{"id":45379,"date":"2025-08-05T10:37:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T10:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/45379\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T10:37:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T10:37:07","slug":"sam-neills-20-best-roles-sorted-sam-neill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/45379\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Neill\u2019s 20 best roles \u2013 sorted! | Sam Neill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists, farmers, spies, cops, priests, the devil incarnate: is there any role Sam Neill can\u2019t play? The New Zealand actor has been delivering cracking performances for more than four decades and, after returning to screens in Untamed<\/a> and the third season of The Twelve<\/a>, shows no signs of slowing down. Here are his 20 all-time greatest performances.<\/p>\n

20. Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983)Neill as Sidney Reilly, adventurer and secret agent. Photograph: Rex Features<\/p>\n

This is the Neill performance that\u2019ll make you think: hot damn, he could\u2019ve made a great James Bond. In this UK TV series he plays a Russian spy who works for the Brits; he is a devil with the ladies; and he scrubs up great in a tux: tick tick tick. The show is adapted from Robin Bruce Lockhart\u2019s 1967 book Ace of Spies, and its titular character based on Sidney Reilly, a real-life spy<\/a> who was executed by the Soviets in 1925.<\/p>\n

19. The Hunt for Red October (1990)<\/p>\n

It couldn\u2019t have been easy to hold your own against Sean Connery. But in John McTiernan\u2019s deep sea blockbuster, Neill delivers a thoroughly engrossing supporting performance as Vasily Borodin, the second-in-command to Connery\u2019s Capt Marko Ramius, a Soviet who defects to the US. Borodin is pragmatic and process-driven but embroiled in dangerously volatile circumstances.<\/p>\n

18. The Tudors (2007-10)Neill as Thomas Wolsey with the cast of The Tudors. Photograph: BBC\/Sportsphoto\/Allstar<\/p>\n

In this glamorous and racy series set in 16th-century England, Neill plays Henry VIII\u2019s most trusted adviser, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. He\u2019s a man of the cloth, who clearly enjoys being referred to as \u201cyour eminence\u201d, but is also a cunning and calculating powerbroker who doesn\u2019t like getting his hands dirty. Staying on the king\u2019s good side is easier said than done, as is surviving in this world; let\u2019s just say Wolsey doesn\u2019t appear in the second season.<\/p>\n

17. Sweet Country (2017)<\/p>\n

Everybody brings their A game to Warwick Thornton\u2019s sumptuously shot neo-western, one of the greatest Australian films of the century to date. Neill plays a preacher, Fred Smith, who\u2019s a little pious but walks the walk \u2013 following Bryan Brown\u2019s sergeant on his mission to track down an Aboriginal man accused of murder (Hamilton Morris) because \u201cI want to see him come back alive\u201d. It\u2019s not a huge performance but it\u2019s beautifully balanced. Tender yet tough.<\/p>\n

16. The Dish (2000)<\/p>\n

Rob Sitch\u2019s pleasant historical drama is based on the true story of the Parkes Observatory<\/a>, which helped Nasa track and broadcast Apollo 11\u2019s voyage to the moon. Neill plays Cliff, the observatory\u2019s mild-mannered but intensely focused director. It\u2019s a warm, fully rounded performance that takes an avuncular tone, complete with a face-stretching smile and pipe hanging from his mouth.<\/p>\n

15. The Piano (1993)<\/p>\n

Initially Neill\u2019s character in Jane Campion\u2019s Palme d\u2019Or-winning masterpiece<\/a> seems relatively fair-minded, playing the new husband of Holly Hunter\u2019s famously mute protagonist, Ada. That changes in the final act, when he violently responds to discovering Ada\u2019s love affair with a retired sailor (Harvey Keitel), tipping the film into nightmarish terrain. It\u2019s broodingly dark and poetic, and all the performances are great.<\/p>\n

