Early life

Neill was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, the second son of Dermot Neill, a Harrow- and Sandhurst-educated British Army officer and third-generation New Zealander, and his English wife, Priscilla Beatrice (née Ingham). At the time of Neill's birth, his father was stationed in Northern Ireland, serving with the Irish Guards. His father's family owned Neill and Co., the largest liquor retailers in New Zealand.

In 1954, Neill returned with his family to New Zealand, where he attended the Anglican boys' boarding school Christ's College in Christchurch. He then went on to study English literature at the University of Canterbury, where he had his first exposure to acting. While at university he lived at College House. He then moved to Wellington to continue his tertiary education at Victoria University, where he graduated BA in English literature.

In 2004, on the Australian talk show Enough Rope, interviewer Andrew Denton briefly touched on the issue of Neill's "very bad" stuttering. It affected most of his childhood and as a result he was "hoping that people wouldn't talk to " so he would not have to answer back. He also stated, "I kind of outgrew it. I can still... you can still detect me as a stammerer."

Neill first took to calling himself "Sam" at school because there were several other students named Nigel, and because he felt the name Nigel was "a little effete for ... a New Zealand playground".

Acting career

After working at the New Zealand National Film Unit as a director, Neill was cast for the lead role in 1977 New Zealand film Sleeping Dogs. Following this he appeared in Australian romance My Brilliant Career (1979), opposite Judy Davis.

In the late 1970s, his mentor was James Mason. In 1981 he won his first big international role, as Damien Thorn, son of the devil, in Omen III: The Final Conflict; also in that year, he played an outstanding main role in Andrzej Zulawski's cult film, Possession. Later, Neill was also one of the leading candidates to succeed Roger Moore in the role of James Bond, but lost out to Timothy Dalton. Among his many Australian roles is playing Michael Chamberlain in Evil Angels (1988) (released as A Cry In The Dark outside of Australia and New Zealand) about the case of Azaria Chamberlain.

Neill has played heroes and occasionally villains in a succession of film and television dramas and comedies. In the UK he won early fame, and was Golden-Globe nominated, after portraying real-life spy Sidney Reilly in mini-series Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983). His leading and co-starring roles in films include thriller Dead Calm (1989), two-part historical epic La Révolution française (1989)(as Marquis de Lafayette), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Death in Brunswick (1990), Jurassic Park (1993), Sirens (1994), The Jungle Book (1994), John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness (1995), Event Horizon (1997), Bicentennial Man (1999), and comedy The Dish (2000).

Neill has occasionally acted in New Zealand films, notably The Piano (1993), which marked the first time a woman director (Jane Campion) had won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. His other New Zealand features include Gaylene Preston's genre-crossing 'romance' Perfect Strangers, and a 2009 adaptation of science fiction tale Under the Mountain. Neill himself returned to directing in 1995 with documentary Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill (1995) which he wrote and directed with Judy Rymer.

In 1993, Neill co-starred with Anne Archer in Question of Faith, an independent drama based on a true story about one woman's fight to beat cancer and have a baby. In 2000, he provided the voice of Sam Sawnoff in The Magic Pudding. In 2001, he hosted and narrated a documentary series for the BBC entitled Space (Hyperspace in the United States).

He portrayed the legendary wizard in Merlin (1998), a miniseries based on the legends of King Arthur. He reprised his role as Merlin in the sequel, Merlin's Apprentice (2006), in which Merlin learns he fathered a son with the Lady of the Lake.

Neill starred in the historical drama The Tudors, playing Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. "I have to say I really enjoyed making The Tudors", Neill said, “It was six months with a character that I found immensely intriguing, with a cast that I liked very much and with a story I found very compelling. It has elements that are hard to beat: revenge and betrayal, lust and treason, all the things that make for good stories."

He acted in the short-lived Fox TV series Alcatraz (2012) as Emerson Hauser. He played the role of Otto Luger in the fantasy adventure movie The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box (2014). He is currently starring in the new BBC series Peaky Blinders, set in post-World War I Birmingham. He plays the role of Chief Inspector Chester Campbell, a sadistic corrupt cop, who has come to clean up the town on Churchill's orders. In the 2015 BBC TV miniseries And then there were none, based on Agatha Christie's thriller, he played the role of General MacArthur.

In 2016, he starred in the New Zealand-made film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, directed by Taika Waititi.

Personal life

Neill has one son, Tim (born in 1983), by New Zealand actress Lisa Harrow. He married makeup artist Noriko Watanabe in 1989 and they have one daughter, Elena (born in 1991). He also has a stepdaughter, Maiko Spencer (born 1982), from Noriko's first marriage.

Neill lives in Queenstown and owns a winery called Two Paddocks made up of a vineyard at Gibbston and two near Alexandra, all in the Central Otago region of New Zealand's South Island. Neill's hobby is running Two Paddocks. "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", said Neill, "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 also has homes in Wellington, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia. He is a supporter of the Australian Speak Easy Association and the British Stammering Association (BSA). He supports the New Zealand Labour Party and the Australian Labor Party. He is a patron of the National Performance Conference and donated a pair of jeans to the Jeans for Genes auction; they were painted by artist Merv Moriarty and auctioned in August 1998.

Neill is friends with New Zealand musicians Neil Finn and Tim Finn, of Crowded House and Split Enz, and with Australian musician Jimmy Barnes.

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1991 for his work as an actor.

Neill has been appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM). When knighthoods were returned to the New Zealand Honours System in 2009, those with DCNZM or higher honours were given the option of converting them into knighthoods. Neill chose not to do this, saying the title of Sir was "just far too grand, by far".

