Sam Neill appears in good spirits as he makes rare public appearance following blood cancer diagnosis

Sam Neill made a brave appearance at a major event on Friday night amid his cancer battle. The 77-year-old stepped out at the  2025 AACTA Awards held at Home of the Arts (HOTA) on the Gold Coast. After a cheerful turn about the red carpet, Sam, who was looking well and in good spirits, took the stage. The veteran actor presented an award alongside Aussie star Bryan Brown, looking dapper in his tuxedo.

Sam beamed for photos on the night and mingled with his peers, all the while giving no indication of the difficult battle he has faced. The star has been fighting blood cancer, which he discussed on an episode of ABC series The Assembly last year. Sam Neill (pictured) made a brave appearance at a major event on Friday night amid his cancer battle. The 77-year-old stepped out at the 2025 AACTA Awards held at Home of the Arts (HOTA) on the Gold Coast.

The series sees a group of autistic journalists train under the the tutelage of Leigh Sales. Sam revealed his 'brutal' chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with stage-three blood cancer. 'I'm on a different one now, so at least I don't look like somebody's bald thumb,' he joked. 'That's what I looked like for quite a while - it was embarrassing, and I lost my beard and everything, and my dignity went with it.'.

Sam revealed last year he found out he had cancer in 2022 during his first trip back to New Zealand after lockdowns made returning home to see his family virtually impossible for two years. His son Tim told Australian Story his dad had been back in New Zealand for barely an hour when a doctor phoned with the awful news he had cancer. 'When he hung the phone up and we sat down, and we had a little bit of a cry together. It was supposed to be a happy day. He didn't get to stay,' Tim said.

Sam added: 'I was in really a fight for my life. And everything was a new world and a rather alarming world. The veteran actor presented an award alongside Aussie star Bryan Brown, looking dapper in his tuxedo. Sam beamed for photos on the night and mingled with his peers, all the while giving no indication of the difficult battle he has faced. Last year, Sam revealed his 'brutal' chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with stage-three blood cancer.

'I had three or four months of reasonably conventional chemotherapies which are, brutal.'. Tim went to visit his dad as he underwent chemotherapy and was horrified when he saw how weak he was. 'I was shocked, and I broke down and I could barely hug him. He was just, you know, bones and skin' he continued. 'And then he was giving me a hard time for being upset about it and saying I was stressing him out, but I was going: "What are you talking about, Dad?"'.

Just when they thought Sam's health might be improving, he received even worse news - the cancer was back and it was more serious this time. Sam was eventually put on an experimental cancer drug, which thankfully started to work. He has been in remission for almost two years now, but admitted he is 'prepared' for the fact that it will eventually stop working. 'I know I've got it, but I'm not really interested in it. It's out of my control. If you can't control it, don't get into it,' he said of the disease.