
Sam Rockwell
1 FOLLOWER • 54 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 Oscars

The Equalizer

Saturday Night Live

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

The Late Late Show with James Corden

What If...?

The White Lotus

Unscripted

Drunk History

Home Movie: The Princess Bride

The Last Movie Stars

Subway Stories

The Infinity Saga

IF

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Digging for Fire

I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale

The Green Mile

Mute

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'

Trolls World Tour

Strictly Business

Prince Street

The Sitter

Jojo Rabbit

Drunks

Iron Man 2

The Way Way Back

Charlie's Angels

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King

Cowboys & Aliens

Vice

Richard Jewell

Woman Walks Ahead

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Armor Wars

Argylle

The One and Only Ivan

Conviction

Gentlemen Broncos

Moon

Choke

G-Force

Mr. Right

Poltergeist

See How They Run

The Bad Guys

Fosse/Verdon
Production Credits
Rivr: Track Original Shows & Movies
Streamline your streaming with Rivr, the ultimate app for tracking and discovering original shows and movies across all major platforms like Netflix, HBO, and more—never miss a release date or update again!
Get
