Sam Rockwell
Birthdate: Nov 5, 1968
Birthplace: Daly City, California, USA
Sam Rockwell has built an intriguing career as a reliably creative actor capable of delivering many shades to characters who often exist on the fringes of socially accepted behavior. He is the definition, in many ways, of the classic working actor: With a resume slowly built in numerous American indie films, he has graduated to the Hollywood big leagues over the past two decades in a remarkable range of movies and performances, culminating in the rare coup of double Oscar nominations for Vice (2018)—as George W. Bush--and his winning turn in Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Over Ebbing, Missouri (2018).
Rockwell’s characters can also operate on the right side of the law, as in his turn as a British inspector in See How They Run (2022) with Saoirse Ronan and Adrien Brody. He’s added to this range as a voice actor for animated features, such as DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys (2022) and Augenblick Studios’ The Adventures of Drunky (release date not announced) with Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Coogan, and Nina Arianda.
Shuttling between Left and Right Coast divorced parents as an only child, Rockwell followed in their footsteps as an actor. He experienced the typical syndrome of unsteady acting work until Tom DiCillo’s Box of Moonlight (1996), where his colorful performance earned strong reviews and industry notice. He worked with other key indie directors like Julian Schnabel (Basquiat (1996), Richard Shepard (Mercy (1995)), John Duigan (Lawn Dogs (1997), and Alexandre Rockwell (Louis & Frank (1998)), culminating with Woody Allen’s Celebrity (1999) opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Kenneth Branagh, and Judy Davis.
With The Green Mile (1999), in which Rockwell played one of his baddest of bad guys, Rockwell launched a remarkable string of screen appearances in a savvy mix of studio and prestige projects, ranging from Galaxy Quest (1999) and Charlie’s Angels (2000) to David Mamet’s Heist (2001) with Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito; George Clooney’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) in a stunning portrayal of spy/gameshow host Chuck Barris; Ridley Scott’s Matchstick Men (2002) with Nicolas Cage; the film version of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005), with Martin Freeman, Yasiin Bey, Zooey Deschanel, and John Malkovich; and Andrew Dominik’s magnificent Western with Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007).
Through this period, Sam Rockwell’s prolific roster of credits included supporting work in such major studio projects as Frost/Nixon (2008), Marvel’s Iron Man 2 (2010), Tony Goldwyn’s Conviction (2010) with Hilary Swank and Melissa Leo, and Cowboys & Aliens (2011), with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Before Three Billboards, Rockwell first collaborated with playwright-director Martin McDonagh on Seven Psychopaths (2012) with Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, Tom Waits, and Abbie Cornish. Rockwell has fluidly jumped between edgy comedies and dramas—often with the same film--including Mr. Right (2015) with Anna Kendrick and Tim Roth, and most notably in Three Billboards with Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson.
Less noticed is the array of performances of actual and living figures Rockwell has portrayed, from Chuck Barris, outlaw Charley Ford, and George W. Bush, to Bob Fosse (in the acclaimed mini-series, Fosse/Verdon (2019) with Michelle Williams) and Watson Bryant in Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell (2019), as well as his upcoming portrayal of Merle Haggard in writer-director Robin Bissell’s untitled biopic about the creator of the “Outlaw” sound in country music.
Rockwell then performed in three consecutive voice roles in three animated features, two from DreamWorks Animation/Universal Pictures: the Walt Dohm-directed jukebox musical comedy, Trolls World Tour (2020), and as a lead in the Pierre Perifel-directed heist comedy, The Bad Guys (2022). Rockwell’s third animated feature performance was another lead in Disney’s fantasy drama, The One and Only Ivan (2020), with cast members Angelina Jolie, Danny DeVito, Helen Mirren, and Bryan Cranston.
Sam Rockwell starred in the British comic mystery, See How They Run (2022), co-starring Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson, Harris Dickinson, and David Oyelowo, and released by Searchlight Pictures. Rockwell then joined the colorful ensemble of producer-director Matthew Vaughn’s spy action comedy, Argylle (2024), starring Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Catherine O’Hara, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, Cranston, John Cena, Richard E. Grant, and Samuel L. Jackson, and backed by Apple Original Films with Universal Pictures and Apple TV+ as distributors in theaters and on streaming.
Rockwell took on another voice role in director/writer/producer/co-star John Krasinski’s live-action/animated fantasy, IF (2024), (whose title refers to Imaginary Friend), with such fellow voice actors as Steve Carell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Maya Rudolph, Jon Stewart, Christopher Meloni, Richard Jenkins, Awkwafina, and Vince Vaughn, and a live-action cast including Ryan Reynolds, Cailey Fleming, Fiona Shaw, and Bobby Moynihan, and released by Paramount Pictures.
