Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a Northern Irish-born New Zealand actor
who first achieved leading roles in films such as Omen III: The Final Conflict and Dead
Calm and on television in Reilly, Ace of Spies.
He won a broad international audience in 1993 for his roles as Alisdair Stewart in The Piano
and Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park, a role he reprised in 2001's Jurassic Park III.
Neill also had notable roles in Merlin, The Hunt for Red October, and The Tudors.
Early life Neill was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern
Ireland, the second son of Dermot Neill, a Harrow- and Sandhurst-educated British Army
officer and third-generation New Zealander, and his English wife, Priscilla.
At the time of Neill's birth, his father was stationed in Northern Ireland, serving with
the Irish Guards.
His father's family owned Neill and Co., the largest liquor retailers in New Zealand.
In 1954, Neill returned with his family to New Zealand, where he attended the Anglican
boys' boarding school Christ's College in Christchurch.
He then went on to study English literature at the University of Canterbury where he had
his first exposure to acting.
While at university he lived at College House.
He then moved to Wellington to continue his tertiary education at Victoria University,
where he graduated BA in English literature.
In 2004, on the Australian talk show Enough Rope, interviewer Andrew Denton briefly touched
on the issue of Neill's "very bad" stuttering.
It 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 has mostly outgrown it, but claims it can still be detected to this day.
Neill first took to calling himself "Sam" at school where there were other Nigels and
the name Nigel was "a little effete for ... a New Zealand playground".
Acting career
After working at the New Zealand National Film Unit as a director, Neill was cast for
the lead role in 1977 New Zealand film Sleeping Dogs.
Following this he appeared in Australian romance My Brilliant Career, opposite Judy Davis.
In the late 1970s, his mentor was James Mason.
In 1981 he won his first big international role, as Damien Thorn, son of the devil, in
Omen III: The Final Conflict; also in that year, he played an outstanding main role in
Andrzej Zulawski's cult film Possession.
Later, Neill was also one of the leading candidates to succeed Roger Moore in the role of James
Bond, but lost out to Timothy Dalton.
His Bond screen-test can be found on the special features of the The Living Daylights DVD.
Among his many Australian roles is playing Michael Chamberlain in Evil Angels about the
case of Azaria Chamberlain.
Neill has played heroes and occasionally villains in a succession of film and television dramas
and comedies.
In the UK he won early fame, and was Golden-Globe nominated, after portraying real-life spy
Sidney Reilly in mini-series Reilly, Ace of Spies.
His leading and co-starring roles in films include thriller Dead Calm, two-part historical
epic La Révolution française(as Marquis de Lafayette), The Hunt for Red October, Jurassic
Park, Sirens, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness,
Event Horizon, Bicentennial Man, and comedy The Dish.
Neill has also occasionally acted in New Zealand films, notably The Piano, which marked the
first time a woman director had won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
His other New Zealand features include Gaylene Preston's genre-crossing 'romance' Perfect
Strangers, and a 2009 adaptation of science fiction tale Under the Mountain.
Neill himself returned to directing in 1995 with documentary Cinema of Unease: A Personal
Journey by Sam Neill which he wrote and directed with Judy Rymer.
Made as part of a BFI series marking the centenary of cinema, the film saw Neill providing his
own take on New Zealand film history.
In 1993, Neill 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 2002, he hosted and narrated a documentary series for the BBC entitled Space.
Neill also portrayed the legendary wizard in Merlin, a miniseries based on the legends
of King Arthur.
He reprised his role as Merlin in the sequel, Merlin's Apprentice, in which Merlin learns
he fathered a son with the Lady of the Lake.
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."
He also acted in short-lived Fox TV series Alcatraz as Emerson Hauser.
By May 2012, he was working on the fantasy adventure movie Mariah Mundi and the Midas
Box throughout the South West of England, playing the role of Otto Luger.
The movie is scheduled for release in 2013.
He is currently starring in the new BBC series 'Peaky Blinders' set in post World War I Birmingham.
He plays the role of Chief Inspector Chester Campbell who has come to clean up the town
on Churchill's orders.
Personal life Neill lives in Queenstown and owns a winery
called Two Paddocks, made up of a vineyard at Gibbston and two near Alexandra, all in
the Central Otago region of New Zealand's South Island.
He also has homes in Wellington, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia.
He has one son, Tim, by New Zealand actress Lisa Harrow, and one daughter, Elena, by makeup
artist Noriko Watanabe, whom he married in 1989.
He also has a stepdaughter, Maiko Spencer, who is from Noriko Watanabe's first marriage.
He is a supporter of the Australian Speak Easy Association and the British Stammering
Association.
He also supports the New Zealand Labour Party and the Australian Labor Party.
He is a patron of the National Performance Conference and donated a pair of jeans to
the Jeans for Genes auction; they were painted by artist Merv Moriarty and auctioned in August
1998.
Neill's hobby is 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, "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."
Neill is friends with New Zealand musicians Neil Finn and Tim Finn, of Crowded House and
Split Enz, and with Australian musician Jimmy Barnes.
Neill has been appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
When knighthoods were returned to the New Zealand 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".
Filmography Film
Television Personal quotes
"Of all the characters I've played, I think I have more in common with that guy than with
Reilly: Ace of Spies", referring to Carl Fitzgerald in Death in Brunswick.
Referring to The Simpsons: "I'm playing a cat burglar.
I've made it.
This is the high point of my career.
I'm really chuffed."
"I got an Irish passport the other day.
I love it.
It's the best thing in my pocket."
See also List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
References
External links Sam Neill at the Internet Movie Database
Two Paddocks official website