Sam Rockwell
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).
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
The Bad Guys 2
IF
Argylle
See How They Run
The Last Movie Stars
Maraschino Ruby
The Bad Guys
What If...?
No Longer Suitable For Use
Sweet Thing
The One and Only Ivan
Home Movie: The Princess Bride
Trolls World Tour
Richard Jewell
Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary
Jojo Rabbit
Fosse/Verdon
The Best of Enemies
Vice
Blue Iguana
Blaze
The Origins of Ebbing
Mute
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Woman Walks Ahead
The Dark of Night
Axis
Mr. Right
Don Verdean
Digging for Fire
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
Poltergeist
The Late Late Show with James Corden
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
Walking the Mile
Laggies
Loitering with Intent
Better Living Through Chemistry
Take Care
Late Night with Seth Meyers
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Off Camera with Sam Jones
Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King
A Case of You
Schooled: The Price of College Sports
A Single Shot
Drunk History
The Way Way Back
Trust Me
Seven Psychopaths
The Sitter
Cowboys & Aliens
Gettysburg
Conviction
Iron Man 2
F--k
Everybody's Fine
Gentlemen Broncos
G-Force
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Moon
The Winning Season
I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale
Frost/Nixon
Choke
Woman In Burka
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Snow Angels
Joshua
Domino
Don't Crash: The Documentary of the Making of the Movie of the Book of the Radio Series of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
Inside 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
Nobody Wants Your Film
Robin's Big Date
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Unscripted
Piccadilly Jim
Matchstick Men
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
13 Moons
Welcome to Collinwood
Heist
Made
BigLove
Charlie's Angels
Galaxy Quest
The Green Mile
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Jerry and Tom
Celebrity
Safe Men
Lawn Dogs
Subway Stories
Drunks
Arresting Gena
Box of Moonlight
Basquiat
Mercy
Glory Daze
The Search for One-eye Jimmy
Somebody to Love
NYPD Blue
In the Soup
Light Sleeper
Happy Hell Night
Jack and His Friends
Strictly Business
Law & Order
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Over The Limit
Last Exit to Brooklyn
Clownhouse
The Equalizer
Saturday Night Live
ABC Afterschool Special
The Oscars