Sam Worthington
| Sam Worthington | |
|---|---|
 Worthington in Manhattan, 4 April 2010 |
|
| Born | Samuel Henry J. Worthington[1] 2 August 1976 Godalming, Surrey, England, UK |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Partner | Maeve Dermody (2005–2008)[2] Natalie Mark (2008–2011)[3] |
Samuel Henry J. "Sam" Worthington (born 2 August 1976) is an English-born Australian actor known for his starring roles in the feature films Avatar, Terminator Salvation, and Clash of the Titans.
In 2004, Worthington received Australia's highest film award for his lead performance in Somersault. He performed predominantly in leading roles in a variety of low-budget films before transitioning to major studio films, ranging from romantic drama and comedy-drama to science fiction and action.
Worthington is also noted for his voicework as Alex Mason in the 2010 video game Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Worthington has won 7 awards, including 3 best actor awards.
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[edit] Early life
Worthington was born to English parents in Godalming, Surrey, in southeastern England, and moved to Perth, Western Australia[4] when he was six months old. He grew up in Warnbro, a suburb of Rockingham. His mother, Jeanne J. (née Martyn), a homemaker, raised him and his sister Lucinda, and his father, Ronald W. Worthington, was a power plant employee.[4] He attended John Curtin College of the Arts, a school specialising in the dramatic arts, located in Fremantle, Western Australia, where he studied drama but failed to graduate and dropped out. His father also gave him 400 dollars and sent him on a one-way trip to Cairns on the northeast coast of Australia and told him to "work his way home". He began working on construction and odd jobs, eventually settling in Sydney.[5] At 19, he worked as a bricklayer, when he auditioned for the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and was accepted with scholarship.[6]
[edit] Career
[edit] 2000–03
In 2000, Worthington made his film debut in the Australian film Bootmen. He was featured in a leading role as Mitchell Okden. Worthington was nominated for Best Lead Actor by the Australian Film Institute (AFI) for his performance. The same year, he guest starred in television series: JAG, Water Rats and Blue Heelers.
Worthington went on to act in a number of Australian movies and TV series; including leading roles in Dirty Deeds (2002) and Gettin' Square (2003). He also appeared in Hart's War (2002). Dirty Deeds was a critical and financial success, earning A$5,034,142 at the box office in Australia.
[edit] 2004–08
Worthington played the lead characters in Somersault (2004) and in a modern Australian retelling of Macbeth (2006). Worthington won the AFI Award for Best Lead Actor for his role in Somersault. He is well known in Australia for his role as Howard in the acclaimed Australian TV series Love My Way, where he played the main love interest of the female lead.
Worthington's international film career began with a series of small roles in Hollywood production The Great Raid (2005), which was filmed in Australia. He auditioned for the role of James Bond in Casino Royale but lost the role to Daniel Craig.[7] He stars in the Australian creature-feature film Rogue (2007), as a man named Neil, which has a 100% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes.[8]
[edit] 2009–present
In Terminator Salvation, Worthington plays cyborg Marcus Wright who assists the humans despite their suspicions of him.
Shot prior to the release of Terminator Salvation, the James Cameron-directed science-fiction film Avatar was Worthington's next project. In the film, he played Jake Sully, a paraplegic US Marine who, assigned to control an alien body called an avatar through a neural link, finds himself at the center of a war between his own species and the indigenous Na'vi people of the moon Pandora. The film went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time, grossing more than US$2.730 billion ($2.8 billion adjusted for inflation) in box-office receipts worldwide.[9] In November 2010, Worthington told GQ Australia[10] that he went to audition, but wasn’t told what it was for and got annoyed. So he did his part, left, forgot about it — and was called back. "I was a bit pissed off, and I think that came across," he says. "I think Jim saw a spark and liked it because that’s Sully’s character — a guy who doesn’t like to be bullied and a guy who just wants to set things right."[11]
He provided voice work for Captain Alex Mason, the most significant character in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops. Some gamers cited Worthington's inability to mask his Australian accent, as was the case in Avatar.[12]
He was selected as one of the entrants to the Who's Who in Australia 2011 edition.[13]
In November 2011, Worthington along with Jonah Hill and Dwight Howard starred in commercials for the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.[14]
[edit] Personal life
Worthington has said that when he was about 30, he sold most of his possessions and ended up with around $2,000 to his name. He says he bought a car with the proceeds and was living in it before he successfully auditioned for his role in Avatar.[15] He then found a place to live.[16]
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Films
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Bootmen | Mitchell Okden | Nominated – Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role |
| 2001 | A Matter of Life | Our Hero | Short film |
| 2002 | Hart's War | Cpl. B.J. "Depot" Guidry | |
| 2002 | Dirty Deeds | Darcy | Nominated – Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Supporting Actor – Male |
| 2003 | Gettin' Square | Barry "Wattsy" Wirth | |
| 2004 | Somersault | Joe | Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated – Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor – Male[17] Nominated – Inside Film Award for Best Actor |
| 2004 | Thunderstruck | Ronnie | |
| 2004 | Blue Poles | Miles | Short film |
| 2005 | The Great Raid | Pfc. Lucas | |
| 2005 | Fink! | Able | |
| 2006 | A Fairytale of the City | The Artist | Short film |
| 2006 | Macbeth | Macbeth | |
| 2007 | Rogue | Neil | |
| 2009 | Terminator Salvation | Marcus Wright | Nominated – Scream Award Breakout Performance – Male Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Best Fresh Face Male |
