It’s been a pretty 2009 for Sam Worthington.
Picked from near obscurity for the lead in the heavily anticipated Avatar, and for the role of Marcus in this summer’s Terminator Salvation, Worthington is now a major player in Hollywood, with roles pouring in for a man not known outside of his native Australia two years ago.
Only a few years ago, the man from Perth had only appeared in a couple of local domestic films such as musical comedy Bootmen and crime flick Dirty Deeds.
His role in Bootmen earned him early acclaim, with him being given a nomination by the Australian Film Institute back in the year 2000.
After mainly finding work as a TV actor with a role on Aussie drama Love My Way, and the role of McBeth in modern day retelling only released domestically and creature-feature Rogue, Sam’s big chance came.
Out of the blue though came legendary director James Cameron, calling for unknown actors for his upcoming and long delayed sci-fi extravaganza Avatar.
Worthington auditioned twice for the part, successfully getting the lead role of Jake Sully, a paralysed army marine.
Having filmed the epic two years ago, which sees its release this week after two years of post production trickery, Worthington was personally recommended by Cameron for the upcoming Terminator sequel.
Despite mixed critical reception, Terminator Salvation threw Worthington into the public spotlight. The fact that he was often praised above Christian Bale’s performance in the movie didn’t hurt his career prospects.
As speculation and anticipation for Avatar grew over the summer, so did the excitement over Worthington, with his head turning performance in Terminator as ample ammunition for the hype to start building.
He confirmed his star status though with the news that he was to star along side Liam Neeson and St Trinian’s Gemma Arterton as the main role of Perseus in might be 2010’s biggest blockbuster, Clash of The Titans.
Add to this thriller The Debt, where he will play the part of an Israeli special forces agent, and next year is set to be his crowning moment as the new go-to-guy for all things explosive.
Not one to be type cast, Worthington’s making sure that he’s not only the new king of the action blockbuster.
Also set for release next year, romantic drama Last Night will have him starring alongside Keira Knightly, which sees the two playing a married couple in New York trying to resist temptation to stray.
With his horizons set to expand once again, it seems that James Cameron’s comments of "He's just game for anything” are maybe more prophetic that anyone realized.
Sam Worthington in one quick year has managed to conquer Hollywood and there’s still more to come from Australia’s newest star. Get used to his face; it’s going to be around for a while.
Female First Cameron Smith
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