14. Daybreakers (2009)<\/p>\n

The ol\u2019 vampire villain is given a modern, corporate makeover in the Spierig brothers\u2019 revisionist genre movie, in which Neill plays Charles Bromley, the chief executive of the largest supplier of blood in the US. In this world, most humans have become vamps, leading to a massive blood shortage that Bromley\u2019s determined to exploit. Neill gives him a monstrously large impact, with an air of menacing sophistication. In one memorable scene he elegantly quaffs a lovely glass of red \u2013 and no, it\u2019s not wine.<\/p>\n

13. Death in Brunswick (1990)Neill with Zoe Carides in Death in Brunswick. Photograph: Melbourne international film festival<\/p>\n

In this classic Australian black comedy<\/a> Neill plays Carl, a manchild who sleeps in late, rarely washes his clothes (he rarely washes anything) and lives in a grubby broken-down house. He does, however, scrub up pretty well in a black leather jacket. The plot kicks into gear when Carl \u2013 a two-bit chef at a dingy club \u2013 accidentally kills a drug dealer and sets off a gangland war. Neill makes him a little blase and aloof, and pitiable in some ways \u2013 but he is also his own worst enemy.<\/p>\n

12. The Omen: The Final Conflict (1981)<\/p>\n

An adult Damien Thorn is a role that could so easily have tipped into evil cartoonishness. But Neill is devilishly good in The Omen\u2019s second sequel, imbuing the protagonist with a disquietingly calm and serpentine presence. Thorn\u2019s smile stretches a little too wide, and something funny\u2019s going on with his eyes; he seems to look through people. The film can be a little goofy, stuffed to the gills with talk of prophecies and end times, but it builds a genuinely creepy psychological space.<\/p>\n

11. My Brilliant Career (1979)Judy Davis and Neill in My Brilliant Career, directed by Gillian Armstrong. Photograph: David Kynoch\/Margaret Fink\/NFSAA<\/p>\n

Gillian Armstrong\u2019s superb adaptation<\/a> of Miles Franklin\u2019s classic feminist novel is centred around Judy Davis\u2019s great performance as the bull-headed protagonist Sybylla Melvyn, an aspiring author who dreams of something greater than a rural life as a wife. Her primary love interest is Neill\u2019s Harry Beecham: a man of the world with a polite, dignified way about him that takes on extra layers as the role deepens. Harry is swoon-worthy but Sybylla is no pushover, twice rejecting his hand in marriage.<\/p>\n

10. Merlin (1998)<\/p>\n

What a spunky wizard! Neill cuts a charismatic presence as the lead in this two-part miniseries about the mythic middle ages magician, giving the role dramatic weight but also leaning into the story\u2019s fairytale-like elements. The special effects of course have dated but the production holds up surprisingly well, with an appealingly old-timey spirit of adventure.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up to Saved for Later<\/p>\n

Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia’s culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips<\/p>\n

Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n

9. Event Horizon (1997)Neill takes on the mad scientist trope in Event Horizon. Photograph: Everett Collection Inc\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Critics have never been kind to Paul Anderson\u2019s gruesome sci-fi about a team of astronauts who land on a ship that haunts people with their deepest fears, but it\u2019s a cracking movie. Neill\u2019s role as the ship\u2019s designer, Dr William Weir, begins in geeky scientist mode but becomes a berserk reinvention of the mad scientist trope. \u201cWhere we\u2019re going, we won\u2019t need eyes to see,\u201d says Weir, around the time he literally opens the gates of hell. Good times.<\/p>\n

8. Possession (1981)<\/p>\n

Cranked to 11? Dowsed in petrol, then set on fire? No string of words, however sensational, can capture the balls-to-the-wall spirit of Neill\u2019s ghoulish performance in Andrzej \u017bu\u0142awski\u2019s cult classic. Nor the qualities of the film<\/a> itself \u2013 a bizarre combination of relationship drama and Grand Guignol spectacle. Neill plays Mark, a spy who returns home to West Berlin and discovers that his wife (Isabelle Adjani) wants a divorce; it might have something to do with a bedroom kink involving an tentacled alien.<\/p>\n

