Sam Corlett

Wicklow Mud and Nordic Heritage

Sam Corlett was born on the central coast of New South Wales in 1995. He grew up surrounded by surfing and nature, but his real interest was in human psychology and behavior. Before stepping onto a professional film set, he worked as a model for top international agencies.

In 2020 he landed the role of Caliban in the series Las escalofriantes aventuras de Sabrina. It was his first real taste of Netflix's machinery and massive global exposure. The character demanded an imposing physical presence, which Corlett built through calisthenics and a strict vegan diet.

And the plan worked.

But the real challenge came when Jeb Stuart chose him to lead the cast of Vikings: Valhalla in 2022. Playing Leif Erikson meant moving to Ireland and filming for months in extreme weather. From the start, the series was conceived as a spiritual continuation of Michael Hirst's work.

Corlett had to learn to handle axes and ride horses while keeping a high body weight. To achieve this he ate 800 extra calories a day despite his commitment to veganism. Filming of the third installment wrapped in 2024.

Building a Body for the Screen

The Australian actor doesn't understand acting without physical exhaustion. During filming in the Irish counties he would spend hours in the rain before the cameras started rolling. For him, discomfort is the only way to reach the truth of a historical character.

In 2024 he released the independent drama He Ain't Heavy, directed by David Vincent Smith. In the film he plays Max, a young man trying to save his sister from a spiral of addiction. The project steers clear of big action productions and aims for gritty, suffocating realism.

Critics praised his ability to hold long close-ups without falling back on television acting tics. His name soon started coming up for auteur projects on the Australian festival circuit.

He never wanted to be just a pretty face on a streaming poster.

His training at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts gave him the technical tools needed to avoid being typecast. There he crossed paths with names who went on to major Hollywood franchises. But Corlett prefers to spend his free time painting or writing poetry in personal journals that he never shows the press.

In 2021, he appeared in the short film Acting for a Cause, playing Mr. Bingley in a reading of Pride & Prejudice. It was a charity collaboration that showed his interest in classic literature beyond action scripts. The event raised funds for mental health services in the United States.

His contract with the studio MGM for the Viking saga covered a total of 24 episodes spread across three annual blocks. Filming of the series' finale took place at Ashford Studios, on a budget exceeding 30 million euros per season.