Sam Rockwell
1 FOLLOWER • 50 CREDITS • NOV 5, 1968 • 56
Biography
Sam Rockwell was born on November 5, 1968, in San Mateo, California, the only child of two actors, Pete Rockwell and Penny Hess. The family moved to New York when he was two years old, living first in the Bronx and later in Manhattan. When Sam was five years old, his parents separated, at which point he and his father moved to San Francisco, where he subsequently grew up, while summers and other times were spent with his mother in New York.
He made his acting debut when he was ten years old, alongside his mother, and later attended J Eugene McAteer High School in a program called SOTA. While still in high school, he got his first big break when he appeared in the independent film Clownhouse (1989). The plot revolved around three escaped mental patients who dressed up as clowns and terrorized three brothers home alone--Sam played the eldest of the brothers. His next big break was supposed to have come when he was slated to star in a short-lived NBC TV-series called Dream Street (1989), but he was soon fired.
After graduating from high school, Sam returned to New York for good and for two years he had private training at the William Esper Acting Studio. During this period he appeared in a variety of roles, such as the ABC Afterschool Specials (1972): Over the Limit (1990) (TV) and HBO's Lifestories: Families in Crisis (1992): Dead Drunk: The Kevin Tunell Story (Season 1 Episode 7: 15 March 1993); the head thug in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990); and a guest-star turn in an Emmy Award-winning episode of Law & Order (1990), while working a string of regular day jobs and performing in plays.
His performances in The Green Mile (1999) and Galaxy Quest (1999) wowed audiences and critics alike with his chameleon-like performances as a crazed killer in the former and a goofy actor in the latter.
More recently, he appeared in another string of mainstream films, most notably as Eric Knox in Charlie's Angels (2000) and as Zaphod Beeblebrox in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), while continuing to perform in smaller independent movies. After more than ten years in the business, Sam has earned his success. In 2018, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as a troubled police deputy in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).
Known For
Law & Order
Late Night with Seth Meyers
The Equalizer
Saturday Night Live
The Oscars
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
The Late Late Show with James Corden
What If...?
Unscripted
Drunk History
Home Movie: The Princess Bride
Subway Stories
IF
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Last Movie Stars
A Midsummer Night's Dream
I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale
Digging for Fire
Mute
The Green Mile
Drunks
Trolls World Tour
Strictly Business
Prince Street
The Sitter
The Way Way Back
Iron Man 2
Jojo Rabbit
Charlie's Angels
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Cowboys & Aliens
Richard Jewell
Vice
Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Armor Wars
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Woman Walks Ahead
Argylle
The One and Only Ivan
Gentlemen Broncos
See How They Run
Mr. Right
The Bad Guys
Fosse/Verdon
G-Force
Moon
Choke
Poltergeist
Production Credits
Originals for Peacock TV
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