Sam Rockwell resumed his leading voice role as Mr. Wolf in the DreamWorks Animation Studios sequel, The Bad Guys 2 (2025), with Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein and Lilly Singh, with new voice actors Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova and Natasha Lyonne as an all-woman criminal squad, and released wide by Universal Pictures. Rockwell led the cast of director/producer Gore Verbinski’s sci-fi action adventure, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (date to be announced), co-starring Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Pena, Zazie Beetz, and Juno Temple, and co-produced by American and German backers including Constantin Film, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Blind Wink Productions.
Rockwell played himself in director/producer Damien Walters’ Stuntnuts: The Movie (date to be announced), the third movie in the Kick-Ass franchise and the first in a new spinoff trilogy, co-starring Chris Hemsworth and produced by Matthew Vaughn. Rockwell then starred in director/writer/producer Martin McDonagh’s drama partly set on Easter Island, Wild Horse Nine (date to be announced), co-starring John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey, and Tom Waits, produced by U.K. backers Blueprint Pictures and Film4.
Sam Rockwell led the voice cast in director/co-writer/producer Aaron Augenblick’s U.S. indie animated comedy, The Adventures of Drunky (date to be announced), with the voice cast of Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Coogan, Nina Arianda, Abby Elliott, John Leguizamo, and Jay Pharoah, and co-written and co-produced by Aaron Bergeron. Rockwell portrayed Merle Haggard in director/co-writer Robin Bissell’s biopic provisionally known as Untitled Merle Haggard Biopic (date to be announced), based on Haggard’s autobiography, Sing Me Back Home, and then Rockwell co-starred with Allison Janney and Octavia Spencer in co-directors/co-writers/co-executive producers Nat Faxon’s and Jim Rash’s action comedy, The Heart (date to be announced).
Rockwell was a producer and co-starred with Kumail Nanjiani in director/producer Gary Fleder’s comedy, A Guy Walks Into a Bar (date to be announced), written and produced by Scott Rosenberg and also produced by Nadine de Barros, Jina Panebianco, and Mark Fasano. Rockwell starred in director/co-writer/producer Zach Golden’s zombie comedy-thriller, Hellhound (date to be announced), co-starring Marisa Tomei, Chris Messina, and Ivan Martin (who co-wrote with Golden and produced with Joseph Restaino and Tony Stopperan).
Sam Rockwell took on the role of a sickly Los Angeles private eye in director Will Bridges’s crime drama, Tumor (date to be announced), based on the novel by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Noel Tuazon, co-starring Maisy Stella and produced by Daniela Taplin Lundberg and Stay Gold Features. Rockwell was a lead producer on and portrayed country music legend Merle Haggard in director/writer Robin Bissell’s provisionally titled Untitled Merle Haggard Biopic (date to be announced), based on Theresa Haggard’s memoir, Sing Me Back Home, and which was produced and distributed by Amazon MGM Studios.
Sam Rockwell Photos and Videos
Personal life
Born in the Bay Area and raised in his early years in San Mateo, Sam Rockwell’s acting parents, Pete and Penny Rockwell, moved the family to New York City when he was age two. He was an only child. His parents divorced when he was five, and his father then raised him in San Francisco and summer with his mother in New York City, where he joined his mother in improv comedy sketches in East Village comedy clubs. He has been in a relationship with actor Leslie Bibb since 2007. His height is 5’ 8”. Rockwell’s estimated net worth is $20 million.
Known For
Moon
(2009)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
(2002)
Seven Psychopaths
(2012)
Sam Rockwell Movies
actor
Upcoming (1)
- 2026 |
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die
GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE follows a man (Sam Rockwell) claiming to be from the future who takes the patrons of an iconic Los Angeles diner hostage in search of unlikely recruits in a quest to save the world.
Previous (66)
- 2026 |
- 2025 |
The Bad Guys 2
asMr. Wolf
The Bad Guys are struggling to find trust and acceptance in their newly minted lives as Good Guys, when they are pulled out of retirement and forced to do "one last job" by an all-female squad of criminals.
- 2024 |
- 2022 |
See How They Run
asInspector Stoppard
In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered.
- 2022 |
The Bad Guys
asWolf
To avoid prison, a gang of notorious animal criminals pretends to seek being rehabilitated, only for their leader to realize that he genuinely wants to change his ways.
- 2020 | The One and Only Ivanas Ivan
- 2020 |
Trolls World Tour
asHickory
When the Queen of the Hard Rock Trolls tries to take over all the Troll kingdoms, Queen Poppy and her friends try different ways to save all the Trolls.
