Samuel Nielsen Worley was born to Taj Diffenbaugh Worley, a printmaker, and Stevan Nielsen Worley, a writer, on August 23, 1980 in Seattle, Washington. His mother, whose studio was in the basement of their house on Queen Anne Hill, introduced Sam to various art forms, including drawing, painting, and printmaking.

​

After the untimely death of his mother in 1987 Sam continued to draw and paint. In high school he began doing cut paper collages and acrylic paintings. He made many of these during his late teens and early twenties.

​

While living at home, Sam spent two years at Seattle Community College studying politics and philosophy, then moved to Brooklyn and matriculated at The New School on Manhattan where he took a degree in Philosophy.

​

While at The New School he began working on painting and sculpture at the Grand Central Academy of Art on Manhattan, where he continued to work for a number of years. Sam moved to Queens about the time that the Academy moved to Queens, and he worked there for several more years.

​

In 1917 Sam moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he works on sculpture, including life-size figures, in his garage studio. Sam's other art interests include painting, 3-D computer design and 3-D printing, computerized embroidery, and stuffed animal construction.