand citizenship.

In addition, because of British citizenship laws and Neill's birth in Northern Ireland, Neill retains British citizenship as well. The family also has a residence in Otago, and vineyards near Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand. The vineyards sell Pinot Noir under the registered trademark Two Paddocks. For more information visit the Two Paddocks Web site . Mr. Neill guards his privacy fiercely and we respect that, encouraging anyone reading this FAQ to do the same. 1.4 How do I contact him or join the mailing list? (Info on agent, Sam Neill Appreciation Society, mailing list) Sam Neill's American agent is Ed Limato of International Creative Management. He can be reached at the following address: International Creative Management Darlinghurst NSW 1300 Australia For information about Two Paddocks Vineyards (owned by Sam Neill), please visit the Two Paddocks Vineyards Website. You'll find lots of information about the wines, how to order it and additional contact information for the vineyard. For information about Huntaway Films (co-owned by Sam Neill), please visit the Huntaway Films Website.

1.5 Biography Credits The biography was written by Erika Grams using sources available in the public domain. Contributions also came from members of the Sam Neill mailing list. Quotes came from several articles listed in the Sam Neill bibliography. Special acknowledgment should go to the following articles: "Sam Neill" by Tamara Martyn in Pacific Way, June 1992. "Who the Heck is Sam Neill?" by Anne Thompson in Entertainment Weekly , July 23, 1993 "Neill Appeal" by Kirsty Cameron in Who Weekly, August 23, 1993 Many special and heartfelt thanks to the best friend (as well as being a great and cool Kiwi) anyone could have: Howard Silby. Additional thanks go to Chriss Green for her comments and support and, of course, to Mr. Neill. 2.0 Filmography A complete filmography which includes plot descriptions, video availability, links, and more, is available in the Filmography section of the web pages (divided into sections covering appx.

five years: 1974-1979 , 1980-1984 , 1985-1989 , 1990-1994 , 1995-1999 , 2000-2004 ). The list below is made available for people who want a simple listing of all of his films and television work. They are in chronological order.

Guide to listing: F=Full-length Feature, S=Short Film, TVM =Made for Television Movie, TVS=Television Series, MS =Mini-Series (Television) 2.1 Acting Roles 1991 -- Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) for "services to acting" 1992 -- Golden Globe Nomination, Best Supporting Actor for One Against the Wind 1993 -- Australian Film Institute, Best Supporting Actor Nomination, for the Piano 1995 -- New Zealand Film Institute Best Documentary Award, Cinema of Unease 1998 -- Emmy Nomination, Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Special, for Merlin 1998 -- Golden Globe Nomination, Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Special, for Merlin 1999 -- Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Nomination, Best Supporting Actor in a Drama/Romance for The Horse Whisperer 2000 -- Australian Film Institute, Best Supporting Actor Nomination, for My Mother Frank 2000 -- Film Critics Circle of Australia, Best Actor Nomination, for The Dish 2001 -- Ft.

Lauderdale Film Festival Award, Best Actor, for The Zookeeper 2.5 How can I find or get copies of these films or the audiobook? Most films listed as "On Video" in the Filmography pages can be ordered through your local video store, companies like SunCoast or through web-based video stores. 3.0 What else can you tell me about him? 3.1 Miscellaneous trivia He likes to read science-fiction and is very fond of the author Iain Banks (the latter's fiction as well). He is good friends with director John Carpenter and both are fans of the Beach Boys. His family had lots of horses -- grew up riding them. Architecture is one of his passions. The Simpsons and Seinfeld are his favorite American TV shows. On the Today show with Katie Couric, Neill denied rumors (begun by Laura Dern) of involvement with the bigger velociraptor in Jurassic Park : "I deny this. It's a bare-faced lie. There was a purely professional relationship. We may have held claws once in a while, but that's it." His great-great grandfather aided in burning down the White House in the War of 1812.

The movie which first caused him to be interested in film as a medium was Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious. One of his favorite film performances is James Woods in Salvador . He considers Heavenly Creatures the best New Zealand film yet made, though he remains partial to the Piano. It is the one movie of his he would recommend because "It's the only one that made me cry." His favorite food is macaroni and cheese and he likes boysenberry ice cream. Australian artist Davida Allen used him as inspiration for a series of paintings including "Sam Neill Fantasy Series 1986". He admires fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto and often wears his suits. One of his favorite books is the Booker-prize winner Restoration by Rose Tremain. His favorite painter is New Zealander Colin McCahon. He is friends with painter Grahame Sydney and owns several of his works. He is friends with New Zealand musicians Neil Finn and Tim Finn (of Crowded House and Split Enz) and with Jimmy Barnes. He has commented that the funniest person he knows is actor John Clarke, who he shared the screen with in Death in Brunswick, and who is also a friend from college.

In his free time, he likes to paint (watercolors) and he plays the ukelele. In the film Event Horizon, he replaced the Union Jack on the Australian flag with the Aboriginal flag ( full story ) The first vintage (1997 Two Paddocks Pinot Noir) from his New Zealand vineyard was so popular domestically that none was left over for export. He supports the Australian Labor Party , Greenpeace , OxFam , and the World Wildlife Fund . He is a patron of the National Performance Conference . He also donated a pair of jeans to the Jeans for Genes® auction; they were painted by artist Merv Moriarty and auctioned off in August 1998.

In 2002, along with friends John Clarke and Jay Cassells, Sam Neill founded the Production Company Huntaway Films with the goals "to provide a focus for the development and production of film and television projects; to work in collaboration with New Zealand and Australian writers and film makers and to use the long term experience and contacts of its people to develop and realise their projects; to record and tell New Zealand and Australian stories for us and for the world; to do good work; No principled objection will be made to the prospect of making a quid." Sam is on the Sustainability Council which is a watch dog for Genetic Engineering (GE) and Genetic Modification (GM) in NZ; he is also on the board of National Parks and Conservation . Like James Earl Jones, Marilyn Monroe, and many others, he stammered as a child. For more information about developmental stuttering, visit The Stuttering Home Page . He is a supporter of the Australian Speak Easy Association and the British Stammering Association (BSA) . 3.2 Actresses he has worked opposite of Sam Neill has been fortunate enough to work opposite some of the most talented and most beautiful actresses of this era.

Of course, he has worked opposite great male actors and with great directors as well, but these are the women whose characters he romanced: Judy Davis (My Brilliant Career, One Against the Wind , Children of the Revolution) Lisa Harrow (The Final Conflict, From a Far Country ) Isabelle Adjani (Possession)

Question: In which country was actor Sam Neill born?
Answer: Northern Ireland