Sam Neill cancer-free after CAR T-Cell therapy, ready for Hollywood return
Sydney: After a tough three-year fight with lymphoma, Jurassic Park star Sam Neill says he’s now cancer free and ready to get back on set.
Neill, 78, was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma in March 2022 and began chemotherapy immediately. He believes the cancer had been present since 2021. The chemo was “pretty miserable business” but it kept him alive, he said. Then it stopped working. “I was at a loss and it looked like I was on the way out, which wasn’t ideal obviously.”
At that point, Neill switched to CAR T-cell therapy, a Nobel Prize-winning treatment that reprograms a patient’s own immune cells to target cancer. “I’ve just had a scan just now and there is no cancer in my body, that’s an extraordinary thing,” he said.
For Neill, the clear scan means more than a career reset. “It’s beautiful,” he said, that he gets to watch his grandchildren grow up.The actor says his battle changed how he sees the time he has left. While he’s excited about working again, family comes first.
Fans know Neill from Jurassic Park, The Piano, Peaky Blinders, and dozens of other roles. Now, after facing down lymphoma, the international A-lister is planning his next chapter, both on screen and at home.
