Biography: Sam Rockwell was born on 5th November 1968, in Daly City, California, the child of two actors. 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 split up, 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 ... show all Sam Rockwell was born on 5th November 1968, in Daly City, California, the child of two actors. 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 split up, 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 debut acting when he was 10 years old, alongside his mother, and later attended J.E. 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 terrorize 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 after school special "Over the Limit (1990) (TV)", The "Kevin Tunnell" episode of HBO's "Lifestories: Families In Crisis" (1992)", the head thug in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)", and a guest-star turn in an Emmy-winning episode of "Law & Order" (1990)", while working a string of regular day jobs and performing in plays.
In 1994, a Miller Ice beer commercial finally enabled him to quit his other jobs to concentrate on his acting career, which culminated in him having five movies out by 1996: "The Basquiat (1996)", "Search for One-eye Jimmy (1994)", "Glory Daze (1996)", "Mercy (1996/I)", and "Box of Moon Light (1996)". It was the latter that would prove to be his real break-out movie in the film industry. In Tom DiCillo's film, he found himself playing a eccentric called The Kid, a man-child living in a half-built mobile home in the middle of nowhere with a penchant for dressing like Davy Crockett, who manages to bring some much-needed chaos into the life of an electrical engineer played by John Turturro. The movie was not a box-office success, but it managed to generate a lot of critical acclaim for itself and Sam.
In 1997, he found himself the star of another critically lauded film, "Lawn Dogs (1997)". Once again he portrayed a societal outcast in the form of Trent, a working-class man living in a trailer, earning a living mowing lawns inside a wealthy, gated Kentucky community. Soon Trent finds himself befriended by 10-year-old Devon (Mischa Barton), and the movie deals with the difficulties in their friendship and the outside world. He also made strong performances in the quirky, independent comedy "Safe Men (1998)", in which he plays one half of a pretty awful singing duo (the other half played by Steve Zahn) that gets mistaken for two safe-crackers by Jewish gangsters; and the offbeat hit man trainee in "Jerry and Tom (1998)" against Joe Mantegna.
After a few smaller appearances in films such as Woody Allen's "The Celebrity (1998)" and the 1999 movie version of "Midsummer Night's Dream, A (1999/I)"(in which he played Flute), he had larger parts in two of the bigger hit movies to emerge in 1999: "Green Mile (1999)" and "Galaxy Quest (1999)", wowing 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 as Eric Knox in "Charlie's Angels (2000)", while continuing to appear in smaller independent movies. After over 10 years in the business, Sam has earned his success. hide |
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