Sam Neill, the Northern Ireland-born, New Zealand raised actor who found fame in Australia and overseas, has died at the age of 78.
An international star, most famous for the Jurassic Park films, his career began in New Zealand, starring in a number of local movies. The 1977 movie Sleeping Dogs was to be his big break.
In 1978 he came to Australia to promote Sleeping Dogs (“There was a press conference and hardly anyone turned up,” he told TV Times) and soon discovered Australia’s booming film industry and decided to stay. He scored a role in the movie My Brilliant Career followed by the long-running series The Sullivans, playing Ben Dawson, a love interest for Kitty Sullivan (Susan Hannaford). “I like the Ben Dawson character. He’s a New Zealander and a bit of a mystery man and a charmer. It’s a good role to play,” he said at the time.
He went on to further TV roles in Young Ramsay, the ABC series Lucinda Brayford and mini-series Robbery Under Arms.
He had the lead role in the British series Reilly: Ace Of Spies in 1983 and starred in American mini-series Kane And Abel and Amerika.
He was modest about the international adulation following Reilly: Ace Of Spies. “It really wasn’t that big,” he told TV Week on his return to Melbourne in 1984.
Later Australian TV credits included The Games, Jessica, The Incredible Journey Of Mary Bryant, Two Twisted, Rake, The House Of Bond and as Lang Hancock in The House Of Hancock. He was an interview subject in ABC’s The Assembly in 2024 and profiled in Australian Story.
He starred in three series of Foxtel drama The Twelve, winning Logies in 2023 and 2025. He has also recently been announced as a Silver Logie nominee for this year’s TV Week Logie Awards.
Movie credits included Evil Angels (Cry In The Dark), Death In Brunswick, Dead Calm, The Piano, Sirens, The Jungle Book, Bicentennial Man, The Dish, Dirty Deeds, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Ride Like A Girl and Thor: Ragnarok.Â
International TV credits included The Simpsons, Merlin, Tutankhamun, Rick And Morty, Peaky Blinders, Alcatraz, Flack and Apples Never Fall (filmed in Australia).
He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in March 2022, and revealed that he was cancer-free earlier this year.
Sam Neill is survived by four children and eight grandchildren.
Source:1 News, IMDB, The Age. TV Times, 1 September 1979. TV Week, 11 February 1984.
