Sam Worthington

Sam Worthington is an Australian actor best known internationally for playing Jake Sully in James Cameron's Avatar films, while also maintaining a career in Australian cinema, action films, television drama, and video-game voice work. He was born Samuel Henry John Worthington on 2 August 1976 in Godalming, Surrey, England, and moved with his family to Western Australia as an infant. Raised around Perth, he studied drama in school but did not follow a straight academic path into acting. After leaving school he worked various jobs, including construction work, and at nineteen was accepted into Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art, where he received formal training.

Worthington first gained attention at home through Australian film and television. His early work included Bootmen, Dirty Deeds, Gettin' Square, and the television drama Love My Way. The 2004 film Somersault was especially important: his performance opposite Abbie Cornish won him the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Lead Actor and established him as one of the stronger screen actors of his generation in Australia. He also appeared in a contemporary film version of Macbeth and in the thriller Rogue, building a profile before he became a Hollywood lead.

His global breakthrough came in 2009 with Avatar. As Jake Sully, a paraplegic former Marine drawn into the world of Pandora and the Na'vi, Worthington carried the emotional point of view of what became the highest-grossing film in history. The role required a mix of live-action performance, voice acting, and performance capture, and it transformed him from an Australian lead into an internationally recognized actor. He returned to the role in Avatar: The Way of Water and has remained central to the continuing franchise.