Background and career
Sam Trammell (born January 29, 1969) is an American actor, best known for his role as Sam Merlotte on the HBO fantasy drama series True Blood. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Miller in Ah, Wilderness!
Trammell was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was raised in Charleston, West Virginia. He attended Brown University, graduating in 1991.
Trammell has worked in theater, Broadway, Off-Broadway, film, and television. His stage credits include a Tony Award-nominated performance in Ah, Wilderness! at Lincoln Center. Off-Broadway, he starred in Dealer's Choice, My Night with Reg, If Memory Serves, and Ancestral Voices, as well as in Kit Marlowe at the Joseph Papp Public Theater. Trammell's big break came when he landed the role of Sam Merlotte on the HBO series True Blood. In 2013, he played Darrell Mackey in the drama film White Rabbit. He played Hazel (Shailene Woodley)'s father, Michael Lancaster, in the 2014 film The Fault in Our Stars, based on the novel of the same name by John Green. In 2019, Trammell starred in the Netflix horror-drama series, The Order. He played vice president Benjamin Hayes in the final season of Homeland who is sworn in as commander-in-chief after the sitting president is killed.
Trammell met actress Missy Yager in 2003 while performing theatre in New York City. The couple's twin sons were born in August 2011. The couple later parted ways at an unknown time. He has been in a relationship with actress Emmanuelle Chriqui since 2020.
For his work on HBO's True Blood, Trammell was nominated for:
Breakout Performance – Male at the 2009 Scream Awards Best Supporting Actor at the 2010 Scream Awards. Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
