John Stockwell Samuels IV (born March 25, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his work on the television film Cheaters (2000), Stockwell was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special.
Stockwell was born in Galveston, Texas, the son of Ellen (Richards) and John S. Samuels III, an attorney. Stockwell's sister is historian Evelyn Welch, and his niece is singer and songwriter Florence Welch. His father was a Texas lawyer and coal magnate, purchased Salutation in Glen Cove, Long Island.
While he was in college at Harvard University near Boston, he commuted to New York City to appear on episodes of the soap opera Guiding Light.
Early in his career, Stockwell was an international model. During this time, he became a friend of pop artist Andy Warhol. Stockwell's first feature film as an actor came in a small role in 1981's So Fine. His best known roles came in the 1983 comedy film Losin' It as Spider; later that year, in the John Carpenter horror film Christine as Dennis Guilder; and the 1985 comedy film My Science Project as Michael Harlan. Also in 1985, he appeared in the poorly received City Limits.
He performed in the highly acclaimed 1985 TV mini-series North and South. In 1986, he appeared in Top Gun as Cougar. He made guest appearances on TV shows including The Young Riders and '.
Stockwell has directed several films, including Cheaters (2000), Crazy/Beautiful (2001), Blue Crush (2002), Into the Blue (2005), Turistas (2006), Heart (2009), the Gina Carano star-vehicle In the Blood, and the 2016 Kickboxer reboot Kickboxer: Vengeance.
Stockwell wrote the screenplay for the 2001 film Rock Star.
Stockwell briefly dated actress Bianca Jagger and model Barbara Allen.
Stockwell is married to Helene Henderson, a chef and caterer. They have three children.