Sam Neill, the actor best known for playing Dr. Alan Grant in the "Jurassic Park" franchise, has died. He was 78.
Neill's family announced Neill's "sudden and unexpected" death on the actor's Instagram account on Monday.
"It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia," the post stated, referring to the Māori word for extended family. "Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life."
In April, Neill had announced that he was cancer-free after undergoing a clinical trial in Australia. He had been diagnosed with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare blood cancer, in 2022.
Sam Neill in Xfinity's Super Bowl commercial.
While the death was sudden, Neill's family wrote that they were "blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free" and expressed "their deepest gratitude" to hospital staff "for their incredible care."
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"More details will be shared later," the Instagram post read. "But for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss."
Sam Neill movie and TV roles, breakout as Dr. Alan Grant in 'Jurassic Park'
Born in the town of Omagh in Northern Ireland on Sept. 14, 1947, Nigel John Dermot Neill moved to New Zealand at 7 years old when his father retired from the army and wanted to return home.
At 11, he changed his name to Sam because – as he wrote in his 2023 memoir "Did I Ever Tell You This?" – "to land in a primary school with a plum in the voice and Nigel for a name was asking for trouble."
Neill exploded into superstardom as the gruff but undeniably lovable paleontologist Dr. Grant in Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster "Jurassic Park," and he reprised the role in "Jurassic Park III" (2001) as well as "Jurassic World Dominion" (2022).
He also starred in films including "The Hunt for Red October," "The Piano," "Event Horizon," "The Horse Whisperer" and "Bicentennial Man."
Martin Ferrero, Sir Richard Attenborough, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill and Laura Dern in "Jurassic Park."
Neill reunited with his original "Jurassic Park" co-stars Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum in a nostalgic Xfinity commercial that aired during Super Bowl LX in 2026. The actor took a humorous selfie with a T-Rex in the ad.
On TV, Neill earned widespread acclaim for projects such as "Reilly, Ace of Spies," "Merlin," "The Tudors" and a villainous two-season arc in "Peaky Blinders," in which he played ruthless detective Chester Campbell (2013-14). In 2024, Neill starred as retired tennis coach Stan Delaney in the Peacock limited series mystery drama "Apples Never Fall."
He collected Golden Globe nominations for "Reilly: Ace Of Spies," "Merlin" (which also netted him an Emmy nomination) and "One Against The Wind."
Neill was a respected vocal artist who guest-starred on Season 4 of "Rick and Morty," voicing an alien whose species tries to take over Earth using a dating app.
Sam Neill was 'not afraid of dying' after cancer diagnosis, remission
Neill revealed in "Did I Ever Tell You This?" that he was fighting stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. At the time, Neill said he had been in remission for a year and keeping busy with film and TV projects as well as his New Zealand vineyard.
Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) reunites with Alan Grant (Sam Neill) years after the events of "Jurassic Park" in "Jurassic World Dominion" (2022).
Neill shared in a 2023 short documentary for Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Australian Story program that he was receiving infusions of a drug that his tumor was responding to effectively. He said he would keep the procedure going indefinitely.
It's like "going 10 rounds with a boxer, but it's keeping me alive, and being alive is infinitely preferable to the alternative," Neill said.
He also said that "I'm not, in any way, frightened of dying. It's never worried me from the beginning. But I would be annoyed because there are things I still want to do."
Neill added, "Very irritating, dying. But I'm not afraid of it."
Neill is survived by two sons and two daughters.
Contributing: Lucy Craymer, Reuters
Sam Neill, who famously starred in the ‘Jurassic Park’ franchise, has died at the age of 78. His family announced the news on his official Instagram page. "It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney, Australia," their statement read. The family said that Neill was surrounded by loved ones and died "with the dignity that has characterized his whole life." The statement added that his death was sudden and unexpected but stressed that he had remained cancer-free following his recovery from stage 3 blood cancer earlier this year. Neill starred in movies including ‘Jurassic Park,’ ‘The Hunt for Red October,’ ‘The Piano,’ ‘Event Horizon,’ and ‘The Horse Whisperer.’ Born in Northern Ireland in 1947, Neill moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, as a child, later discovering his passion for acting at the University of Canterbury. After making his television debut in 1971's ‘The City of No’ and appearing in several local productions, his breakthrough came with the 1977 movie ‘Sleeping Dogs.’
