
Acting
Sam Neill
Born 1947-09-14 · Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, UK
Sir Nigel John Dermot 'Sam' Neill (September 14, 1947 – July 13, 2026) was a New Zealand actor. His career included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an 'international leading man', he is regarded as one of the most versatile actors of his generation. Born in Northern Ireland to an English mother and New Zealand father, Neill moved to Christchurch with his family in 1954. He first achieved recognition with his appearance in the film Sleeping Dogs (1977), which he followed with leading roles in My Brilliant Career (1979), Omen III: The Final Conflict, Possession (both 1981), Evil Angels (1988), Dead Calm (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Piano (1993), and In the Mouth of Madness (1994). He came to international prominence as Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park (1993), reprising the role in Jurassic Park III (2001) and Dominion (2022). Outside of film, Neill appeared in numerous television series in guest and recurring roles, including Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983), The Simpsons (1994), The Tudors (2007), Crusoe (2008–2010), Happy Town (2010), Alcatraz (2012), and Rick and Morty (2019). He also starred as the titular character in Merlin (1998) and Merlin's Apprentice (2006), and as Major Chester Campbell in the first two series of Peaky Blinders (2013–2014). He has presented and narrated several documentaries. Neill received the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the Longford Lyell Award, the New Zealand Film Award, and the Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actor. He also had three Golden Globe and two Primetime Emmy nominations. He won the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor at the 2023 Logies. Neill passed away at age 78 on 13 July 2026, in Sydney, Australia. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that he remained cancer free. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sam Neill, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting credits
7.6Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok, the destruction of his home-world and the end of Asgardian civilization, at the hands of a powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela.
Thor: Ragnarok
2017
6.6Four years after Isla Nublar was destroyed, dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history's most fearsome creatures.
Jurassic World Dominion
2022
6.4After his retirement is interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher, a galactic killer who seeks the extinction of the gods, Thor Odinson enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg, and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who now wields Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor. Together they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.
Thor: Love and Thunder
2022
6.6In 2047, a group of astronauts are sent to investigate and salvage the starship Event Horizon which disappeared mysteriously seven years before on its maiden voyage. However, it soon becomes evident that something sinister resides in its corridors.
Event Horizon
1997
7.4A new technologically-superior Soviet nuclear sub, the Red October, is heading for the U.S. coast under the command of Captain Marko Ramius. The American government thinks Ramius is planning to attack. Lone CIA analyst Jack Ryan has a different idea: he thinks Ramius is planning to defect, but he has only a few hours to find him and prove it - because the entire Russian naval and air commands are trying to find Ramius, too. The hunt is on!
The Hunt for Red October
1990
8.0A wealthy entrepreneur secretly creates a theme park featuring living dinosaurs drawn from prehistoric DNA. Before opening day, he invites a team of experts and his two eager grandchildren to experience the park and help calm anxious investors. However, the park is anything but amusing as the security systems go off-line and the dinosaurs escape.
Jurassic Park
1993
7.4When an arranged marriage brings Ada and her spirited pre-teen daughter Flora to the wilderness of 19th-century New Zealand, she finds herself locked in a battle of wills with both her controlling husband and a rugged frontiersman to whom she develops a forbidden attraction.
The Piano
1993
7.6Ricky is a defiant young city kid who finds himself on the run with his cantankerous foster uncle in the wild New Zealand bush. A national manhunt ensues, and the two are forced to put aside their differences and work together to survive.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
2016
6.7Ray Breslin is the world's foremost authority on structural security. After analyzing every high security prison and learning a vast array of survival skills so he can design escape-proof prisons, his skills are put to the test. He's framed and incarcerated in a master prison he designed himself. He needs to escape and find the person who put him behind bars.
Escape Plan
2013
7.3A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.
Possession
1981
7.2An insurance investigator visits a small town while looking into the strange disappearance of a popular horror novelist. He soon finds that the impact of the author’s books is far more than inspirational.
In the Mouth of Madness
1995
7.0Peter Rabbit runs away from his human family when he learns they are going to portray him in a bad light in their book. Soon, he crosses paths with an older rabbit who ropes him into a heist.
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway
2021
6.3In the year 2019, a plague has transformed almost every human into a vampire. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vampires on a way to save humankind.
Daybreakers
2010
6.7Peter Rabbit's feud with Mr. McGregor escalates to greater heights than ever before as they rival for the affections of the warm-hearted animal lover who lives next door.
Peter Rabbit
2018
6.8When a young owl is abducted by an evil Owl army, he must escape with new-found friends and seek the legendary Guardians to stop the menace.
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
2010
6.2Britain’s Peter Colt has never quite lived up to his dreams of tennis stardom. Once ranked as high as number 11 in the world, the journeyman veteran has watched his number slip to 119 as his confidence on the court slowly ebbs away. Now, on the eve of his leaving the world of professional tennis, he’s granted a wild card, allowing him to play his final Wimbledon tournament…make that his final tournament ever.
