The 'Jurassic Park' star opens up about how a childhood love of Westerns inspired his name change.
Sam Neill is sharing details about an open Hollywood secret: his real name! During an appearance on Tuesday's The Kelly Clarkson Show episode, the 76-year-old opened up about his decision to go by his nickname Sam instead of his given name.
When Clarkson brings up the fact that Neill's first name isn't Sam, the New Zealand actor dryly quips, "That's embarrassing that you know that."
He explains that his parents named him Nigel, "giving me a disadvantage from the start." Although Clarkson says that Nigel Neill seems like a strong name, the Jurassic Park star explains that having the name Nigel leads to cruel childhood nicknames like "Nigel No Friends."
"When I was 10, my best friend was called Nigel Nut -- which is even worse. Nigel Nut and Nigel Neill," he recalls for the audience. "But we liked Westerns and we thought, 'Let's not just call ourselves Nigel, let's have nicknames.' So I was called Sam and he was called Bill. And that was the best decision I ever made."
"There are no film actors called Nigel Niell, that's never gonna happen," Neill adds.
Niell -- whose full name is Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill KNZM OBE -- also spoke about his new series, Apples Never Fall. The actor stars as Stan Delaney in the Peacock show, a secretive and possibly deceitful husband and father who begins to turn heads after his wife -- played by the incomparable Annette Bening -- goes missing. Apples Never Fall is adapted from Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers writer Liane Moriarty's homonymous best-selling novel.
The role -- and the show in general -- is heavily centered around the fictional Delaney family's commitment to tennis as both Bening, 65, and Neill play former tennis pros who raised four great athletes who had the skill (but not the drive or desire) to follow in their parents' footsteps. Throughout the show, audience members watch as Stan falls under suspicion from his friends, community members and even his four adult children.
Niell previously told ET that after fighting stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, he has found that not only is he lucky to be alive, but that his acting continues to get better over time.
"Listen, I have been in remission for two years now and I feel great," he said, adding that a second wind has reinvigorated him as his cancer remains at bay. "I only get better with age."
While Neill said that he found the role of Stan exciting to play, he could not be further from his character in real life. Neill found Stan -- a gruff "alpha male" type -- to be a complicated character and a challenge as an actor.
"Well, he [Stan] is an alpha male, which is typically the type of person I try to avoid in the world," Neill noted, adding that if he could have his way, women would "be in charge of everything."
But the actor said that it was their wide variety of differences that led him to the job in the first place, as he considered it to be "more challenging and more fun."
"In a way, I respect Stan Delaney," he said. "Stan has a depth to him that I appreciate."
Filling out the cast is The White Lotus' Jake Lacy, Community's Alison Brie, Conor Merrigan-Turner, Essie Randles, Georgia Flood, Jeanine Serralles and Dylan Thuraisingham.
Apples Never Fall is available to stream on Peacock.
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