- Born
- Birth nameSamuel Henry J. Worthington
- Height5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
- Samuel Henry John Worthington was born August 2, 1976 in Surrey, England. His
parents, Jeanne (Martyn) and Ronald Worthington, a power plant
employee, moved the family to Australia when he was six months old, and
raised him and his sister Lucinda in Warnbro, a suburb of Perth,
Western Australia.
Worthington graduated from NIDA (Australia's National Institute of
Dramatic Art) in 1998 at the age of 22. He received critical acclaim
for his portrayal of "Arthur Wellesley" in his first professional role
in the Belvoir Street Theatre production "Judas Kiss" (directed by
Neil Armfield). He then went on to work in
Australian television on such shows as
Water Rats (1996) and "Backburner"
and then on the American TV show
JAG (1995)'s 100th episode (Boomerang:
Part 1).
Worthington made his film debut in the highly acclaimed Australian
movie Bootmen (2000), a film about a
troop of "tap dogs". Minor roles proceeded in
Hart's War (2002) and
A Matter of Life (2001) before
he was cast in another hailed Australian drama,
Dirty Deeds (2002), co-starring
Toni Collette and
John Goodman.
The following year, he starred in yet another Aussie film, opposite
David Wenham in
Gettin' Square (2003). The
director of the film,
Jonathan Teplitzky, originally tested
actors who were up to 8 years older than the then-27-year-old
Worthington. Teplitzky wasn't sure Sam "could convincingly play a tough
guy and also have elements of the leading man about him", but in the
end Teplitzky decided he was "fantastic", and had "David playing the
older, slightly more streetwise accomplice" proclaiming "it worked".
But it wasn't until 2004 that Sam got his big break. He was offered the
starring role in Cate Shortland's
acclaimed Australian drama
Somersault (2004), opposite
Abbie Cornish. The film made a clean sweep
of the Australian Film Institute awards in 2004, winning in 13 film
categories - the first time this has ever occurred in the award's
history. Worthington also won the AFI award for Best Male Actor.
Worthington's career took off internationally when he was cast as Jake
Sully in James Cameron's
Avatar (2009) and as Marcus Wright, a
cyborg who assists the humans despite their suspicions of him in
Terminator Salvation (2009).
Worthington soon became a household name, and starring in high profile
films
Clash of the Titans (2010),
The Debt (2010),
Texas Killing Fields (2011),
Man on a Ledge (2012), and
Wrath of the Titans (2012).
Worthington also provided the voice for the Call of Duty: Black Ops
video games.
In 2010, Worthington started a production company, Full Clip
Productions, with two of his close friends John Schwarz and Michael
Schwarz. The company teamed with Radical studios to print two graphic
novels Damaged and Patriots.- IMDb Mini Biography By: SimpleWorld
- SpouseLara Bingle(December 28, 2014 - present) (3 children)
- ChildrenRocket Zot WorthingtonRacer Worthington
- ParentsJeanne MartynRonald Worthington
- Frequently works with director James Cameron
- Was a bricklayer before becoming an actor.
- Said in an interview with Rove McManus that he had no intention of
becoming an actor and went to NIDA to support a friend but was pushed
through and got through. His friend did not get into NIDA. - He was living in his car when he was cast as the lead in Avatar (2009).
- I also care that the public are getting their 12 dollars' worth when
they go to a movie, and that they're not coming out not wanting to ever
see a movie with me in it again. I don't care what people think of me
as a person, but I do care what people think of my work, and whether
I'm investing enough into it. [Empire magazine, October 2006]. - A mate of mine told me recently, 'It's the first time I've seen you
work, Worthington.' I thought that was quite funny, but he was right.
[Empire magazine, October 2006] - [on Avatar (2009)] It's gotta hell of a lotta hype, I read all what was said yesterday about the trailer. I can see their point, but as I said, it's not meant to be built for an Apple Mac, it's built for IMAX, it's built for 3D, that's what he's designed it for. He's designed it to bring people back to the cinema. It's interesting that he's released that trailer and the next day, he shows it on IMAX. It's one extreme to the other. We get the criticism and then we get the rave reviews of what it really looks like in its own formula. That's obviously going to get people to think and go, "Damn right! I'm going to go and see this at the cinema". Jim has always said to me that he wants to bring people back to the movies, and he's a smart enough man for that to be tactical.
- [on his role in Clash of the Titans (2010)] Oh I want to do it exactly the same. That guy's gonna come after me... no, I had a take on Perseus that
I said to Louie and he went with it and the studio kind of liked my take, and we'll see if it works. - [on the Terminator Franchise] Well, I reacquainted myself with the movies, obviously, before we started, but I would have been actually 15 or something when Terminator 2 came out. So you remember the liquid man, of course, and that was revolutionary for this time, going through the helicopter and all that. But I think what they do is they showcase how good a storyteller Jim is.
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