7. Rams (2020)<\/p>\n

Neill has never been more huggable than in Jeremy Sims\u2019 remake<\/a> of the Icelandic drama of the same name, in which he stars as Colin, a hardy and empathetic sheep farmer. He really, really loves his flock, though such affection does not extend to his crotchety brother Les (Michael Caton), who lives next door. The pair haven\u2019t spoken in years but that might change when a rare disease infects their animals.<\/p>\n

6. Evil Angels (1988)<\/p>\n

Titled A Cry in the Dark outside Australia and New Zealand, Fred Schepisi\u2019s drama<\/a> about the trial of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain arrived in Australian cinemas with white-hot topicality, just six weeks after their convictions for murdering their daughter Azaria were quashed. Both lead performances are hauntingly powerful, with Neill starring opposite Meryl Streep as Michael, a holier-than-thou pastor who questions his faith when the trial puts them through the wringer.<\/p>\n

5. Peaky Blinders (2013-22)\u2018A deliciously entertaining performance\u2019 \u2026 Sam Neill in Peaky Blinders. Photograph: Landmark Media\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Cillian Murphy\u2019s gangster Tommy Shelby and his gang of \u201cPeaky Blinders\u201d find themselves in an existential fight for survival when Neill\u2019s hotshot chief inspector Maj Campbell arrives in town, sent from Belfast to clean up the streets and retrieve stolen weapons. It\u2019s a deliciously entertaining performance with plenty of chest-thumping dialogue, and sizzling chemistry with Murphy.<\/p>\n

4. Jurassic Park (1993)<\/p>\n

Who could forget Neill\u2019s palaeontologist, Dr Alan Grant, gawking at a Brachiosaurus<\/a> while John Williamson\u2019s beautiful score swells? This moment from Jurassic Park demonstrates how special effects can evoke wonder, rather than just fill the frame with bling. There are a couple of other scientist characters in the Jurassic Park franchise but it was Grant who got his own film (Jurassic Park 3).<\/p>\n

3. Dead Calm (1989)Nicole Kidman and Neill in Dead Calm. Photograph: Sportsphoto\/Allstar<\/p>\n

For a large chunk of Phillip Noyce\u2019s white-knuckle thriller<\/a>, Neill\u2019s navy officer John is alone on a sinking ship, with nobody to share the frame with or bounce off. It\u2019s a role that required emotional and physical intensity. The calm-under-fire John tries his darndest to stay alive and return to his wife (Nicole Kidman), who\u2019s alone on their yacht with a psychotic stranger (Billy Zane). The film is pacy as hell; there\u2019s a real electrical charge to it.<\/p>\n

2. Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)<\/p>\n

Taika Waititi\u2019s beloved New Zealand comedy unforgettably paired on-the-run young delinquent Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) with Neill\u2019s cranky foster uncle Hector. Neill goes whole hog on the grumpy old man shtick \u2013 smoking, grunting and firing off fun lines like, \u201cYou ever worked on a farm before, are you just ornamental?\u201d The stoic Hector, who always looks as though he\u2019s had too much to drink, may not want our love, but by god, he got it.<\/p>\n

1. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)In the Mouth of Madness has Neill facing down supernatural horror. Photograph: New Line\/Sportsphoto\/Allstar<\/p>\n

John Carpenter\u2019s sensationally loud and Lovecraftian horror movie features a brilliant, wall-rattling performance from Neill, who perfectly drives the human elements of this long under-appreciated film. He plays John Trent, an insurance investigator convinced that a mass hysteria event surrounding the release of a new horror novel is a PR trick. The hardened cynic who becomes a true believer is a classic trajectory, and our man runs with it to hell and back, the protagonist\u2019s sanity erupting like a burst blood vessel. So good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists, farmers, spies, cops, priests, the devil incarnate: is there any role Sam Neill can\u2019t play? The New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-45379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}