Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill dies aged 78

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Sir Sam "started out when there was barely a film industry in this country to speak of".

"For more than fifty years he took New Zealand stories to the world and his talents helped make our film industry into what it is today – one of our greatest cultural exports," he wrote on X.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also paid tribute, writing on X that he "starred in so many beloved Australian stories and he earned a special place in Australian hearts".

Australian pop superstar Kylie Minogue responded to the announcement of Neill's death with "Vale [goodbye] Sam" alongside a broken heart emoji.

Richard E Grant wrote that he knew his fellow actor for three decades, adding that Neill had "guided and helped me through a very difficult time in my life... Sail on, kind Sir".

Daisy Ridley, who is set to star alongside Neill in the not-yet-released film The Last Resort, posted a picture of herself with Neill on her Instagram story, again alongside several broken heart emojis.

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

He adopted the name Sam at the age of 12 because there were several Nigels at his school.

He began acting while studying at the University of Canterbury and made his film debut in 1971's The City of No. After a number of television and film roles in New Zealand, he gained wider recognition in the 1977 film Sleeping Dogs, one of the country's first films to achieve international distribution.

He later moved to Australia, where he starred in My Brilliant Career (1979), a film that helped establish him as a leading actor.

Sir Sam achieved global fame in 1993 through his performances in Jane Campion's Oscar-winning The Piano and as palaeontologist Dr Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. He reprised the role in Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022), and voiced the character in three video games based on the series.

He also found success on television, playing the sadistic, corrupt police officer Major Chester Campbell in the first two series of the BBC's Peaky Blinders.

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

Over a career spanning more than five decades, he amassed more than 150 screen credits.

Sir Sam was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1991 for services to acting. He was later made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2007 and accepted a knighthood in 2022 after changes to New Zealand's honours system allowed recipients to adopt titular honours.

In his 2023 memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This?, he revealed details of his cancer diagnosis and treatment.

"I'm not afraid of dying," he told the BBC at the time. "What I don't want to do is to stop living, because I really enjoy living."

He added: "I've regarded it as an adventure, quite a dark adventure, but an adventure nevertheless."

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