Sam Underwood Bio
Sam Lewis Underwood is an English actor whose work spans stage and serialized television drama on both sides of the Atlantic. He is best known for portraying the twins Luke and Mark Gray in the Fox thriller drama The Following, Jake Otto in the AMC series Fear the Walking Dead, and Adam Carrington in The CW series Dynasty.
Early Life and Background
Sam Lewis Underwood was born on 4 August 1987 in Woking, Surrey, England, and attended the Winston Churchill School. He trained with the Karen Clarke Theatre Group, which is now Summerscales Performing Arts, studied with vocal coach Phil Wisdom and participated in Songtime Theatre Arts during his formative years in the United Kingdom.
Underwood moved to the United States in October 2006 to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York and graduated from that program in February 2008. His formal training combined voice, movement and dramatic technique, providing a foundation that supported early professional work in New York theatre and new media projects.
In April 2010, after developing his work in New York, Underwood co-founded the Fundamental Theater Project with Nicola Murphy, an initiative focused on producing contemporary stage work and supporting emerging artists. That project anchored his early career activity in both creative leadership and performance.
Path to Celebrity
Underwood’s early professional appearances were rooted in theatre and regional productions, which led to casting opportunities in larger venues and collaborative projects. While appearing as Marchbanks in George Bernard Shaw’s Candida at the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York in April 2010, he was asked to play the part of Alan Strang in a production of Equus at the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall of East Hampton, where he co-starred alongside Alec Baldwin.
Those stage roles established Underwood as a performer comfortable with psychologically complex material and visible work alongside established actors, which helped transition his career toward television. His theatrical work and the activities of the Fundamental Theater Project positioned him to audition for recurring television roles and to expand into serialized drama.
Following his move into television, Underwood built a reputation for taking on layered and often morally ambiguous characters, which became a throughline in his casting for genre drama and contemporary series. His early theatre grounding continued to inform performances that required both intensity and sustained character development.
Sam Underwood Career
Early Career (2010–2012)
Sam Underwood’s professional career began with notable stage engagements and regional theatre in 2010, including his work in Candida and the subsequent invitation to perform in Equus, which showcased his facility with demanding dramatic roles. Those productions offered early public exposure in New York theatre and led to further opportunities in television casting.
Between 2010 and 2012 Underwood also developed the Fundamental Theater Project as a producing and creative platform, creating a practical bridge between stage work and screen auditions. The project emphasized new writing and contemporary staging, contributing to his résumé as both a performer and a collaborator in production.
Breakthrough (2013–2017)
Underwood’s transition into television became more visible in 2013 with a recurring role on the eighth season of Dexter as Zach Hamilton, a character described as Dexter Morgan’s protégé. The part on a widely watched series raised his profile in genre television and demonstrated his ability to inhabit dark, psychologically complex roles on screen.
He subsequently joined the third season of Homeland as Leo Carras, further consolidating his presence in high-profile serialized drama. In early 2014 Underwood took on the dual roles of twins Mark and Luke Gray in the Fox murder mystery The Following; the dual casting showcased range and earned notice for his capacity to differentiate two closely related characters within a single narrative.
In 2017 Underwood joined the cast of the AMC series Fear the Walking Dead in its third season as Jake Otto, the son of a colony leader, marking an expansion into post-apocalyptic genre television. These roles across crime, political thriller and horror-adjacent drama between 2013 and 2017 represent the period in which Underwood moved from recurring television appearances to more prominent, named roles on network and cable series.
Notable Works and Milestones
Among Underwood’s signature television credits are the dual roles of Mark and Luke Gray on The Following, which highlighted his capacity for complex character work, and his role as Jake Otto on Fear the Walking Dead, which broadened his genre presence. In 2019 he was cast as Adam Carrington in The CW’s Dynasty, a role that placed him within a high-profile reboot of a major 1980s series and sustained his visibility on broadcast television through 2022.
Later Career and Recent Work (2018–Present)
Following his casting on Dynasty in 2019, Underwood continued to work across stage and screen. He has maintained an interest in theatre projects alongside television, returning periodically to live performance and stage collaborations associated with the Fundamental Theater Project and other companies.
In 2025 Underwood performed in the play Ivanov at the Unadilla Theatre in Calais, Vermont, demonstrating an ongoing commitment to classical and contemporary theatre work. His career trajectory reflects a balance of serialized television roles and stage work, with each area informing his approach to character and performance.
Sam Underwood Family
Underwood married actress Valorie Curry on May 13, 2016. The couple separated in 2022 and finalized their divorce in April 2023, as reported in public records and contemporary accounts.
Personal Life
Public records note that Underwood and Valorie Curry were married in 2016 and divorced in 2023; beyond that, Underwood’s public profile focuses primarily on his professional work rather than private domestic details. On October 7, 2023, Underwood was arrested on felony domestic battery charges after an alleged altercation with an unidentified woman; reports indicate he was released after approximately ten hours in custody. These events were reported in public sources and reflect factual items reported in the public record.