Samuel Buckley was born in New Zealand and has worked as, among other things, a book designer, actor, network television journalist, magazine writer, and as the manager/actor/trombone player of a travelling group of musicians, actors and film-makers.

Buckley moved to the United States in the 1980s and worked as a freelance journalist, writing feature articles and producing radio documentaries, television news items and presenting longer reports for television arts programs.

In the early 1990s Buckley became the hands-on managing editor of South Africa News, a 32-page monthly tabloid newspaper based in New York. The paper covered business, tourist and general news of the new South Africa as it emerged from the apartheid era. He was then appointed senior editor of two financial newsletters covering the futures market and hedge funds. He is now a freelance writer.

Buckley has written short stories, several plays, many songs and the musical drama A Full Life. The musical was chosen by Emerging Artists Theater as part of their 2012 festival of new musicals, and his one-act play, Mother Daughter, was part of the 2012 Times Square Theater Festival. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, the National Writers Union, Harlem Playwrights 21 and the Editorial Freelancers Association.