Jurassic Star Beats Cancer

Sam Neill has shared a major health update, revealing that he is now cancer-free following treatment for stage 3 blood cancer through an Australian clinical trial.

The 78-year-old Jurassic Park actor spoke about his recovery during an interview with Australia’s 7News on Sunday, April 26, explaining that he had been living with lymphoma for several years before turning to CAR T-cell therapy after chemotherapy was no longer effective.

Neill first made his diagnosis public in his 2023 memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This?, where he wrote about undergoing chemotherapy while reflecting on his life and decades-long screen career. The New Zealand-born actor was later identified as having angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare form of blood cancer.

In the 7News interview, Neill said the trial involved CAR T-cell therapy, a treatment that genetically modifies blood cells to target cancer. He is now advocating for broader access to the therapy for blood cancer patients across Australia.

“I’ve just had a scan just now and there is no cancer in my body, that’s an extraordinary thing,” Neill said.

The update marks a striking turn for the actor, whose illness first became apparent while he was promoting 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion. Neill previously told The Guardian in March 2023 that he noticed swollen glands during that promotional period, which eventually led to his diagnosis.

For audiences, Neill remains closely associated with paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant, the role he originated in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park, adapted from Michael Crichton’s novel. He later returned to the franchise alongside Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, with the trio reuniting for Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World Dominion.

Beyond the dinosaur franchise, Neill’s career has spanned film and television, including his role in Peaky Blinders. During treatment, he said writing his memoir became a way to stay occupied and emotionally grounded while he was unable to work at his usual pace.

Now that he has received the all-clear, Neill appears ready to return to the work that has defined much of his life. In his latest interview, the actor indicated that acting is once again on his mind, suggesting that another film may be next.