Did I Ever Tell You This?

De: Sam Neill

Narrado por: Sam Neill

In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion.

By his own account, his career has been a series of unpredictable turns of fortune. Born in 1947 in Northern Ireland, he emigrated to New Zealand at the age of seven. His family settled in Dunedin on the South Island, but young Sam was sent away to boarding school in Christchurch, where he was hopeless at sports and discovered he enjoyed acting.

But how did you become an actor in New Zealand in the 1960 and 1970s where there was no film industry? After university he made documentary films while also appearing in occasional amateur productions of Shakespeare. In 1977 he took the lead in Sleeping Dogs, the first feature made in New Zealand in more than a decade, a project that led to a major role in Gillian Armstrong’s celebrated My Brilliant Career.

And after that Sam Neill found his way, sometimes by accident, into his own brilliant career. He has worked around the world, an actor who has moved effortlessly from blockbuster to art house to TV, from Dr Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park movies to The Piano and Peaky Blinders.

Did I Ever Tell You This? is a joy to hear, a marvellous and often very funny book, the work of a natural storyteller who is a superb observer of other people, and who writes with love and warmth about his family. It is also his account of his life outside film, especially in Central Otago where he established Two Paddocks, his vineyard famous for its pinot noir.

©2023 Sam Neill (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd

The narration by the author himself.

Very interesting stories and he told it in such a depreciating way. I'm glad it ended on a happy note.

Candid

As with most autobiographies doesn’t really ever get sad. But appears truthful
I like the anecdotes and introduction to a part of the world not familiar with.

Great story teller

He has a unique way of telling a tale. Very humble. Wonderful voice. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to him!

The humor and self reflection

Author's reading is engaging, funny and great storytelling. Highly recommend listening to his book over reading it.

Charming, funny and emotional

Sam does a great job of telling a rather amazing life story filled with interesting people and places, through times both happy and sad. Peppered with plenty of relatable self deprecating humor (unjustly harsh at times; we are our own worst critics) and funny anecdotes that gave me more than a few good laughs. All written while going through an experience I wouldn’t wish on anybody. Being conveyed via Sam’s particularly wonderful voice certainly doesn’t hurt. I wish him the best.