Wimbledon
2004
7.3Richard Martin buys a gift, a new NDR-114 robot. The product is named Andrew by the youngest of the family's children. "Bicentennial Man" follows the life and times of Andrew, a robot purchased as a household appliance programmed to perform menial tasks. As Andrew begins to experience emotions and creative thought, the Martin family soon discovers they don't have an ordinary robot.
Bicentennial Man
1999
6.4A businessman, on his daily commute home, gets unwittingly caught up in a criminal conspiracy that threatens not only his life but the lives of those around him.
The Commuter
2018
7.2Happy young married couple Paige and Leo are, well, happy. Then a car accident puts Paige into a life-threatening coma. Upon awakening she has lost the previous five years of memories, including those of her beloved Leo, her wedding, a confusing relationship with her parents, or the ending of her relationship with her ex-fiance. Despite these complications, Leo endeavors to win her heart again and rebuild their marriage.
The Vow
2012
6.9The mother of a severely traumatized daughter enlists the aid of a unique horse trainer to help the girl's equally injured horse.
The Horse Whisperer
1998
6.1An aspiring young physician, Robert Merivel found himself in the service of King Charles II and saves the life of someone close to the King. Merivel joins the King's court and lives the high life provided to someone of his position. Merivel is ordered to marry his King's mistress in order to divert the queens suspicions. He is given one order by the king and that is not to fall in love. The situation worsens when Merivel finds himself in love with his new wife. Eventually, the King finds out and relieves Merivel of his position and wealth. His fall from grace leaves Merivel where he first started. And through his travels and reunions with an old friend, he rediscovers his love for true medicine and what it really means to be a physician.
Restoration
1995
9.0Documentary focused on the creation of movie and television special effects, hosted by Roy Scheider and Jonathan Brandis, featuring behind the scenes look at how the visual effects were created for popular films of the era.
Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects
1994
6.6A multi-part documentary about the making of the Jurassic Park trilogy. Each part walks through the making of part of one of the films, including the hurricane during the shooting of the first film, and how advances in CGI for Jurassic Park helped change the world of special effects forever. All interviews for these retrospective documentaries come with comments from Spielberg, Johnston, Neill, Dern, Goldblum, the effects crews, the child actors, and Peter Stormare. This documentary is broken into six parts: Dawn of a New Era (25 min), Making Prehistory (20 min), The Next Step in Evolution (15 min), Finding the Lost World (28 min), Something Survived (16 min), and The Third Adventure (25 min).
Return to Jurassic Park
2011
7.3This documentary treats film fans to a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Jurassic Park," one of the 90's biggest hits and a milestone in special effects development. Narrated by James Earl Jones, it includes footage of the filming process, as well as interviews with director Steven Spielberg, and other members of the cast and crew, who give their insights into what it was like working together on this project and the efforts it took to bring the film to completion.
The Making of 'Jurassic Park'
1995
Behind the camera
10.0Examines the practical philosophy, the achievements and frustrations of one of New Zealand's most lively and innovative architects, Ian Athfield. The film provides a portrait of the architect and his work both in New Zealand and his project to design housing for 140,000 squatters from the Tondo area of Manila in the Philippines, for which Athfield won an international competition in 1975.
Architect Athfield
1977
7.0The political adviser to Australia's Minister of the Arts investigates the suspicious death of a disgruntled artist.
The Brush-Off
2004
7.0The political adviser to Australia's Minister of the Arts investigates the suspicious death of a disgruntled artist.
The Brush-Off
2004
7.9An amusing and entertaining film, "Stiff" showcases David Wenham as Murray Whelan, political fixer and amateur investigator. An adaption of a Shane Moloney book it provides a view into the political workings (or lack thereof) of a Brunswick (Melbourne, Australia) Local Member's office.
Stiff
2004
5.7Actor Sam Neill discusses New Zealand film and his own experiences within and without.
Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill
1995
5.7Actor Sam Neill discusses New Zealand film and his own experiences within and without.
Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill
1995
10.0A primer on proper phone manners produced for the New Zealand Post Office.
Phone
1974
10.0A primer on proper phone manners produced for the New Zealand Post Office.
Phone
1974
8.0A short documentary about freestyle skiing made for the New Zealand Tourist and Publicity Department.
Flare - A Ski Trip
1977
10.0A documentary following the attempt by three young people to be the first windsurfers to cross Cook Strait.
Surf Sail
1978
9.0A visual essay on contemporary Kiwi architecture.
Four Shorts on Architecture
1975
9.0A visual essay on contemporary Kiwi architecture.
Four Shorts on Architecture
1975
NRA documentary about the history of settler groups that came to New Zealand from Europe.
New Country - New People
1978
9.0A documentary about the New Zealand theatre troupe "Red Mole".
On the Road with Red Mole
1979
9.0A documentary about the New Zealand theatre troupe "Red Mole".
On the Road with Red Mole
1979