Neill was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Canterbury in 2002.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Landfall	Eric
	Ashes	Priest
1977	Sleeping Dogs	Smith
1979	Just Out of Reach	Mike
	Journalist, TheThe Journalist	Rex
	My Brilliant Career	Harry Beecham
1981	Omen III: The Final Conflict	Damien Thorn
	Possession	Mark
	From a Far Country	Marian
1982	Ivanhoe	Brian de Bois-Guilbert
	Attack Force Z	Sergeant D.J. (Danny) Costello
	Enigma	Dimitri Vasilikov
1984	Blood of Others, TheThe Blood of Others	Bergman
	The Country Girls	Mr Gentleman
1985	Robbery Under Arms	Captain Starlight
	Plenty	Lazar
1986	For Love Alone	James Quick
1987	Good Wife, TheThe Good Wife	Neville Gifford
1988	Evil Angels (A Cry in the Dark)	Michael Chamberlain
1989	Dead Calm	John Ingram
	Révolution française, LaLa Révolution française	Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette
1990	Hunt for Red October, TheThe Hunt for Red October	Captain Vasily Borodin
	Shadow of China	TV reporter	Credited as John Dermot
1991	Death in Brunswick	Carl 'Cookie' Fitzgerald
	Until the End of the World	Eugene Fitzpatrick
1992	Rainbow Warrior, TheThe Rainbow Warrior	Alan Galbraith
	Memoirs of an Invisible Man	David Jenkins
	Hostage	John Rennie
1993	Piano, TheThe Piano	Alisdair Stewart
	Jurassic Park	Dr. Alan Grant
	Sirens	Norman Lindsay
1994	Country Life	Dr. Max Askey
	The Jungle Book	Colonel Geofferey Brydon
	In the Mouth of Madness	John Trent
1995	Restoration	King Charles II
1996	Children of the Revolution	Nine
	Victory	Mr. Jones
1997	Event Horizon	Dr. William Weir
	Snow White: A Tale of Terror	Lord Fredric Hoffman
1998	Horse Whisperer, TheThe Horse Whisperer	Robert MacLean
	Sweet Revenge	Henry Bell
1999	Molokai	Walter Murray Gibson
	Bicentennial Man	'Sir' Richard Martin
2000	My Mother Frank	Professor Mortlock
	Dish, TheThe Dish	Cliff Buxton
	The Magic Pudding	Sam Sawnoff	Voice role
2001	Jurassic Park III	Dr. Alan Grant
	Zookeeper, TheThe Zookeeper	Ludovic	Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2002	Dirty Deeds	Ray
	Leunig Animated	Narrator
2003	Perfect Strangers	The Man
	Yes	Anthony
2004	Wimbledon	Dennis Bradbury
2005	Gallipoli	Narrator	Voice role
	Little Fish	The Jockey
2006	Irresistible	Craig
2007	Angel	Théo
2008	Dean Spanley	Dean Spanley
	Skin	Abraham Laing
2009	In Her Skin	Mr. Reid
	Iron Road	Alfred Nichol
	Under the Mountain	Mr. Jones
	Daybreakers	Charles Bromley
2010	Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole	Allomere	Voice role
2011	The Dragon Pearl	Chris Chase
	Hunter, TheThe Hunter	Jack Mindy
2012	Vow, TheThe Vow	Bill Thornton
2013	Escape Plan	Dr. Kyrie
	The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box	Otto Luger
2014	United Passions	João Havelange
	A Long Way Down	Jess's father
2015	Backtrack	Duncan Stewart
	The Daughter
	Concussion	Kai
2016	Hunt for the Wilderpeople	Uncle Hec

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Ivanhoe	Brian de Bois-Guilbert
1983	Reilly, Ace of Spies	Sidney Reilly	12 episodes Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
1985	Kane and Abel	William Lowell Kane
1986	Strong Medicine	Vince Lord
1987	Amerika	Colonel Andrei Denisov
1991	One Against the Wind	Sergeant James Liggett
1993	Family Pictures	David Eberlin
1994	The Simpsons	Malloy	Voice role Episode: "Homer the Vigilante"
1995	Forgotten Silver	Himself
1996	In Cold Blood	Agent Alvin Dewey
1998	Merlin	Merlin	Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
	The Games	Citytrans CEO	Episode: "Transport"
2000	Sally Hemings: An American Scandal	Thomas Jefferson
2001	Submerged	Lt. Cmdr. Charles B. 'Swede' Momsen
2002	Doctor Zhivago	Victor Komarovsky
	Framed	Eddie Meyers
2004	Stiff	Lionel Merricks
	Jessica	Richard Runche	Logie Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series Nominated - AACTA Award for Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama
2005	The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant	Governor Arthur Phillip	2 episodes
	To the Ends of the Earth	Mr. Prettiman	3 episodes
	The Triangle	Eric Benerall	3 episodes Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television
2006	Merlin's Apprentice	Merlin
	Two Twisted	Mick	Episode: "Von Stauffenberg's Stamp"
2007	The Tudors	Cardinal Thomas Wolsey	10 episodes Nominated—Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama Series Nominated—Monte-Carlo Television Festival Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
2008-2010	Crusoe	Jeremiah Blackthorn	14 episodes
2009	Happy Town	Merritt Grieves	8 episodes
2009	bro'Town	Himself	Episode "To Sam with Love", Voice
2010	Rake	Dr Bruce Chandler	Episode: "R vs Chandler"
2011	Ice	Anthony Kavanagh
2012	Alcatraz	Emerson Hauser	13 episodes
2013-2014	Peaky Blinders	C.I. Campbell	12 episodes
	Harry	Jim "Stocks" Stockton
2014	Old School	Ted Macabe
2014	House of Hancock	Lang Hancock
2015	And Then There Were None	General John Gordon Macarthur
2016	Why Anzac With Sam Neill	Himself	documentary he wrote and produced

[ Source: Wikipedia ]