On the 27th of April I attended Wales Comic Con, it was a fantastic experience capped off by meeting my childhood hero from Jurassic Park, Sam Neill!
So I was really lucky enough to get tickets for Wales Comic Con a while ago and I also managed to get a photo op with Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill.
Sam Neill’s portrayal as palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park 3 resonated a lot with me growing up and was a really big reason why I always wanted to pursue a career in palaeontology. It meant a lot to me to be able to finally meet him!

The day at Wales Comic Con was really great despite the horrible weather. So when it came time to head off for my photo op with Sam Neill I was really excited about it all! I was the second to last person to have a photo with Sam and got the opportunity to chat to him during the photo. I introduced myself, shook his hand.
He saw my hoodie at once and said “it’s really great, we have to use this in the photo!” We had the photo. I then said I was a student palaeontologist. He said to me “so the film really inspired you then? To go into that field”. I said yeah it really did! I shook his hand again and said a massive Thank You to him, and that was it. It was all very surreal! I met my childhood hero and I think the photo below says it all!

As a big Jurassic Park fan I couldn’t have asked for a better photo! It is an experience I will never forget for sure!
I hope you have enjoyed this brief article. You can find all my palaeontological science communication outreach at my linktree. Do give the website a follow to keep up to date with my newest blog posts, alongside latest updates to the website.
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