Sam Worthington

Although Samuel Henry J. Worthington was born on August 2, 1976 in Surrey (Great Britain), he spent his childhood in Perth (Australia) because his father was transferred there, to work in a power plant. A poor student, he immediately dropped out of high school to work as a bricklayer, and settled in Sydney. At the age of 19, he was accepted to enroll in the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) acting school.

Upon leaving, he lavished himself on the theater and made his fortune on Australian television, most notably with the series Love My Way , which made him very popular in his homeland. His compatriot Geoffrey Wright gave him the leading role in Macbeth (2006) , a review of Shakespeare’s work.

He internationalized his career with a small role in Hart’s War , and was one of the leads in the Australian/US co-production The Land of the Beast , an entertaining horror film. He ended up settling in Los Angeles in search of an opportunity to succeed in American cinema. He was about to be chosen to play James Bond, and according to director Martin Campbell he was a finalist, in a tough fight with Daniel Craig , who finally took the cat into the water.

At the age of 30 he suffered a vital crisis. “I looked around and saw that I wasn’t happy. I wanted to erase my life, I wanted to regain control of my life. I was sick of people telling me what to do,” says the actor. He decided to sell everything and spend some time living in the mountains.

There, almost isolated, he received a call that would have great significance in his life. The filmmaker James Cameron wanted to see him. He auditioned for the main character in Avatar and he totally screwed up. “I told him that the script was very bad, and when I asked him who wrote it, he confessed that it was him. So I told him that we could improve it.”

Regardless, the blockbuster filmmaker was so enthusiastic about his potential that he not only cast him in the film, but gave his approval when McG asked for his input on casting the actor for one of the lead roles in Terminator Salvation , which will be released. premiered earlier because it required less lengthy post-production. “Cameron stayed very aloof. He just told McG to hire me and not screw anything up. Plus, he reserved the right to criticize the movie, since he had nothing to do with it since he sold him the rights for a dollar to his ex-wife. And he just wanted to go see the movie paying admission,” recalls Worthington.

Although the new installment of the saga of the fight against the machines left a bittersweet taste –well filmed but too insubstantial–, Avatar drew masses of spectators to the cinemas, eager to verify the virtues of 3D. Worthington played Jake Sully, a paralyzed former marine sent to the planet Pandora to replace his deceased brother, handling his avatar, a sophisticated recreation of one of the Na’vi –the natives of the place–. The film obtained nine Oscar nominations although it had to settle for three, of a technical nature. Worthington will reprise Jake Sully in the two sequels announced by Cameron.

Recently conquered stardom, he profited from his commercial pull with Clash of the Titans , a remake of a mythological adventure film from the 80s, converted to 3D format. The public responded so well that filming for Clash of the Titans 2 has already started . He has tried his hand at other genres with John Madden ‘s thrillers The Debt and The Fields , opposite Chloe Moretz .

On a private level, Sam Worthington was the boyfriend of the actress Maeve Dermody and later of the designer Natalie Mark, with whom he broke up after a three-year relationship. He takes it easy that he has become a superstar in a short time. “Any actor would be an idiot to say that they don’t want people to recognize them, because we make movies to entertain the public and it’s great when they come up to you and say you did a good job. But I want to take it step by step, I’ll see what happens.” happens,” Worthington explains.