Jurassic Park star Sam Neill declared cancer-free after participating in an Australian study for stage 3 leukemia.
“I’ve been living with some form of lymphoma for about five years and I’ve been going through chemotherapy and it’s a sad business, but it’s been keeping me alive,” said Neill in an interview with Australia’s 7News on Sunday, April 26.
Neill, 78, first opened up about his cancer diagnosis in his 2023 memoir, Have I Told You This?, writing that he was undergoing chemotherapy to treat his cancer.
The actress told 7News that she participated in a study of CAR T-cell therapy, which genetically modifies blood cells, after her “chemo stopped working.”
“I was lost and it looked like I was on my way out, which wasn’t good, obviously,” said Neill, who is advocating for CAR-T cell therapy to be rolled out to blood cancer patients across Australia.
“I just got a scan now and there is no cancer in my body, that’s unusual,” he added The Peaky Blinders alum.
The New Zealand-born actor previously spoke about being diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma in early 2023.
He said to Caretaker in March of that year when he got swollen glands while promoting in 2022 Jurassic World Dominionwhich led to his diagnosis.
“I will not pretend that the past year did not have dark times,” he told this newspaper. “But those dark times make the light so peaceful, you know, and it makes me so grateful every day and so thankful for all my friends. I’m just happy to be alive.”
In the same interview, Neill shared how she turned to writing her memoir as a way to keep herself busy during her treatment.
“I found myself with nothing to do,” he said. “And I’m used to working. I love working. I love going to work. I love being with people every day and I enjoy being with people and friendships and all these things. And suddenly I was deprived of that. And I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’
“I never intended to write a book,” he continued. “But as I went on and on writing, I realized that it was actually kind of giving me a reason to live and I was going to bed thinking, ‘I’m going to write about that tomorrow … that’s going to make me happy.’ So it was a real lifesaver, because I wouldn’t have gone through that without anything to do, you know.”
In his interview with 7News, Neill teased returning to his first love – acting – now that he’s been given the all clear.
“It’s time for me to make another film,” he said.
