Sam Worthington facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sam Worthington
Worthington in 2022
Born	Samuel Henry John Worthington (1976-08-02) 2 August 1976 (age 48) Godalming, Surrey, England
Nationality	Australian
Education	National Institute of Dramatic Art (BFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2000–present
Spouse(s)	Lara Bingle ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	3

Samuel Henry John Worthington (born 2 August 1976) is an Australian actor. He is known for playing Jake Sully in the Avatar franchise, Marcus Wright in Terminator Salvation, and Perseus in Clash of the Titans and its sequel Wrath of the Titans.

He has taken other dramatic roles, appearing in The Debt (2010), Everest (2015), Hacksaw Ridge (2016), The Shack (2017), Manhunt (2017), and Fractured (2019). He has received Australia's highest film award three times for his leading roles in Bootmen (2000), Somersault (2004), and Avatar (2009).

On television, Worthington appeared in Australia as Howard in Love My Way and as Phillip Schuler in the television drama mini-series Deadline Gallipoli, for which he was also an executive producer. He voiced the protagonist, Captain Alex Mason, in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010), as well as its sequels Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012), and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018).

Early life and education

Samuel Henry John Worthington was born to English parents in Godalming, Surrey, in South East England, UK.

He moved to Perth, Western Australia, in youth. He grew up in Warnbro, a suburb of Rockingham. His mother, Jeanne J. (née Martyn), is a housewife, and his father, Ronald W. Worthington, is a power plant laborer. He has a sister, Lucinda.

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 did not graduate. When he left the college, his father gave him $400 and sent him on a one-way trip to Cairns, Queensland, telling him to "work his way home". He began working on construction and odd jobs, eventually settling in Sydney. At age 19, while working as a bricklayer, he auditioned for the National Institute of Dramatic Art and was accepted with a scholarship.

Career

2000–2008: Early roles

Worthington played a small role alongside Adam Garcia in the Australian dance film Bootmen (2000). He played a lead role in the low-budget Australian comedy Gettin' Square.

Worthington had a major role in Somersault (2004), for which he won the AFI Award for Best Lead Actor. He was well known in Australia for his role as Howard in the acclaimed TV series Love My Way, in which he played the main love interest of the female lead. In 2006, he played the lead in a modern retelling of Macbeth.

Worthington in 2010

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. He starred in the Australian creature-feature film Rogue (2007), which gained a 100% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes.

2009–present: Avatar franchise and other work

In 2009, Worthington starred in James Cameron-directed science-fiction film Avatar, in which he played the role of Jake Sully, a paraplegic former U.S. Marine who is at the centre of a war between his own species and the indigenous Na'vi people of Pandora. The film was a success, amassing critical acclaim and several accolades. It became the highest-grossing film of all time, grossing more than $2.8 billion ($3.7 billion adjusted for inflation) worldwide.

In November 2010, Worthington told GQ Australia that when he auditioned for the role, he was not told what it was for, which annoyed him. "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." He later said that Cameron "changed his life" and he will always be grateful to him.

After auditioning for Cameron, Worthington consequently landed the part in 2009's science fiction action film Terminator Salvation, thanks to Cameron's personal recommendation to fellow filmmaker McG. In the film, Worthington co-starred alongside Christian Bale and played Marcus Wright, a human-terminator hybrid. Terminator Salvation was released on May 21, 2009 and grossed over $371.4 million and received mixed reviews.

Worthington in 2014

In early 2010, Worthington appeared in Clash of the Titans, an action fantasy film directed by Louis Leterrier and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Worthington headlined the film. It received generally negative reviews from critics, but grossed $493 million worldwide and was the 11th highest grossing film of 2010. He provided voice work for Captain Alex Mason, the protagonist in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops. Some gamers criticised Worthington's inability to mask his Australian accent, as in Avatar. In November 2010, The Hollywood Reporter named Worthington as one of the young male actors who are "pushing – or being pushed" into taking over Hollywood. Also in 2010, Forbes named Worthington among Hollywood's highest grossing actors. He was selected as one of the entrants to the Who's Who in Australia 2011 edition.

In 2012, Worthington starred in Wrath of the Titans, the sequel to Clash of the Titans. The film received mostly negative reception from critics and although it grossed $302 million at the box office, the film underperformed compared to its predecessor. He reprised his role as Alex Mason in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Also in 2012, Worthington starred as Nick Cassidy in Man on a Ledge, a suspense-thriller film directed by Asger Leth. Though the film received mixed reviews from critics, Worthington's performance received praise, with The New Zealand Herald describing him as "suitably terrified".

