Neill was born in 1947 in Northern Ireland, where his father was serving as an officer with the Royal Irish Fusiliers.
“I was born in Omagh, we lived in Armagh and my favourite place here was Tyrella beach, I sort of think that’s where I grew up,” Neill told the BBC in 2012.
The family relocated to New Zealand when Neill was seven.
His real name was Nigel, but he began calling himself Sam after finding his new school already had several boys with his name. He later joked that “being christened Nigel set me back for years”.
He was not initially sure what kind of career to pursue. Neill decided not to follow his father into the army, or the hospitality business his family owned.
A brief attempt at a career in the legal profession was cut short after he failed his first year at law school.
Having starred in student productions of Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Neill instead decided to embark on an acting career.
Various film and TV series in New Zealand followed, with a breakout role in his home country coming in 1977 with an appearance in Sleeping Dogs, before Neill moved to Australia and began to land bigger parts.
He credited 1979’s My Brilliant Career as “a most important role for me, because that’s the film that took me out of New Zealand, and allowed me to live and work in Australia, which I love”.
“Yeah, that was probably more transformative than anything else I’ve done, in a way.”
