Sam Neill: Tribute to Jurassic Park actor after death at 78

In the year Born Nigel John Dermot Neill in Omagh, Northern Ireland in 1947, he moved with his family to Christchurch, New Zealand as a child.

At the age of 12, he received the name Sam because there were many Nigels in his school.

He started acting while studying at Canterbury University and made his film debut in 1971 with The City of No. After a number of television and film roles in New Zealand, he gained wide recognition in 1977 in one of the country’s first internationally broadcast films, Sleeping Dogs.

He later moved to Australia, where he helped establish himself as a leading actor by starring in the film My Brilliant Career (1979).

Neil He gained international fame in 1993 with Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning The Piano and his performance as paleontologist Dr. Grant in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.

He reprized the role in Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022) and voiced the character in three video games based on the series.

Neill also found success on television, playing the tragic, corrupt police officer Major Chester Campbell in the first two series of the BBC’s Peak Blinders.

In a career spanning more than five decades, he has amassed over 150 screen credits.

His last film appearance came in Fox (2025) and his last TV appearance came in the Netflix series Untamed (2025). In the year He is expected to make a posthumous appearance in 2027’s Godzilla x Kong: Supernova and The Last Resort.

Neill was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1991. He was later made an Honorary Companion of the Order of New Zealand in 2007 and received an honorary appointment in 2022 after changes to the New Zealand honors system allowed recipients to receive honorary degrees.

In the year On the 2023 note, did I tell you this? , showed details about cancer diagnosis and treatment.

“I’m not afraid to die.” He told the BBC at the time.. “What I don’t want to do is stop living, because I enjoy living so much.”

He added: “I considered it an adventure, a very dark adventure, but an adventure.

Sir Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.