His career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he is regarded as one of the most versatile actors of his generation. He came to international prominence as Dr. He also starred as the titular character Merlin in Merlin and Merlin's Apprentice , and as Major Chester Campbell in the first two series of Peaky Blinders β He has presented and narrated several documentaries.
Four years later, in , he moved to New Zealand and settled in Dunedin. He was the son of a wine merchant who imported wine from France. After a year, his parents and younger sister Juliet moved south to his father's home city of Dunedin. They lived at Macandrew Bay , where the children could roam free in the holidays. He considered law, but wasted one year when he failed all four law units. He had "the time of [his] life" and saw that the arts and drama were "part of the fabric of the city" unlike in Christchurch or Dunedin.
He transferred from Canterbury to Victoria University of Wellington to finish his Bachelor of Arts with a philosophy unit, and passed the "logic" paper with some last-minute coaching by John Clarke. He recalled how deeply it had affected him in his life and, as a result, he often found himself "hoping that people wouldn't talk to [him]" so he would not have to answer them.
He also stated, "I kind of outgrew it [but] you can still detect me as a stammerer. He also appeared in Landfall Neill's breakthrough performance in New Zealand was the film Sleeping Dogs , the first local film to be widely screened overseas. He was the romantic male lead in My Brilliant Career , opposite Judy Davis , which was a big international success. He was one of the leading candidates to succeed Roger Moore in the role of James Bond , but lost out to Timothy Dalton.
Neill has played heroes and occasionally villains in a succession of film and television dramas and comedies. An early American starring role was in 's Amerika , playing a senior KGB officer leading the occupation and division of a defeated United States.