- 2019 |
Richard Jewell
asWatson Bryant
Security guard Richard Jewell is an instant hero after foiling a bomb attack at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but his life becomes a nightmare when the FBI leaks to the media that he is a suspect in the case.
- 2019 |
Charlie’s Angels
asEric Knox
When a young systems engineer blows the whistle on a dangerous technology, Charlie's Angels are called into action, putting their lives on the line to protect us all.
- 2019 |
Jojo Rabbit
asCaptain Klenzendorf
A young German boy in the Hitler Youth, whose hero and imaginary friend is the country's dictator, is shocked to discover that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.
- 2019 |
The Best of Enemies
asC.P. Ellis
Civil rights activist Ann Atwater faces off against C.P. Ellis, Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan, in 1971 Durham, North Carolina over the issue of school integration.
- 2018 |
- 2018 | Blue Iguanaas Eddie
- 2018 |
- 2018 |
Woman Walks Ahead
asSilas Groves
Catherine Weldon, a portrait painter from 1890s Brooklyn, travels to Dakota to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull and becomes embroiled in the Lakota peoples' struggle over the rights to their land.
- 2017 | Axis
- 2017 |
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
asDixon
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit.
- 2015 | Mr. Rightas Francis
- 2016 |
- 2015 | Don Verdeanas Don Verdean
- 2015 |
Poltergeist
asEric Bowen
A family whose suburban home is haunted by evil forces must come together to rescue their youngest daughter after the apparitions take her captive.
- 2014 | Loitering with Intentas Wayne
- 2014 | Laggiesas Craig
- 2013 | Trust Meas Aldo
- 2014 | Better Living Through Chemistryas Doug Varney
- 2013 | A Case of Youas Gary
- 2013 | A Single Shotas John Moon
- 2013 | The Way Way Backas Owen
- 2012 | Seven Psychopathsas Billy
- 2011 |
The Sitter
asKarl
A college student on suspension is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him.
- 2010 | Convictionas Kenny Waters
- 2009 | The Winning Seasonas Bill
- 2010 | Iron Man 2as Justin Hammer
- 2010 |
Iron Man 2
asJustin Hammer
With the world now aware of his identity as Iron Man, Tony Stark must contend with both his declining health and a vengeful mad man with ties to his father's legacy.
- 2009 | Everybody's Fineas Robert
- 2009 | Moonas Sam Bell
- 2009 |
- 2008 | Frost/Nixonas James Reston, Jr.
- 2008 | Chokeas Victor Mancini
- 2007 | Snow Angelsas Glenn Marchand
- 2007 | The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Fordas Charley Ford
- 2007 | Joshuaas Brad Cairn
- 2005 | Nobody Wants Your Film
- 2005 | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxyas Zaphod Beeblebrox
- 2004 | Piccadilly Jimas Jim Crocker
- 2003 | Matchstick Menas Frank Mercer
- 2002 | Confessions of a Dangerous Mindas Chuck Barris
- 2002 | Welcome to Collinwoodas Pero
- 2001 | Heistas Jimmy Silk
- 2000 |
Charlie’s Angels
asEric Knox
Three private investigators are assigned to track down a kidnapped software engineer, but the case isn't as straightforward as it seems.
- 1999 | Galaxy Questas Guy Fleegman
- 1999 |
The Green Mile
as'Wild Bill' Wharton
Paul Edgecomb, the head death row guard at a prison in 1930s Louisiana, meets an inmate, John Coffey, a black man who is accused of murdering two girls. His life changes drastically when he discovers that John has a special gift.
- 1998 | Jerry and Tomas Jerry
- 1998 | The Call Backas Alan
- 1998 | Safe Menas Sam
- 1997 | Lawn Dogsas Trent
- 1997 | Arresting Genaas Sonny
- 1996 | Box of Moonlightas The Kid
- 1995 | Drunksas Tony
- 1995 | Glory Dazeas Rob
- 1992 | Jack and His Friendsas Louie
- 1992 | Light Sleeperas Jealous
- 1991 | Happy Hell Nightas Young Henry Collins
- 1989 | Last Exit to Brooklynas Al
- 1990 |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
asHead Thug
Four teenage mutant ninja turtles emerge from the shadows to protect New York City from a gang of criminal ninjas.
- 1989 | Clownhouseas Randy
Facts About Sam Rockwell
Confirmed Bachelor: Sam Rockwell has never been married, and has publicly stated that he’s not interested in being a father.
Theatre Life: Rockwell has kept a robust life in the theatre, performing in plays by Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, Martin McDonagh, Lanford Wilson, David Mamet, and Brad Fraser.
Sam Rockwell News
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