Sam Reid (born 19 February 1987) is an Australian actor. He is best known for playing Lestat de Lioncourt in the AMC drama series Interview with the Vampire (2022–present), for which he received a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination. He received four AACTA Award nominations for his leading roles in The Newsreader (2021–2025) and Lambs of God (2019). Reid also played John Davinier in Belle (2013) and Hugo Fraser-Tyrwhitt in The Riot Club (2014).
Contents
Early life
Sam Reid was born on 19 February 1987,
in New South Wales, Australia. He was raised on a cattle property in the Monaro region. Reid is of Irish descent from his mother's side. He has an older brother, Rupert Reid, who is also an actor, and a sister, Kali Reid, who is a producer.
Reid developed a love of acting at the age of six. As children, he and his brother would stage plays and cabaret performances in the cattle shed on the property. Reid played the role of Hamlet whilst at high school. Expressing his admiration for Orson Welles, Reid said, "I will never stop marvelling over Citizen Kane. It's impossible to think that that film was made by a 26-year-old. It's impossible to think that he had that confidence and that talent so early."
Reid attended Cranbrook School, a private boys' school in Sydney. After graduating, he made his television debut with a small role in the Australian medical drama All Saints. Reid then moved to London to study acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He graduated in 2010, having been named star student of his year.
Career
Film and television
In 2010, Reid played Prince Harry in The Taking of Prince Harry, a Channel 4 docufiction exploring a hypothetical scenario in which Prince Harry is kidnapped whilst serving in Afghanistan. During his final semester at LAMDA, Reid had the opportunity to audition for a role in Anonymous (2011). Although he did not receive a script prior to the audition, he was offered the role of the Earl of Essex the next day. At that time, he was credited as Sebastian Reid.
Reid portrayed the young Harry Pearce in series ten of the BBC drama Spooks in 2011. The following year, he played Brian Lomax in the pilot episode of Endeavour and Tolbert McCoy, the son of Randolph McCoy, in the American Civil War miniseries Hatfields & McCoys.
In the period drama Belle (2013), he played John Davinier opposite Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Belle. He was cast relatively late in pre-production after actor Sam Claflin left the project due to scheduling conflicts. That same year, Reid played Young Finlay in the war film The Railway Man, alongside Stellan Skarsgård, who portrayed the older version of the character.
In 2014, Reid appeared in '71 as Second Lieutenant Armitage, an inexperienced commanding officer deployed to Belfast at the height of The Troubles. He later played Hugo, "a louche postgrad", in The Riot Club, a film adaptation of Laura Wade's Bullingdon Club-inspired play Posh. The following year, Reid portrayed American astronaut John Glenn in The Astronaut Wives Club, a historical drama series based on Lily Koppel's book of the same name. The book focuses on the lives of the Mercury Seven astronauts' wives.
Reid appeared in the music video for Flume's song "Never Be Like You" alongside Sophie Lowe in 2016. That year, he also played the young Alexander "Sasha" Ivanov in Shamim Sarif's Cold War espionage film Despite the Falling Snow and John Cree, a "failed playwright" and a "controlling husband" in The Limehouse Golem.
In 2017, Reid played DCI Len Bradfield in Prime Suspect 1973 opposite Stefanie Martini, who portrayed the young Jane Tennison. The series is a prequel to the original series Prime Suspect (1991-2006), which starred Helen Mirren in the lead role. Reid then starred in the supernatural thriller 2:22 (2017), alongside Michiel Huisman and Teresa Palmer.
Theatre
In 2011, Reid played Soranzo in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore at the Leeds Playhouse alongside Sara Vickers and Damien Molony. He later played Gene Laine in The Old Vic and Noël Coward Theatre productions of the musical Girl from the North Country (2017–2018), alongside Claudia Jolly, Sheila Atim,
Shirley Henderson, and Ciarán Hinds. In June 2026, Reid is set to join Pamela Rabe in a production of Doubt: A Parable for Sydney Theatre Company at Roslyn Packer Theatre.
Personal life
Reid is private about his personal life and not on any social media. Since 2018, Reid has been dating Australian actress Philippa Northeast after starring in the film Standing Up for Sunny together. They have a blue heeler dog named Rani.