Northern Ireland-born actor Sam Neill died in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on July 13. He was 78. His family shared the news in an Instagram statement. No cause of death was given.“It is with immense sadness that the whānau [family] of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney, Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free.”The statement continued:“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”Sam Neill was born Nigel John Dermot Neill in Omagh, Northern Ireland, in September 1947 to a British mother and New Zealand father who was serving in the British military. When he was seven, Sam moved to New Zealand, where there were many Nigels at his boarding school.So, at 11-12, he made the decision to change his name. He wrote in his 2023 memoir Did I Ever Tell You This?:“I found I moved more easily in the world as a Sam. Nigel is an awkward fit in most circumstances. Imagine being a movie actor called Nigel Neill.”Sam Neill is survived by his four children and multiple grandchildren. View this post on Instagram Instagram PostExploring further about Sam Neill’s name changeIn his memoir, which Sam Neill wrote during his year-long hiatus while battling cancer, he explained the circumstances behind his name change.“The one thing I resent about my parents, the only thing, is that they called me Nigel. Changing my name to Sam at the age of 11 was probably the best decision I made in my life.”His parents were Priscilla Beatrice Ingham and Dermot Neill.Before that, in 2009, Neill sat down with the Otago Daily Times and explained:“Nigel was a little effete for the rigors of a New Zealand playground.”He reportedly said it to an interviewer named Nigel, while also claiming that he “encouraged the nickname” at his boarding school as there were many Nigels and he thought he’d be “slightly less likely to be victimized.”However, Sam Neill had triple citizenship of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. He spent his later years owning a farm and running the Two Paddocks winery near his home in Central Otago, NZ.Neill moved to Sydney in April 2026 to take part in a clinical trial and was undergoing CAR T-cell therapy after chemotherapy stopped working. At the time, he revealed being cancer-free after four years. View this post on Instagram Instagram PostSam Neill announced his stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma diagnosis in March 2023 and revealed he had been fighting the blood cancer for a year with chemotherapy, which he had to undergo for the rest of his life. In his memoir, he spoke about death:“I’m not afraid to die, but it would annoy me. Because I’d really like another decade or two, you know? We’ve built all these lovely terraces, we’ve got these olive trees and cypresses, and I want to be around to see it all mature. And I’ve got my lovely little grandchildren. I want to see them get big. But as for the dying? I couldn’t care less.”Sam Neill was last seen in the Binge original The Twelve, for which he received a Silver Logie nomination at the 66th Australian TV Awards only three weeks ago.According to Variety, Sam was twice divorced, once from actress Lisa Harrow and later from makeup artist Noriko Watanabe. He shared son Tom and daughter Elena with them, respectively. He is also survived by adopted daughter Maiko from Watanabe’s first marriage, and son Andrew, whom he fathered in his early 20s and was given up for adoption. Neill reunited with his firstborn in the 90s.