Internationally acclaimed actor Sir Sam Neill has been named the recipient of the New Zealand Screen Awards’ 2025 Screen Legend Award for his outstanding contribution to film and television.
He will be honoured at the upcoming ceremony at the Viaduct Events Centre on Friday, November 21.
Neill’s career spans over five decades, cementing him as one of New Zealand’s more acclaimed and celebrated performers. He broke through in “Sleeping Dogs,” before roles in Jane Campion’s Oscar winning “The Piano” and “Jurassic Park” and its sequels. In television, his bill includes “Peaky Blinders,” “The Twelve,” “Rake,” “Apples Never Fall” and the widely celebrated “Untamed.”
Neill’s talent and versatility have earned him recognition on screens around the world, with Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his performance in the NBC miniseries “Merlin” (1998). He was also recognised with Golden Globe nominations for “One Against the Wind” (1991) and “Reilly: Ace of Spies” (1983), the latter earning him the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Actor.
Neill’s outstanding body of work has also been celebrated in Australia, where he received the AFI Award for Best Actor for “Jessica” (2004). Continuing his legacy of excellence, he was recently honoured with the 2025 Logie Award for Best Lead Actor in a Drama, following his 2023 win for Most Popular Actor for his acclaimed role in “The Twelve.”
The New Zealand Screen Awards’ Screen Legend Award is presented to a screen professional, programme or organisation who has made a significant contribution to the industry in New Zealand over the span of their career. It is a special honour given at the discretion of the New Zealand Screen Awards Committee.
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Previous Legend honourees include multi-award-winning creator and producer, Julie Christie (2024), writer, actor and director Oscar Kightley (2023), television producer Janine Morrell-Gunn (2022), actor and director Ian Mune (2021), television executive Andrew Shaw (2020), “Shortland Street” (2019), iconic Māori broadcaster and journalist Tini Molyneux (2018), and veteran producer John Barnett (2017).
Of the Screen Legend Award honour, Neill said: “I am very pleased and proud to be accepting this award amongst my friends and peers. I just worked it out that it’s been 53 years in film – that does indeed sound like a lifetime! Thanks to all concerned. Very honoured.”
Kightley, who won the award in 2023, said of Neill: “Although we use this word a lot, there are actual legends still among us. People whose existence helps make others around them and the world a better place. Sir Sam Neil is one of those people. He’s done so much for New Zealand and especially the screen industry here. He’s an inspiration to many. I’m stoked to be alive at the same time as him.”
The winners of this year’s New Zealand Screen Awards will be announced on Friday, November 21st at a red-carpet gala event to be held at the Viaduct Events Centre. Comedian Pax Assadi will host the ceremony.