Sam Neill Most easily recognized for playing a paleontologist, not Ross Gellar on Friends, played by David Schwimmer, but rather Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park, the talented nearly sixty-year-old Sam Neill has starred and appeared in a number of prominent films and TV mini-series since his acting beginnings back in the 1970s. Neill, who currently owns the Central Otago Two Paddocks winery, was born in Omagh in Northern Ireland, on September 14, 1947, but the actor spent much of his early years in his family’s home in New Zealand. After attending the all-boys’ Anglican boarding school Christ’s College, Neill got into acting while studying English literature at the University of Canterbury, and then later received his BA in English literature at the Victoria University.
Neill’s first notable and starring role was in the New Zealand film Sleeping Dogs in 1977, after which he landed the lead opposite Judy Davis in Australia’s 1979 hit My Brilliant Career and then the role of the adult Antichrist, Damien Thorn, in Omen III: The Final Conflict in 1981. In the early and mid-1980s, Neill started making a name for himself on the small screen, with both made-for-TV movies and TV mini-series in the U.K. and the U.S. such as Ivanhoe in 1982, with James Mason; Reilly: The Ace of Spies in 1983; The Country Girls in 1984; and Robbery Under Arms and Kane & Abel, co-starring Peter Strauss and Ron Silver, both in 1985. Later that decade Neill took leading male roles in Evil Angels in 1988, opposite Meryl Streep, and the thriller Dead Calm, with Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane, a year later. During this time, Neill was also slated to take over Roger Moore’s retired role as James Bond, but the role went to Timothy Dalton instead. Once the early 1990s hit, Neill gained international recognition with memorable roles in The Hunt for Red October in 1990, starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin; and The Piano in 1993, with Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, and Anna Paquin. In 1993 he starred as Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park, with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum; and he then reprised that role in 2001’s Jurassic Park III, with William H. Macy and Tea Leoni. In he also starred in Sirens, alongside Hugh Grant and Elle Macpherson.
He snagged roles in 1998’s The Horse Whisperer, with Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Scarlett Johansson; Bicentennial Man in 1999, starring Robin Williams; and in the 2002 mini-series Doctor Zhivago, with Keira Knightley in the female lead. The New Zealand actor has recently been involved in a number of film projects, and is slated to appear again as Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park IV, which as of yet has no set-in-stone release date. Neill has been nominated for a number of Golden Globe awards as well as an Emmy, and in 1993 he was given the high honor of being made an Order of the British Empire for Service to Acting. The actor has two children: with New Zealander actress Lisa Harrow he has Tim, born in 1983; and with wife Noriko Watanabe, he has Elena, born in 1990. YUDDY |
