'Hero, legend, sweetheart': Tributes to Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill, who has died aged 78

Sam Neill, the actor celebrated for portraying Dr. Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, has died at the age of 78. Born Nigel John Dermot Neill in Omagh, Northern Ireland, in 1947, he relocated with his family to Christchurch, New Zealand, during childhood. At age 12 he adopted the name Sam to avoid confusion with several classmates named Nigel. While studying at the University of Canterbury, Neill began acting and made his film debut in 1971’s The City of No. A series of television and film roles in New Zealand followed, culminating in his breakthrough performance in the 1977 movie Sleeping Dogs, one of the nation’s first films to achieve worldwide distribution. He later moved to Australia, where he starred in My Brilliant Career (1979), a role that established him as a leading actor. International fame arrived in 1993 with his work in Jane Campion’s Oscar‑winning The Piano and as palaeontologist Dr Grant in Jurassic Park. Neill reprised the role in Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022), and voiced the character in three video‑game adaptations of the franchise. On television he gained notoriety for playing the sadistic, corrupt officer Major Chester Campbell in the first two series of the BBC’s Peaky Blinders. Over a career spanning more than five decades he accumulated over 150 screen credits. His most recent film appearance was in The Fox (2025) and his latest television role came in the Netflix series Untamed (2025). He is slated to appear posthumously in Godzilla x Kong: Supernova and The Last Resort, both scheduled for release in 2027. Neill was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1991 for services to acting. He became a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2007 and received a knighthood in 2022 after amendments to New Zealand’s honours system permitted titular awards. In his 2023 memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This?, he disclosed details of his cancer diagnosis and treatment. “I'm not acrophobic of dying,” he told the BBC at the time. “What I don't privation to bash is to halt living, due to the fact that I truly bask living.” He added: “I've regarded it as an adventure, rather a acheronian adventure, but an escapade nevertheless.” Sir Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.