Sir Nigel John Dermot “Sam” Neill (14 September 1947 – 13 July 2026) was a New Zealand actor and businessman. He was known for his leading roles in film and television and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. In 1991, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his work as an actor.
Neill was born in Northern Ireland to an English mother and a New Zealand father. His family moved to Christchurch in 1954. He first gained attention for his role in Sleeping Dogs (1977), and went on to star in films such as My Brilliant Career (1979), The Final Conflict (1981), Possession (1981), Evil Angels (1988), Dead Calm (1989), Death in Brunswick (1990), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Piano (1993), In the Mouth of Madness (1994), Event Horizon (1997), The Dish (2000), and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016). He became internationally known for playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park (1993), a role he returned to in Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).
Profile Summary
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Sam Neill |
| Birth Name | Nigel John Dermot Neill |
| Date of Birth | 14 September 1947 |
| Place of Birth | Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland |
| Date of Death | 13 July 2026 (aged 78) |
| Place of Death | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Citizenship | New Zealand; United Kingdom; Ireland |
| Education | University of Canterbury (attended); Victoria University of Wellington (BA) |
| Occupations | Actor; Businessman |
| Years Active | 1970–2026 |
| Works | Full list |
| Children | 4 |
Personal Relationships
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Spouse | Noriko Watanabe (m. 1989; sep. 2017) |
Age
Nigel John Dermot Neill was born on 14 September 1947 in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
Biography & Early life
Nigel John Dermot Neill was born on 14 September 1947 in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to Priscilla Beatrice Ingham, who was English, and Dermot Neill, who was from New Zealand. He held citizenship in New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. His great-grandfather, Percival “Percy” Neill, was the son of a wine merchant and moved from Belfast to Australia, then to New Zealand, settling in Dunedin in 1863. When Neill was born, his father was serving as an officer with the Royal Irish Fusiliers in Northern Ireland. The Neill family owned Neill and Co., which later became part of the Wilson Neill hospitality group.
In 1954, the Neill family moved to New Zealand and settled in the Cashmere suburb of Christchurch. Neill went to Cashmere Primary School and then Medbury School, a private preparatory school. After a year, his family moved to Dunedin, his father’s hometown, and lived in Macandrew Bay, where he and his sister Juliet enjoyed their holidays. At school, he started calling himself “Sam” because there were several other boys named Nigel and he thought “Nigel” sounded too fancy for a New Zealand playground. From 1961, he attended Christ’s College, an Anglican boys’ school in Christchurch.
Personal life
In his early twenties, Neill had a son who was placed for adoption, and they reunited in 1994. In 1980, while filming The Final Conflict (1981), he met actress Lisa Harrow, and they had a son together. He married make-up artist Noriko Watanabe in 1989, and they had a daughter. He also adopted Watanabe’s daughter from her first marriage. They separated in 2017. From 2018 to 2021, Neill was in a relationship with Australian political journalist Laura Tingle. By 2023, he had eight grandchildren.
Neill lived in Alexandra, on New Zealand’s South Island, and owned a winery called Two Paddocks. The winery included a vineyard in Gibbston and two near Alexandra, all in the Central Otago wine region. He enjoyed running Two Paddocks, even though, as he said, “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.” He also said, “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 liked sharing stories about his farm on social media and named his animals after people he worked with in the film industry.
He published his memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This?, in March 2023.
Death
In March 2023, Neill revealed that he had been undergoing chemotherapy since March 2022 after being diagnosed with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, following swollen glands that were first noticed during publicity for Jurassic World Dominion. He stated that the cancer was in remission, but he would require monthly chemotherapy for the rest of his life. In April 2026, Neill said that, after his chemotherapy had stopped working, he underwent CAR T-cell therapy as part of an Australian clinical trial. He said a recent scan showed no cancer in his body, and he advocated wider access to the treatment for blood cancer patients in Australia and New Zealand.
Neill died in Sydney, Australia, on 13 July 2026, aged 78. He was cancer-free at the time of his death, which his family described as “sudden and unexpected”.
Honours
Neill’s career lasted more than five decades and included leading roles in both independent films and major blockbusters. He was seen as an “international leading man” and was known as one of the most versatile actors of his generation. Neill won 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 was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2023, he won the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor.
Neill was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1991 Queen’s Birthday Honours for his work as an actor. In the 2007 New Year Honours, he became a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM). When New Zealand brought back knighthoods in 2009, people with DCNZM or higher could choose to become knights. Neill decided not to, saying the title of Sir was “just far too grand, by far.” In June 2022, he accepted being redesignated as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Neill received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Canterbury in 2002. In 2019, he was given the Equity New Zealand Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding career and his leadership and mentoring in the acting industry. In 2020, he received the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon Award, which is limited to 20 living recipients at a time.
Net Worth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Neill had an estimated net worth of $18 million when he died.
