Sam Elliott is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Nelson Elliot and Glynn Mamie Sparks.

His mother Glynn Mamie was a Texas state diving champion in high school who later became a physical training instructor and high school teacher, and his father Henry Nelson Elliott was a Department of the Interior predator control specialist.

Elliott’s parents are from El Paso, Texas, and an ancestor served as a surgeon at the Battle of San Jacinto. When he was 13, he and his family relocated from California to Portland, Oregon.

Elliott moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s to pursue a career in acting, which his father had discouraged him from doing, instead urging him to get a college degree.

“He gave me that proverbial line, ‘You’ve got a snowball’s chance in hell of having a career in Hollywood ‘” Elliott recalled. “He was a realist, my dad. He was a hard worker. He had a work ethic that I’ve fashioned mine after, and I thank him for that every day.”

Since his breakthrough in the early 19’s, Elliott has had a long and successful career in film and television, spanning several decades. He has been nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe Award for his role in the TV movie “Buffalo Girls.”