He was innate Nigel Neill within Omagh, Northern Ireland, the 2nd boy of Dermot, the Harrow and Sandhurst educated army officer and third generation New Zealander (who was so stationed inside Northern Irel&) and his English wife Priscilla. His personal (owners of Neill & Co., a big liquor retail merchant around Future Zealand) returned to New Zealand in 1954 where Neill attended the Anglican boys' boarding school Christ's College, in Christchurch, and then went on to study English Literature at the University of Canterbury. He occurs as close friend of New Zealand musician Tim Finn. Fallowing appearing in the popular television series, The Sullivans, he began his film career in the New Zealand film Sleeping Dogs. Resulting higher this he appeared in the Australian classic, My Brilliant Career (1979), opposite Judy Davis. This appearance led to his existence selected to play Damien inside Omen III: The Final Conflict, one of the sequels to The Omen.

He was considered to choose across from either Roger Moore as James Bond for The Living Daylights, impressing everyone with his screen line 1 text, & was a original favorite guide of director John Glen. But, Cubby Broccoli was not impressed by Neill, and the role eventually went to Timothy Dalton instead.

Since so, Neill has played heroes & villains inside the succession of television & film dramas & comedies. inside the UK, he became easily-known in the early Eighties, starring in dramas like Ivanhoe, & notably in the name part of Reilly, Ace of Spies.

Extra recently he has been better known for his roles within Dead Calm (1989), The Piano (1993), and Jurassic Park (1993).

A film CinemThe of Unease: A Household Journey by Sam Neill (1995) was written & directed by Sam Neill & Judy Rymer. Within it Neill narrated his personalized recollection of Up to date Zealand film history.

Television
Ivanhoe (1982) Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983) Kane and Abel (1985) Amerika (TV miniseries) (1987) In Cold Blood (1996) Doctor Zhivago (2002) Framed (2002) Stiff (2004) Jessica (2004) To the Ends of the Earth (2005)

Films
Sleeping Dogs (1977) My Brilliant Career (1979) Omen III: The Final Conflict Possession (1981) Attack Force Z (1982) Plenty (1985) A Cry in the Dark (1988) Dead Calm (1989) The Hunt for Red October (1990) Until the End of the World (1991) Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) The Piano (1993) Jurassic Park (1993) Sirens (1994) Event Horizon (1995) In the Mouth of Madness (1995) Merlin (1998) The Horse Whisperer (1998) Bicentennial Man (1999) The Dish (2000) Jurassic Park III (2001) The Zookeeper (2001) Dirty Deeds (2002) Perfect Strangers (2003) Yes (2004) Wimbledon (2004) Little Fish (2005) Irresistible'' (2005) (post-production)