Sam Rockwell biography, net worth, wife, height, age, family, awards 2025

Sam Rockwell - biography

Sam Rockwell is an American actor who became famous in the mid-90s after the premiere of the films Box of Moonlight and Lawn Dogs. He is also known for the films The Green Mile, Conviction, and Frost/Nixon. He won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for the role of basket case deputy sheriff Dixon in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Net worth: $30 million.

Childhood

Sam was born in the family of novice actors Penny Hess and Pete Rockwell in Daly City, California. Soon, the ambitious parents felt the provincial town was too small for their dreams and moved to New York with their two-year-old son.

In 1973, the parents divorced, and the boy moved to San Francisco with his father. He saw his mother only during the holidays, but these meetings had a great influence on his future life.

Penny brought him along to theater parties where they mingled with actors, and young Sam got his first taste of the high life. At the age of 10, he went on the theater stage for the first time in East Village. It was a comedy sketch, where his mother also played; he appeared as the star of Casablanca Humphrey Bogart. After the performance, audience members told Penny that the kid had the makings of a real actor.

In order to develop the boy's natural talent, his father enrolled Sam in the School of Art in San Francisco where he studied with Margaret Cho (a popular stand-up comedian) and Aisha Tyler (actress and comedian). But as a teenager, he became obsessed with girls and wild parties, letting his studies slide. The result was dropping out.

Back then I just wanted to get stoned, hook up with girls and party.

However, later he pulled himself together and graduated from the experimental school Urban Pioneers, famous for its democratic views on parenting. The actor recalls that school administrators looked the other way when kids smoked joints in the boys' bathroom.

The first film role of Sam Rockwell in Clownhouse

Fortunately, Sam didn't go completely off the rails - acting pulled him back in. In his last grade, Rockwell starred in his first film (independent horror tape Clownhouse, 1989, which received a nomination for the Sundance Festival Grand Prix), and after school graduation, he moved to New York with a clear understanding of what he wanted in life.

Acting career

Sam trained for two years at Manhattan's William Esper Studio under acting coach Terry Knickerbocker. During this time, he performed on stage while landing roles in TV series like The Equalizer, NYPD Blue, and Law & Order. He also snagged small parts in feature films including Last Exit to Brooklyn and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Sam Rockwell on a theatre stage in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot

These were tough times for the aspiring actor. While slowly building his resume, he worked as a waiter, appeared in commercials, delivered food by bike, and even spent time as an assistant at a private detective agency.

Cuckold husbands would hire me to spy on their wives and take photos of them in their lovers arms.

Everything changed when Sam appeared in Box of Moonlight (1996), earning critical acclaim. Sam played Bucky, an eccentric young man with a childlike mind who brings new meaning to the life of Al Fontaine, a working-class engineer.

A year later, he starred alongside Misha Barton in Lawn Dogs, playing lawn care worker Trent, who befriends a young girl in an upscale neighborhood.

Sam Rockwell and Tom Hanks in The Green Mile

In 1999, Sam delivered a standout performance in the acclaimed Green Mile alongside Tom Hanks, convincingly portraying the psychotic Wild Bill, a brutal killer.

Sam Rockwell in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

This launched a string of memorable roles in hit films including Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Charlie's Angels, Matchstick Men, Iron Man, the comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with Martin Freeman, Shakespeare's Hollywood adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Martin McDonagh's thriller Seven Psychopaths with Colin Farrell.

Sam Rockwell as deputy sheriff Jason Dixon in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Today, Rockwell boasts over sixty diverse roles that have secured his place among Hollywood's leading actors, with financial worries now a thing of the past. He appears in both Hollywood blockbusters and independent cinema.

In January 2018, Sam won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, beating out strong contenders including Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project), Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World), and Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water). He played Jason Dixon, a crude and aggressive deputy sheriff with a troubled past. That March, the same role earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Sam Rockwell's personal life

Despite his wild youth and plenty of female attention, Sam has never married and has no children. He often says he's a confirmed bachelor who isn't ready for family life or serious relationships.

However, in 2007, Rockwell met actress and model Leslie Bibb on one of his film sets, and the two occasionally appear together in public. The couple reportedly lives together, and Leslie might just be the one to convince the stubborn Sam to tie the knot.

When asked in 2017 about the secret to their relationship, Leslie answered without hesitation: "Having good sex!" while Sam gave a more restrained response: "We communicate a lot."

Sam Rockwell dancing

Sam Rockwell now

In 2019, several premieres were held with Sam's participation. One of them was "Jojo Rabbit", which sparked controversy among film critics. The tragicomedy explored the horrors of Nazi Germany. In it, Sam played Captain Klenzendorf. He also appeared in the biographical drama "Richard Jewell". In 2020, the cartoon "Trolls World Tour" was released, in which the actor voiced the character, Hickory.

Patsy Mendez

Let`s hope that this, as he calls himself, «an inveterate bachelor» will settle down and finally propose to his girlfriend!

2021-05-09 23:22:47
Shelly Pierce

In «Vice» he is generally cool! He plays George Bush there, can you imagine? Not everyone can play the president so worthily

2021-04-20 21:49:15
Luis Joseph Cooper

It turns out that Rockwell worked long and hard before becoming an actor. He had to study, build a portfolio and at the same time work as a waiter and more. Worthy of respect

2021-04-12 15:55:39
Marie Johnson

I watched the film «Lawn Dogs» for a long time, but I still remember these touching scenes where the hero of Sam Rockwell made friends with a girl.

2021-04-11 13:12:05
William Benjamin Scott

«Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri» with Rockwell is a very cool film, Sam even won an Oscar for his role as an unbalanced deputy sheriff.

2021-02-27 13:44:59