Who is Sam Hammington? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Australian Celebrities Born In July

Also Known As: Samuel Mayer Russ Hammington

Age: 46 Years, 46 Year Old Males

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Yoo-mi Jeong (m. 2013)

mother: Jan Russ

children: Bentley Hammington, William Bruce Hammington

Born Country: New Zealand

Comedians Australian Men

Height: 5'11" (180 cm), 5'11" Males

Ancestry: Australian New Zealander

Notable Alumni: Swinburne University Of Technology, Korea University

City: Wellington, New Zealand

More Facts

education: Korea University, Swinburne University Of Technology

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Career

Sam Hammington began his television career in Australia when he was still a child. Born to a casting director, he had appeared in TV series such as 'Holiday Island', 'All the Rivers Run', 'The Flying Doctors' and 'Neighbours' even before he was ten years old. However, his career as an adult started in the early 2000s in South Korea. He first came to the country in 2001 as part of an exchange trip while pursuing his business, marketing and Korean language degree at Swinburne University of Technology. He was discovered after he attended a live comedy show in Seoul and was selected from the audience to participate in a skit. He instantly gained attention as a Korean-speaking foreigner, and was contacted by one of the directors and scriptwriters from the audience who wanted someone like him for a show.

He began working in the Korean television industry during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and got his first big break on the popular comedy program 'Gag Concert' in 2005. He also had a couple of small roles in films, but it was only after being selected as an original cast member on the first season of the reality-military show 'Real Men' in 2013 that he became a national star. A foreigner, he appeared on the show which depicted a group of celebrities going through the mandatory military training that every able-bodied Korean man is required to take. Now he is so popular in the country that his mother cannot go out with him in fear of getting mobbed!

Family & Early Life

Sam Hammington was born as Samuel Mayer Russ Hammington on July 31, 1977, in Wellington, New Zealand, to a New Zealander father, Bruce William Hammington, and an Australian mother, Jan Russ. He spent much of his early life in Melbourne, Australia, with his mother, who is a casting director and an actor primarily known for working in the long running soap opera 'Neighbours'. He has an older sister from his mother’s previous relationship, whom she was forced to give up for adoption during the 1960s because she was young and unwed.

He began working on television in Australia when he was very young, but he later shifted his focus to his studies in secondary school. He attended Swinburne University of Technology, where he decided to take up an Asian language course to strengthen his resume, and selected Korean because Japanese and Chinese language courses were high in demand. He graduated with double majors in marketing and Korean studies, and subsequently became a transfer student at Korea University in 2002. A tearful Hammington revealed on television in 2013 that his parents had divorced because his father was gay.

Relationships

Sam Hammington first met his future wife, Jung Yu-mi, in 1999 at a restaurant in Itaewon.He initially lied to her about his age and had claimed to be six years older, while in fact, she is two years older than him. Even though she was not fluent in English, she asked him where he was from, to which he asked her in Korean to "guess". While her guess that he was from UK turned out to be wrong, they became close and dated for years before their marriage in October 2013. There were two wedding ceremonies, a traditional Korean one which was aired nationally on Korean television, and another one at the Melbourne Zoo in Australia. They later welcomed two sons, William Bruce Hammington (born in July 2016) and Bentley Hammington (born in November 2017). His first-born child was named after his father, who had passed away in the early 2000s.

Sam Hammington Biography