Actor Sam Neill has died, his family said in a statement on Monday. He was 78.

The statement said he had died in the eastern Australian city of Sydney.

The New Zealand actor rose to international prominence for his performance as Dr. Alan Grant in the 1993 film Jurassic Park.

"The loss ‌was sudden and ‌unexpected ​but blessed by the fact that Sam remained ​cancer free," a statement posted ⁠on ​Neill's Instagram ​page said, referring to his diagnosis with blood cancer announced in 2023.

Neill's high-profile career

Neill's acting career was launched in the 1970s, with his role in Gillian Armstrong's 1979 film My Brilliant Career already making his name known internationally.

He played a multitude of other TV and film roles, including the British historical crime drama Peaky Blinders, the US spy thriller The Hunt for Red October and Jane Campion's The Piano, which won the highest award in Cannes in 1993.

But it was his role in Jurassic Park as the paleontologist Grant, where he played alongside Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough, that cemented his international standing.

In March 2023, his memoir, "Did I Ever Tell You This?" was published.

He was also awarded a knighthood in New Zealand in 2022 recognizing his "outstanding contribution to film"

 As a sideline to his acting, Neill also ran vineyards in the Central Otago region of New Zealand's South Island.

Health problems

In 2023, Neill announced he had been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but said in April this year that a scan had detected no cancer in his body following treatment.

He told the British newspaper The Guardian in 2023 that he could not "pretend that the last year hasn’t had its dark moments." 

"But those dark moments throw the light into sharp relief, you know, and have made me grateful for every day and immensely grateful for all my friends," he said.

Neill, who was born in 1947 in Omagh, Northern Ireland, to an English mother and a New Zealand father, moved to New Zealand with his family in 1954, growing up in Christchurch.

He is survived by four children and eight grandchildren.

Neill 'one of the greats' — NZ premier

Homages have been pouring in from politicians and acting colleagues following the news of Neill's death.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon described the actor in a social media post as "one of the greats" and a mainstay of his country's film industry.

"He started out when there was barely a film ‌industry ​in this country to speak of," Luxon wrote.

"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 added.

Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, where Neill was a household name, said the late actor would be "much mourned and long remembered."

"Wry and dry, thoughtful and laconic, Sam fought illness with the same dignity, ​humour and conviction that gave strength to his every performance," Albanese wrote on social media

The Australian actor Magda Szubanski also voiced her shock at the news.  

"I'm just absolutely ​devastated. Darling ⁠Sam. I really don’t have any words right now. I'm in complete ⁠shock. Last time ​we spoke he was going so well," she wrote.

"My heart goes out to his family and all who love him — and there are so many of us. Vale my darling friend."

Edited by: Zac Crellin

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