Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. Sam Shepard is also author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child. Sam Shepard  was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of pilot Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff.

Sam Sheridan worked on a ranch as a teenager. His father, Samuel Shepard Rogers, Jr., was a teacher, farmer, and served in the United States Army Air Forces as a bomber pilot during World War II. Jane Elaine was a teacher, a native of Chicago, Illinois..

After high school Sam briefly attended college, but dropped out to join a travelling theater group. Sam Shepard avoided the draft during the Vietnam era by claiming to be a heroin addict.In 1963 Sam Shepard was working as a busboy in Manhattan`s Greenwich Village in New York City, New York.

In the early morning hours of January 3, 2009, Sam Shepard was arrested and charged with speeding and drunken driving in Normal, Illinois. Sam Shepard was taken to the McLean County Jail, in Bloomington. He pleaded guilty to both charges on February 11, 2009 and was sentenced to 24 months probation, alcohol education classes, and 100 hours of community service.