Sam Nivola
Sam Nivola is an actor, born 2003.
Sam Nivola is the son of Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola, which is the first fact in every piece written about him and will be until he has enough work to bury it. His earliest credit is a childhood appearance in Doll & Em. The real start was Heinrich Gladney in White Noise in 2022, the teenage son with a confident opinion about everything, followed by Lee Polk in Eileen the next year.
Two big television jobs have done the rest. He was Will Winbury in The Perfect Couple in 2024 and Lochlan Ratliff in the third season of The White Lotus in 2025, which is the part that made him a name in his own right. Both are variations on one casting instinct: a son in a wealthy family, watching the adults, absorbing more than he should.
It is early to say what he is, but something is already visible. He plays adolescent uncertainty without any of the mugging that usually comes with it, and he is unusually good at listening on camera, which is a harder skill than it sounds and one both of those dynastic-family dramas leaned on hard. The next few parts will decide whether the range is wider than the type.
Movies (3)
TV (4)
Where to start with Sam Nivola
Season three of The White Lotus is where to begin and there is no reason to fight it: Lochlan is the best-written part he has had, and the show gives him a full arc rather than a function. Watch that, then go back to White Noise, which is stranger and colder and shows he could hold a scene against much more experienced actors before anyone knew his name.
Eileen is the tightest of the films and asks the most from him in the fewest scenes. The Perfect Couple is the glossy beach-house version of the same wealthy-family material, enjoyable and much lighter. The Pursuit of Love and Doll & Em are for completists; the first is a handsome period piece, the second a childhood bit part.