Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him the highest-grossing actor of all time.[a][4] In 2022, he received the Academy Honorary Award as "a cultural icon whose dynamic work has resonated across genres and generations and audiences worldwide".[5][6][7]
"Samuel Jackson" redirects here. For other people with the same name, see Samuel Jackson (disambiguation).
Samuel L. Jackson
Jackson made his professional theatre debut in Mother Courage and Her Children in 1980 at The Public Theatre. From 1981 to 1983 he originated the role of Private Louis Henderson in A Soldier's Play off-Broadway. He also originated the role of Boy Willie in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson in 1987 at the Yale Repertory Theatre. He portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the Broadway play The Mountaintop (2011).[8] He returned to Broadway in the 2022 revival of The Piano Lesson playing Doaker Charles, for which he received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play nomination.[9][10]
Jackson's early film roles include Coming to America (1988), Juice (1992), True Romance (1993), Menace II Society (1993), and Fresh (1994). His collaborations with Spike Lee led to greater prominence with films such as School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Oldboy (2013), and Chi-Raq (2015). Jackson's breakout performance was as Jules Winnfield in Quentin Tarantino's crime drama Pulp Fiction (1994) which earned him a BAFTA Award win and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He further collaborated with Tarantino, acting in Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004), Django Unchained (2012), and The Hateful Eight (2015).
He also gained widespread recognition as the Jedi Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), and Nick Fury in 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe films, beginning with Iron Man (2008), as well as guest-starring in the ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..[11][12] Jackson has provided his voice for Lucius Best / Frozone in the Pixar films The Incredibles (2004) and Incredibles 2 (2018). He has also acted in a number of big-budget films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000) and its reboot (2019), XXX (2002), Coach Carter (2005), Snakes on a Plane (2006), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), and Glass (2019).
Early life
Samuel Leroy Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., on December 21, 1948,[13] the only child of Elizabeth Harriett (née Montgomery) and Roy Henry Jackson.[14][15] He grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee.[13][16] His father lived away from the family in Kansas City, Missouri, and later died of alcoholism. Jackson met him only twice during his life.[17][18] He was raised by his mother, a factory worker and later a supplies buyer for a mental institution; he was also raised by his maternal grandparents, Edgar and Pearl Montgomery, as well as extended family.[15][17][19] According to DNA tests, Jackson partially descends from the Benga people of Gabon, and he became a naturalized citizen of Gabon in 2019.[20] He attended several segregated schools[21] and graduated from Riverside High School in Chattanooga.[13] He played the French horn, piccolo, trumpet, and flute in the school orchestra.[22][23] He developed a stutter during childhood and learned to "pretend to be other people who didn't stutter". He still uses the word "motherfucker" to get through a speech block. He still has days where he stutters.[23][24] Initially intent on pursuing a degree in marine biology, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.[13] After joining a local acting group to earn extra points in a class, he found an interest in acting and switched his major.[25] Before graduating in 1972, he co-founded the Just Us Theatre.[17][26]
After Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968, Jackson attended King's funeral in Atlanta as one of the ushers.[27] He then travelled to Memphis, Tennessee, to join an equal rights protest march. In a 2005 Parade interview, he said, "I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn't shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different—not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence."[28] In 1969, Jackson and several other students held members of the Morehouse College board of trustees (including Martin Luther King Sr.) hostage on the campus, demanding reform in the school's curriculum and governance.[29] The college eventually agreed to change its policy, but Jackson was charged with and eventually convicted of unlawful confinement, a second-degree felony.[30] He was suspended for two years for his criminal record and his actions. He would later return to the college to earn a BA in drama in 1972.[31] While he was suspended, he took a job as a social worker in Los Angeles.[32] He decided to return to Atlanta, where he met with Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and others active in the Black Power movement.[28] He began to feel empowered with his involvement in the movement, especially when the group began buying guns.[28] However, before he could become involved with any significant armed confrontations, his mother sent him to Los Angeles after the FBI warned her that he would die within a year if he remained with the group.[28] In a 2018 interview with Vogue, he denied having been a member of the Black Panther Party.[33]
Other appearances
He's known for his extensive voice roles including Whiplash in Turbo (2013), the title character of the anime series Afro Samurai (2007), and Frank Tenpenny in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004). He also narrated the acclaimed documentary I Am Not Your Negro (2016).
In addition to films, Jackson also appeared in several television shows, a video game, music videos, as well as audiobooks. Jackson had a small part in the Public Enemy music video for "911 Is a Joke". Jackson voiced several television show characters, including the lead role in the anime series, Afro Samurai, in addition to a recurring part as the voice of Gin Rummy in several episodes of the animated series The Boondocks.[141][142] He was in the Pilot for Ghostwriter. He guest-starred as himself in an episode of the BBC/HBO sitcom Extras.[143] He voiced the main antagonist, Officer Frank Tenpenny, in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.[144] Jackson also hosted a variety of awards shows. He has hosted the MTV Movie Awards (1998),[145] the ESPYs (1999, 2001, 2002, and 2009),[146] and the Spike TV Video Game Awards (2005, 2006, 2007, and 2012).[147] In November 2006, he provided the voice of God for The Bible Experience, the New Testament audiobook version of the Bible. He was given the lead role because producers believed his deep, authoritative voice would best fit the role.[148] He also recorded the Audible.com audiobook of Go the Fuck to Sleep.[149] For the Atlanta Falcons' 2010 season, Jackson portrayed Rev. Sultan in the Falcons "Rise Up" commercial.
He also appeared in the Capital One cash-back credit card commercials. Jackson too appeared in a Sky Broadband Shield commercial, Sky UK's broadband service as Nick Fury to promote Captain America: The Winter Soldier.[150] He also played Nick Fury in an ad for the video game Marvel Snap.[151] Jackson released a song about social justice with KRS-One, Sticky Fingaz, Mad Lion & Talib Kweli about violence in America called "I Can't Breathe" which were the last words said by Eric Garner.[152]
Box-office performance
Throughout the 1990s, A.C. Neilson E.C.I., a box office–tracking company, determined that Jackson appeared in more films than any other actor who grossed $1.7 billion domestically.[153] By 2011, the films that featured Jackson as a leading actor or supporting co-star had grossed a total of $2.81[154] to $4.91 billion[155] at the North American box office. This placed him as the seventh-highest-grossing lead actor and the second-highest-grossing actor, behind only voice actor Frank Welker. The 2009 edition of The Guinness World Records, which uses a different calculation to determine film grosses, stated that Jackson is the world's highest-grossing actor, with $7.42 billion generated across 68 films.[156] Subsequently, as of 2022, according to data crunched by the Golden Globes, this total has ballooned out to more than $27 billion grossed across 152 movies, locking him in as the highest-grossing actor, and second-highest grossing person in film in general behind Stan Lee, who was primarily known for his cameo work.[157][158][159]