Sam Neill’s life on his farm included the cutest pigs, cows, and chickens

Before his death at 78, Neill often shared videos and photos of his life with farm animals in New Zealand.

Key Points

• Sam Neill loved his farm animals, as evidenced by the many posts on social media showing off his pigs, cows, and roosters.
• The Jurassic Park actor named several of his animals after famous friends, like Annette Bening and Michael Fassbender.
• Neill died on July 13 at age 78, his family announced on Instagram.

Sam Neill may be best known for playing a paleontologist in Jurassic Park, but in his real life, he preferred farm animals over dinosaurs.

Neill, who died on July 13 at 78, often shared photos of his pigs, chickens, cows, and other animals that he cared for on his New Zealand farm — some of which are named after other celebrities, like Annette Bening.

In a 2019 interview with New York magazine’s The Cut, he talked about asking famous pals for permission to name animals after them. “Many of them then take an interest in their namesakes. Helena Bonham Carter is always keen to know if she’s calved again,” he said.

Neill also owned and operated the winery Two Paddocks. In a March 2023 post on X, he shared photos of two of his pigs, Angelica and Bryan, and wrote that “Angelica volunteers every year for picking, but that ain’t never gonna happen. Because … well, he’s a pig.” (Yes, Angelica is a male pig; a little girl picked out his name.)

In June, Neill shared videos on Instagram singing to his cows and feeding birds. Last year, he shared a video showing that one of his roosters, named Michael Fassbender, lost some feathers after being attacked by a dog. “He’s lost all his dignity as well as his tail feathers,” Neill joked in the video.

But perhaps one of the actor’s most viral moments with one of his animals is when he shared that he does yoga with one of his pigs.

“So The Pig and I do our stretching routine together these mornings; we take turns while the other coaches. Here we demonstrate the ‘Upward Facing Dog.’ Or ‘The Cobra’ to the Pig. [ he’s more Yoga than Pilates.] ‘Just 3 more Sam !’ ‘Yes coach.’ Omm,” he wrote in the caption of the post.

In a 2024 interview on New York Live, Neill shared the reason why he names his farm animals after his famous friends: “Well, you can’t eat a friend.”

He clarified, “I’m not a vegetarian, but I had a ram called Jeff Goldblum — you wouldn’t want to eat Jeff, would you?”

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Goldblum, of course, was Neill’s costar in 1993’s Jurassic Park, as well as 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion. Along with Laura Dern, the trio reunited earlier this year to reprise their Jurassic roles for a Super Bowl ad directed by Taika Waititi.

There’s no word yet on who will take over duties on Neill’s farm and winery, but we hope whoever steps up to the job has as much admiration for the animals as he did!

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