Samuel Henry John Worthington (born 2 August 1976 in Godalming, England) is an English-Australian actor, mostly well-known for playing soldiers and warriors. He was born in England but moved to Australia when he was six months old.
Though he has been around in Hollywood since early in his career, his first major Hollywood role was as Marcus Wright in 2009's Terminator Salvation. He would break out further later that same year, in James Cameron's Avatar, where he played the lead character.
Notable roles
Films
- Hart's War (2002) as B.J. "Depot" Guidry
- Dirty Deeds (2002) as Darcy
- The Great Raid (2005) as PFC Lucas
- Macbeth (2006) as Macbeth
- Rogue (2007) as Neil Kelly
- Terminator Salvation (2009) as Marcus Wright
- Avatar as Jake Sully
- Avatar (2009)
- Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
- Clash of the Titans (2010) as Perseus
- Wrath of the Titans (2012)
- The Debt (2010) as Young David Peretz
- Man on a Ledge (2012) as Nick Cassidy
- Sabotage (2014) as James "Monster" Murray
- Cake (2014) as Roy Collins
- Everest (2015) as Guy Cotter
- Hacksaw Ridge (2016) as Captain Glover
- The Shack (2017) as Mackenzie Phillips
- The Titan (2018) as Rick Janssen
- Simulant (2023) as Kessler
- Horizon: An American Saga (2024)
Television
- JAG (2000) as Dunsmore
- Water Rats (2000) as Phillip Champion
- Blue Heelers (2000) as Shane Donovan
- Under the Banner of Heaven (2022) as Ron Lafferty
Video Games
- Call of Duty as Alex Mason (voice)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018)
Tropes about his works:
- Awesome, Dear Boy: He pursued Man on a Ledge because he himself is afraid of heights, and the majority of the film would be shot on the real ledge of the Roosevelt Hotel.
- Creator Backlash: He apologised for his performance in Clash of the Titans (2010), and attributes some of it to how the script was constantly changing, and the priorities were more with the special effects than the acting.
- Dull Surprise: One criticism of him is his apparent inability to emote convincingly.
- Dyeing for Your Art: He thought that Perseus in Wrath of the Titans should have a "dad bod" to show how he's more concerned with fatherhood than being a god. Director Jonathan Liebesman however was quite annoyed, and the studio likewise insisted he lose the weight to look more like an action hero.
- Hollywood Hype Machine: During 2009-2010, Worthington had three blockbuster films, Terminator Salvation, Avatar, and Clash of the Titans that released quite close to one another where many people felt that this was Hollywood trying to push Worthington as the next big action star. He however has admitted to struggling with alcoholism to cope with the pressures of becoming famous so suddenly, and also opting to pursue meatier roles rather than the generic action hero parts that he became known for - such as Cake (2014), Man on a Ledge and Hacksaw Ridge.
- I Am Not Spock: Due to him preferring to focus on smaller roles, his biggest mainstream success is Avatar, so he is best remembered as Jake Sully.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: If he doesn't try to put on a (shaky) accent, expect him to just use his natural Australian accent.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Another criticism of his acting is his inability to hide his Australian accent.
- Typecasting: He's been in three World War II movies - Hacksaw Ridge, Hart's War and The Great Raid.
- What Could Have Been:
- He was a leading contender for James Bond in Casino Royale (2006), but jokes that "I couldn't get the debonair down for the life of me".
- He also turned down the lead role of Green Lantern, finding the concept ridiculous.