In 2013, Worthington worked in Drift (2013), an Australian film about the birth of the surf industry in the 1970s. He starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Hollywood action thriller film Sabotage (2014). A loose adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel And Then There Were None, it received generally negative reviews and was a box office bomb. Worthington next appeared in the drama film Cake (2014). Headlined by Jennifer Aniston, it debuted in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. In the same year, he played a supporting role in the western film The Keeping Room.

In 2015, Worthington starred in Paper Planes, an Australian 3D children's drama film directed by Robert Connolly. The film tells a story about Dylan, a young boy who lives in Australia, who finds out that he has a talent for making paper planes and dreams of competing in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan. He followed it up by playing Willem Holleeder in Kidnapping Freddy Heineken (2015), based on the 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heineken. He portrayed a character in Baltasar Kormákur's Everest, based on the 1996 Mount Everest disaster; the film was a commercial success, grossing $203 million worldwide.

In 2016, he played Captain Jack Glover, a stern army officer, in the Mel Gibson directed biographical war film Hacksaw Ridge. The film focuses on the World War II experiences of Desmond Doss, an American pacifist combat medic who refused to carry or use a weapon or firearm of any kind. Hacksaw Ridge was released in the United States on November 4, 2016, grossing $180.4 million worldwide, and received critical acclaim. The film was awarded several accolades.

Worthington worked with Stuart Hazeldine on The Shack, a 2017 American Christian drama film. Based on the 2007 novel of the same name, it opened to mixed critical reviews and was a success as it grossed over $96 million worldwide. That year, Worthington portrayed Jim Fitzgerald in the Discovery Channel television series Manhunt: Unabomber.

In 2018, he starred in the Netflix original science fiction thriller film The Titan. In 2019, Worthington starred as Ray Monroe in the Netflix thriller film Fractured.

Worthington reprised his role as Jake Sully in Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). Much like its predecessor, it was a critical and commercial success. Upon release, it broke multiple records and grossed over $2.320 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2022 and the third-highest-grossing film of all time.

In 2024, Worthington returned to work with Giovanni Ribisi, his co-star from the Avatar series, in the Kevin Costner-directed western-drama film series Horizon: An American Saga as First Lt. Trent Gephardt.

Personal life

Worthington and wife Lara at the 2014 AACTA Awards.

Worthington has reported that, when he was about 30, he sold most of his possessions, bought a car with the proceeds, and was living in it before he auditioned for Avatar.

On 18 October 2013, Worthington confirmed his relationship with model Lara Bingle. They married on 28 December 2014 and have three sons born in 2015, 2016 and 2020.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Bootmen	Mitchell Okden
2001	A Matter of Life	Our Hero	Short film
2002	Hart's War	Corporal B.J. "Depot" Guidry
	Dirty Deeds	Darcy Ryan
2003	Gettin' Square	Barry "Wattsy" Wirth
2004	Enzo	-	Short film; Director, Writer, Music and Cinematography
	Somersault	Joe
	Thunderstruck	Ronnie
2005	The Great Raid	Private First Class Lucas
	Fink!	Able
2006	Macbeth	Lord Macbeth
2007	Rogue	Neil Kelly
2009	Terminator Salvation	Marcus Wright
	Avatar	Jake Sully / Tom Sully
2010	Clash of the Titans	Perseus
	Last Night	Michael Reed
	Love & Distrust	Miles	Segment: "Blue Poles"
	The Debt	Young David Peretz
2011	Texas Killing Fields	Detective Mike Souder
2012	Man on a Ledge	Nick Cassidy
	Wrath of the Titans	Perseus
2013	Drift	J.B.
2014	Sabotage	DEA Agent James "Monster" Murray
	Cake	Roy Collins
	The Keeping Room	Moses
2015	Paper Planes	Jack Webber
	Kidnapping Freddy Heineken	Willem Holleeder
	Everest	Guy Cotter
2016	Hacksaw Ridge	Captain Jack Glover
2017	The Shack	Mack Philips
	The Hunter's Prayer	Stephen Lucas
2018	The Titan	Rick Janssen
2019	Fractured	Ray Monroe
2021	Lansky	David Stone
	The Last Son	Isaac Lemay
2022	9 Bullets	Jack
	Avatar: The Way of Water	Jake Sully
2023	Transfusion	Ryan Logan
	Simulant	Kessler
2024	Lift	Huxley
	Breathe	Lucas
	Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1	First Lt. Trent Gephardt
	The Exorcism	Joe
	The Killer	Finn
	Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2	First Lt. Trent Gephardt
	Relay	TBA
2025	Avatar: Fire and Ash	Jake Sully	Post-production
2029	Avatar 4		Filming
2031	Avatar 5
TBA	Alphas	TBA	Post-production
	Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 3	First Lt. Trent Gephardt	Filming
	Fuze	TBA	Filming

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Sam Worthington para niños