| 2009 | Avatar | Jake Sully/Tom Sully | 2010 Teen Choice Award for Best Sci-Fi Actor Saturn Award for Best Actor Nominated – 2010 Teen Choice Award for Best Fight Nominated – Empire Award for Best Actor Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (shared with Stephen Lang) Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Zoe Saldana) |
| 2010 | Clash of the Titans | Perseus | Nominated – 2010 Teen Choice Award for Best Fantasy Actor |
| 2010 | Last Night | Michael Reed | |
| 2010 | Love & Distrust | Miles | Segment: Blue Poles by Darcy Yuille |
| 2011 | The Debt | Young David | |
| 2011 | Texas Killing Fields | Detective Mike Sounder | |
| 2011 | The Drift | Surf Photographer | |
| 2012 | Man on a Ledge | Nick Cassidy | |
| 2012 | Wrath of the Titans | Perseus | Post-production |
| 2013 | Thunder Run | Filming |
[edit] Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | JAG | Dunsmore | Episode: "Boomerang: Part 1" |
| 2000 | Water Rats | Phillip Champion | Episode: "Able to Leap Tall Buildings" |
| 2000 | Blue Heelers | Shane Donovan | Episode: "Bloodlines" |
| 2004 | Love My Way | Howard Light | 2004–2005 (10 episodes) |
| 2005 | The Surgeon | Dr. Sam Dash | 2005 (8 episodes) |
| 2006 | Two Twisted | Gus Rogers | Episode: "Delivery Man" |
| 2012 | The Grass Crown | Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus | In-production |
[edit] Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Call of Duty: Black Ops | Alex Mason | Nominated – Spike Video Game Awards for the Best Performance by a Human Male |
[edit] Writer
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Enzo |
[edit] Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | AFI Award | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | Bootmen | Nominated |
| 2002 | FCCA Award | Best Supporting Actor - Male | Dirty Deeds | Nominated |
| 2004 | AFI Award | Best Actor in a Leading Role | Somersault | Won |
| 2004 | FCCA Award | Best Actor - Male | Somersault | Nominated[17] |
| 2004 | IF Award | Best Actor | Somersault | Nominated |
| 2009 | Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Fresh Face Male | Terminator Salvation | Nominated |
| 2010 | Saturn Award | Best Actor | Avatar | Won |
| 2010 | International Award | Best Actor | Avatar | Won |
| 2010 | Empire Award | Best Actor | Avatar | Nominated |
| 2010 | Giffoni Award | Won | ||
| 2010 | Blimp Award | Cutest Couple (shared with Zoe Saldana) | Avatar | Nominated |
| 2010 | MTV Movie Award | Best Fight (shared with Stephen Lang) | Avatar | Nominated |
| 2010 | MTV Movie Award | Best Kiss (shared with Zoe Saldana) | Avatar | Nominated |
| 2010 | ShoWest Award | Male Star of the Year | Won | |
| 2010 | Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie: Fight (shared with Stephen Lang) | Avatar | Nominated |
| 2010 | Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Actor: Sci-Fi | Avatar | Won |
[edit] References
- ^ "Diario de Yucatán". Yucatan.com.mx. 26 January 2010. http://www.yucatan.com.mx/noticia.asp?cx=13$0722000000$4233294&f=20100126. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- ^ "Maeve Dermody Gets All the Hot Boys". Au.lifestyle.yahoo.com. 10 December 2009. http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/who/celebrity-interviews/article/-/6571936/maeve-dermody-gets-all-the-hot-boys. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- ^ "Sam Worthington's girlfriend Natalie Mark shones at Inside Flm Awards". The Daily Telegraph. UK. 18 November 2009. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/movies/sam-worthingtons-girlfriend-natalie-mark-shones-at-inside-flm-awards/story-e6frexli-1225799495568. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- ^ a b "Avatar first reviews, Sam Worthington next Hollywood star in the making". The Daily Telegraph. 2009-12-11. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/movies/avatar-first-reviews/story-e6frexli-1225809445878. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Sam Worthington Interview for Terminator". Screencrave.com. 2009-05-21. http://screencrave.com/2009-05-21/sam-worthington-interview-for-terminator. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
- ^ "Bard arse". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 September 2006. http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/bard-arse/2006/09/13/1157827019501.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1.
- ^ "Rogue". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1173563-rogue/. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
- ^ "Worldwide Grosses". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
- ^ http://www.gq.com.au/life/people/sam+worthington,6453
- ^ [2], GQ Australia November 2010, Sam Worthington
- ^ "How an Australian Man Nearly Ruined Black Ops for Me". http://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/11/how-an-australian-man-nearly-ruined-black-ops-for-me/.
- ^ "Who's Who pack now boasts Siddle, Hamish and Andy and the Masterchef judges". heraldsun.com.au. 9 December 2010. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/whos-who-pack-now-boasts-siddle-hamish-and-andy-and-the-masterchef-judges/story-e6frf7jx-1225968131634.
- ^ Crecente, Brian (2011-11-04). "Jonah Hill, Sam Worthington Star in This Live Action Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Ad". Kotaku. http://kotaku.com/5856653/jonah-hill-stars-in-this-live-action-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-ad.
- ^ Worthington on Jay Leno
- ^ Worthington talks about living inside a car
- ^ a b http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=9613&s=Features
[edit] External links
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This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (June 2011) |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sam Worthington |
- Sam Worthington at the Internet Movie Database
- ArtistDirect.com Video Interview – Clash Of the Titans
- Interview http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/bard-arse/2006/09/13/1157827019501.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
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- 1976 births
- Actors from Western Australia
- Australian expatriate actors in the United States
- Australian film actors
- Australian people of English descent
- English emigrants to Australia
- People educated at the National Institute of Dramatic Art
- Saturn Award winners
- Living people
- Naturalised citizens of Australia
- People educated at John Curtin College of the Arts
- People from Godalming
- People from Perth, Western Australia
- Australian television actors
