The globe fell in love with Sam Neill following his rugged debut in action-adventure franchise Jurassic Park, but Australian’s arguably fell harder for him given his New Zealand origin.
He has no doubt earned his title as one of the more versatile actors in Hollywood – from dodging the vicious jaws of extinct dinosaurs to taking his wits to the court room in his latest Binge drama The Twelve.
But outside of his brilliant career, what do we know about the Kiwi actor?
Sam Neill doesn’t particularly seem interested in the flashing lights that Hollywood has to offer and so maintains a relatively private family life.
The 76-year-old grabbed the attention of his first wife, fellow New Zealand actress Lisa Harrow on the set of 1981 film Omen III. The pair wed in 1981 and were together for roughly 11 years before their unfortunate divorce in 1989.
Sam and Lisa did, however, share a son, Tim Neill born in 1983.
In 1993, Sam exchanged vows for a second time with Japanese film make-up artist Noriko Watanabe.
“We met on Dead Calm. It was on an island with plenty of time on our hands, so I leapt out in pursuit of her,” Sam told The Guardian in 2006. “I met with tremendous resistance for a long time. I got there in the end with dogged persistence.”
Together, they welcomed a daughter Elena in January 1991. In her younger years, Elena starred in some projects including Top of the Lake (2013) and The Brush-off (2004), according to IMDb.
But in 2023, Sam revealed to The Sydney Morning Herald that Elena was a tattoo artist based in Melbourne, Australia.
During his marriage to Noriko, Sam also adopted her daughter, Maiko.
Sam and Noriko were married for nearly 30 years until their divorce in 2017.
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