Sam Worthington's Real Name: Samuel Henry John Worthington

Quick answer: Sam Worthington's full name is Samuel Henry John Worthington. He was born on August 2, 1976, in Godalming, Surrey, England, and grew up in Perth, Western Australia. He plays Jake Sully in James Cameron's Avatar films and also starred in Terminator Salvation, Clash of the Titans, and Hacksaw Ridge (EBSCO Research Starters; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

EBSCO's Research Starters biography says "Samuel Henry John Worthington was born on August 2, 1976, in Godalming, Surrey, England," to Jeanne J. Martyn and Ronald W. Worthington. The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Worthington, Sam, 1976-," with the citation "Sam Worthington, actor; b. 1976, Australia." LOC gives only his birth year and country. NBC Insider and EBSCO both say he was born in England.

EBSCO says that while he was still an infant his parents moved him and his sister to Rockingham, a suburb of Perth. NBC Insider says he attended John Curtin College of the Arts in Fremantle. According to EBSCO, he dropped out of high school at 17. His father, a power plant worker, sent him to Cairns to find his own way, and he became a bricklayer. He went with his then-girlfriend to an audition at Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art, tried out on a whim, and was accepted while she was not. He graduated in 1998.

Career highlights

EBSCO says his early work was mostly Australian film and TV, with small parts in Hart's War (2002) and The Great Raid (2005). Somersault (2004) won him the Australian Film Institute award for best actor. NBC Insider notes he became a household name in Australia as Howard on Love My Way.

Feeling stalled, he sold most of his belongings, lived out of his car, and auditioned seriously. A casting call turned out to be for James Cameron's Avatar (2009), and Cameron insisted on him for Jake Sully, a former Marine piloting a human-Na'vi hybrid body. He was also cast as Marcus Wright in Terminator Salvation (2009) and Perseus in Clash of the Titans (2010) and Wrath of the Titans (2012). Later films include The Debt, Man on a Ledge, Everest, and Hacksaw Ridge (2016). He played Ron Lafferty in Under the Banner of Heaven (2022). He returned as Jake in Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025).

He married model Lara Bingle in 2014, and they have three sons. GQ Australia named him its Man of the Year in 2024.

Name notes for searchers

Sam is short for Samuel. Henry and John are his middle names. His wife now uses the name Lara Worthington, according to NBC Insider.