'Hero, legend, sweetheart': Tributes to Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill, who has died aged 78
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- Sam Neill died at 78 in Sydney, Australia, with his family calling the death "sudden and unexpected" in a statement Monday; the family added that he remained cancer-free at the time of death, following a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis made public in March 2023 and an April 2026 scan showing no disease.
- Sam Neill originated the role of palaeontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park (1993), reprising it in Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022), and built a five-decade career with more than 150 screen credits including The Piano, The Hunt for Red October, Dead Calm, and Major Chester Campbell in BBC's Peaky Blinders.
- Laura Dern called Neill "my beloved lifetime friend" and said "I will love you forever, Dr Alan Grant," while Steven Spielberg told Variety he "adored" working with Neill on the franchise alongside Dern and Jeff Goldblum, who posted a photo captioned "The next great adventure begins."
- Christopher Luxon, New Zealand's Prime Minister, said Neill spent more than fifty years taking "New Zealand stories to the world," while former PM Jacinda Ardern called him "a thoughtful, curious, and decent person," and Australian PM Anthony Albanese wrote that Neill "earned a special place in Australian hearts."
- Born in Omagh, Northern Ireland, in 1947 as Nigel John Dermot Neill, he moved to Christchurch, New Zealand as a child and adopted the name Sam at 12 because several Nigels already attended his school.
- Sam Neill is expected to appear posthumously in Godzilla x Kong: Supernova and The Last Resort, both slated for 2027, after his last screen work in The Fox (2025) and the Netflix series Untamed (2025); he was appointed OBE in 1991, made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2007, and accepted a knighthood in 2022.
Why it matters: Sam Neill's death removes a rare actor who bridged global blockbuster stardom (Jurassic Park's Dr Grant, reprised across three films over three decades) and a foundational role in New Zealand cinema, where his work with Jane Campion and others helped build a national film industry. With two posthumous releases already dated for 2027 and an untitled Last Resort co-starring Daisy Ridley still on the slate, audiences will encounter his final performances well after his passing.
