Born in Tullamore, County Offlay in Ireland, Sam Keeley was indecisive about his future after completing his compulsory school. A guidance counselor pushed him into continuing his education, and an interest in film led Keeley to drama classes. Just six months into the courses, Keeley booked a role in "The Other Side of Sleep" (2011), then a guest role in the British series "Misfits" (E4, 2009-2013). After a number of supporting roles in TV and film, Keeley landed his first recurring role in the Irish drama "Raw" (RTE, 2008-2013), centered on a Dublin restaurant and the lives of the staff working there. In 2014, he had his first lead role, playing a soldier in the near future, deployed to the Middle East to tamp down an insurgency, while also dealing with the threat of monsters, in the film "Monsters: Dark Continent" (2014), a sequel to "Monsters" (2010). The film was directed by Keeley's "Misfits" director, Tom Green. In 2015, the actor appeared in supporting roles in two high profile releases. "Burnt" (2015), the restaurant drama starring Bradley Cooper, and directed by John Wells, saw Keeley as an aspiring chef, keen to work with Cooper, the head chef at a new restaurant. The same year, Keeley played a supporting role, as a sailor, in director Ron Howard's "In the Heart of the Sea" (2015), which tells the story of the whaling adventure that inspired the novel Moby Dick.