Did I Ever Tell You This?

By: Sam Neill

Narrated by: Sam Neill

In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion.

By his own account, his career has been a series of unpredictable turns of fortune. Born in 1947 in Northern Ireland, he emigrated to New Zealand at the age of seven. His family settled in Dunedin on the South Island, but young Sam was sent away to boarding school in Christchurch, where he was hopeless at sports and discovered he enjoyed acting.

But how did you become an actor in New Zealand in the 1960 and 1970s where there was no film industry? After university he made documentary films while also appearing in occasional amateur productions of Shakespeare. In 1977 he took the lead in Sleeping Dogs, the first feature made in New Zealand in more than a decade, a project that led to a major role in Gillian Armstrong’s celebrated My Brilliant Career.

And after that Sam Neill found his way, sometimes by accident, into his own brilliant career. He has worked around the world, an actor who has moved effortlessly from blockbuster to art house to TV, from Dr Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park movies to The Piano and Peaky Blinders.

Did I Ever Tell You This? is a joy to hear, a marvellous and often very funny book, the work of a natural storyteller who is a superb observer of other people, and who writes with love and warmth about his family. It is also his account of his life outside film, especially in Central Otago where he established Two Paddocks, his vineyard famous for its pinot noir.

©2023 Sam Neill (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd

A Beautiful Man!

I have genuinely enjoyed this Memoir by Sam Neal. He truly expresses his true nature from a very heartfelt and honest perspective. I love how he paid such great respect to anyone who gave him “a leg up” along the way. Thank you Mr. Neal. May you be well🙏❤️

A very real read

A good long read travel the world with the this author. He made with career

Wonderful voice and stories

I thoroughly enjoyed this reading adventure. I found Sam to be so charming, and his voice was very calming. A gentle, entertaining insight into another’s world. Hope he writes another soon!

A Kiwi Knight who kept me up for many nights

Sam Neill captured my, um, fanciful intimate interest -- if I can put it that way -- as PBS presented "Reilly: Ace of Spies". And over the years, I have watched his acting prowess go from strength to strength. (Note to self: Watch "Restoration" again.). And every bit of it is captured in his warm voice during this 12 plus hours of memoirs. It took me several weeks of "just ONE chapter before I go to sleep".

I do appreciate that Mr Neill does draw a discreet curtain around his choices of lady friends. Oh, he is definitely keen to share many odd, startling, dangerous, ridiculous and hilarious adventures, but the bedroom door is firmly shut. Don't worry: you shall not be bored!

Look, 12 hours is a lot. And he does a great job in bringing the reader into a generous portion of it, and, free of self-pity, his recent chemotherapy and medical trials with cancer.

Above all, he is a New Zealander. With an OBE, fine ... but for all his travels all around the world, it is to this windswept land mass perched not near much else in the Pacific Ocean which holds his deepest devotion, respect and love.

Very good!

Well written, very well narrated and a lovely life story that I would describe as very down to earth.

I wouldn't say it's riveting, but definitely worth your time.

excellent read.

Loved the author's sincere and heart warming narration of his life. Always enjoyed his acting and got to hear first hand how he really feels and the important things in his life. They could even make a movie about his life.

Charming, funny and emotional

Sam does a great job of telling a rather amazing life story filled with interesting people and places, through times both happy and sad. Peppered with plenty of relatable self deprecating humor (unjustly harsh at times; we are our own worst critics) and funny anecdotes that gave me more than a few good laughs. All written while going through an experience I wouldn’t wish on anybody. Being conveyed via Sam’s particularly wonderful voice certainly doesn’t hurt. I wish him the best.

Wonderfully Done Sam!

A genuine pleasure to have listened to and been part of Mr. Neill’s many delightful and funny experiences. I truly appreciate his approach and overall outlook on life. A very honest and humble account of his many accomplishments. You will not be disappointed. Worth the listen!

Beautiful story and fantastic narration

(Sir) Mr. Sam Neill, you must consider narrating audio books in the future as your voice is absolutely dreamy. Meaning that your articulation, tone, and all the other important narrator stuff are flawless! Only my opinion of course, but mine is the only one that matters to me.

Anyway, this is my first memoir/ autobiography out of nearly 200 books in my digital library. Not sure why I chose Sam Neill out of the hundreds there are out there. Neill just seems like a down to earth, gentle, easy going, but candid man.
I’ve loved him since I watch the Hunt for the Red October as a young teenager. I must watch all his other movies soon! I so enjoyed all the stories, and will be listening to it over and over. Sam Neill is witty, endearing, emotional, laugh out loud funny at times, and full of positivity. P.S. My prayers are with you, Mr. Neill (regardless of your beliefs ;)).

The Accidental Career

Humble book by a well known actor facing a medical health emergency. Lots of humor, much of it self-deprecating. I was so intrigued by some of the films that he described that I had to watch them.