Sam Neill
Sam Neill
Nigel John Dermot Neill DCNZM OBE, known professionally as Sam Neill, 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...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth14 September 1947
CityOmagh, Ireland
CountryIreland
I like being around actors. Imagine not liking actors.
Actors are easy to like. They are generally sociable, thoughtful people.
Nobody knows who Barry Crump is, anywhere, but in New Zealand he's huge. I am of that age, where I sort of grew up with Barry Crump books. Look, if you read the book, you realize it is actually not a funny book at all.
People turn into fools when they see a movie star and do weird things.
I understand acting and I understand actors. I don't really understand the world of celebrity. That's just bizarre. Those sorts of elements I'm at sea with.
Try and fit in in a New Zealand playground with an Armagh accent - it doesn't work.
Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see.
If you want to learn about America, watch The Wire. Its a profound piece of entertainment.
When I started in films, it never really occurred to me that I could make a career out of acting.
I've worked all my life to shed myself of any character.
I never met Barry Crump, but I was in an audience once for a play once. There was a drunken man at the back of the auditorium that was shouting during a performance of a one man play, and it turned out later on that was Barry Crump and he was in a state of inebriation.
I'm not big on Champagne, but I'd take along a bottle of Cristal to pop for when the boat comes to the rescue.
As much as possible, I try to encourage people to use stunt men because that is really their job.
I go by the role pretty much. And I think the only genre I haven't gotten to do but I'd love to is a western, but no one has ever asked me to do that. Unfortunately they are very few and far between these days, but that is one type of film I'd love to do.