Credit: Chris Hyde/Getty Images for AFI

(CNN)-- The family of New Zealand actor Sam Neill, star of "Jurassic Park" and "Peaky Blinders", announced his death on Monday in Sydney, Australia, at the age of 78.

A statement posted on the actor's Instagram page said: "With great sadness and grief, the family of Sam Neill mourns their loss... The loss was sudden and unexpected."

The statement added: "Sam was surrounded by his family, and he passed away with the dignity that always characterized his life," and said further details would be released later, calling for respect for the family's privacy during these difficult circumstances.

Neill had suffered from a rare and aggressive form of leukemia, but announced in April last year that he was in complete remission.

The late actor starred in dozens of films and television series over his five-decade career, but was best known for playing Dr. Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park".

Neill told CNN in 2023 on the occasion of the film's 30th anniversary: "It's been a very happy and surprising life... I never expected to have a career in film, or even as an actor, but that's what happened, and nobody is more surprised than me."

New Zealand actor Karl Urban said Neill was "an inspiration to many who followed in his pioneering footsteps. A wonderful man, a national treasure who gave so much to New Zealand and the world."

Neill was born in Northern Ireland and emigrated to New Zealand's South Island at age 7. He received many awards and honors throughout his career, including an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1991 and a knighthood from New Zealand in 2022.

When awarded the Screen Legend Award at the 2020 New Zealand Screen Awards, he accepted the honor with his characteristic humility, saying: "If you stay in this field long enough, you might deserve it, and I just stayed here."

Neill lived a rich life outside Hollywood, spending most of his time on his vast farm in New Zealand. He was known for naming his farm animals after Hollywood icons, and many of them unintentionally became icons on his social media accounts.

He told New York magazine in 2019: "I love naming as many of my animals as possible after my friends. But things don't always end well. Meryl Streep was recently killed by a weasel, and I found her one day as a pile of feathers."

The late actor was a passionate environmental activist, and in early 2026, he released a short documentary opposing a proposed fast-track industrial gold mine in the Central Otago region of New Zealand.

In 2023, Neill revealed he had been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma and underwent chemotherapy.

He wrote his memoir "Did I Ever Tell You This?" in just a few months while undergoing treatment in 2022.

In a 2024 interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), he said: "I'm not afraid of death at all. I would be upset because there are things I still want to do. Death is very inconvenient, but I'm not afraid of it."

Neill jokingly described his family life as "somewhat irregular" due to his international acting career.

He had four children: Tim, his son from his former wife Lisa Harrow; Elena, his daughter from his former wife Noriko Watanabe; Maiko, Watanabe's daughter from a previous marriage whom he adopted; and Andrew, whom he also adopted, as well as several grandchildren.