Samuel L. Jackson

Name: Samuel L. Jackson
Date of Birth: December 21, 1948
Place of Birth: Washington, DC

Mini-bio: Samuel Leroy Jackson is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. Jackson came to fame in the early 1990s, after a series of well-reviewed performances, and has since become a major film star and cul...( read more)

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Samuel L. Jackson mini-bio:

Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning actor. Jackson came to fame in the early 1990s, after a series of well-reviewed performances, and has since become a major film star and cultural icon, having appeared in a large number of high-grossing films. Jackson is married to Latanya Richardson and has a daughter named Zoe. He is a huge sports fan and an avid golfer. Jackson has won multiple awards for his film performances and has been portrayed in various forms of media including films, television series, and lyrics. Jackson is currently working on five films that will debut between 2008 and 2009. Jackson has noted that he chooses roles that are "exciting to watch" and have an "interesting character inside of a story", and that in his roles he wanted to "do things [he hasn't] done, things he saw as a kid and wanted to do and now has an opportunity to do".[1] According to the The Guinness World Records 2009 (released on 17th September 2008) he is the worlds highest grossing actor, having earned $7.42 billion in 68 films.

Jackson was born in Washington, D.C. He grew up as an only child in Chattanooga, Tennessee with his mother, Elizabeth Jackson (née Montgomery), who was a factory worker and later a supplies buyer for a mental institution, and his maternal grandparents and extended family.[2][3] His father lived away from the family in Kansas City, Missouri and later died from alcoholism; Jackson had only met his father twice during his life.[2][4] Jackson attended Riverside High (now Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences), a segregated school where, between the third and twelfth grades, he played the French horn and trumpet in the school orchestra.[5] He later attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, where he co-founded the "Just Us Theater".[2] He graduated in 1972.[6]

Jackson initially decided to go to Morehouse College to major in Architecture, but decided to change his major to Drama[11] after taking a public speaking class and appearing in a version of The Threepenny Opera.[12] Jackson began acting in multiple plays including Home and A Soldier's Play.[2] He also landed himself in several TV films, and his first feature film was in Together for Days (1972). After these initial roles, Jackson proceeded to move from Atlanta to New York City in 1976 and spent the next decade appearing in stage plays such as The Piano Lesson and Two Trains Running which both premiered at the Yale Repertory Theater.[13] At this point in his early career, Jackson developed an alcohol and cocaine addiction, resulting in him being unable to proceed with the two plays as they continued to Broadway (actors Charles S. Dutton and Anthony Chisholm took his place).[10] Throughout his early film career, mainly in minimal roles in films such as Coming to America (as a criminal robbing a fast food joint) and various TV films, Jackson was mentored by Morgan Freeman.[5] After a 1981 performance in the play A Soldier's Play, Jackson was introduced to beginning director Spike Lee [10] who would later include him in small roles for the films School Daze (1988) and Do the Right Thing (1989).[2] He also played a minor role in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas as real-life Mafia associate Stacks Edwards.

After completing these films, Jackson's cocaine addiction continued to increase to the point where he overdosed, and his family entered him into a New York rehab clinic.[5] When he successfully completed rehab, Jackson acted in Jungle Fever, as the crack cocaine addict brother to the relatively new actor Wesley Snipes, a role which Jackson called cathartic as he was recovering from his addiction.[2] The film was so acclaimed that the 1991 Cannes Film Festival awarded a special "Supporting Actor" award just for him.[4][14] After this role, Jackson became involved with multiple film requests, including Strictly Business, Juice, Patriot Games, and then moved on to two comedies: National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 and Amos & Andrew. After rapid involvement in these films, Jackson worked with director Steven Spielberg in Jurassic Park. He played a major role in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. The film was Jackson's most notable role, mainly for his monologues and one-liners along with co-star John Travolta.[2] The film earned Jackson an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor as well as a Golden Globe nomination and a BAFTA Best Supporting Actor award win.[15]
With a succession of unsuccessful films such as Kiss of Death, The Great White Hype, and Losing Isaiah, Jackson began to receive poor reviews from critics who had praised his performance in Pulp Fiction. This ended with his involvement in the two successful box office films A Time To Kill, where he depicted a father who is put on trial for killing two men who raped his daughter, and Die Hard with a Vengeance, co-starring along side Bruce Willis in the third installment of the Die Hard series. For A Time to Kill, Jackson earned a NAACP Image for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture [16] and a Golden Globe nomination for a Best Supporting Actor.

Quickly becoming a box office star, Jackson continued with three starring roles in 1997. In 187 he played a teacher, dedicated to educating students in a Los Angeles high school but with a terrible secret. He received an Independent Spirit award for Best First Feature[16] alongside first-time writer/director Kasi Lemmons in the drama film Eve's Bayou, for which he also served as executive producer. He joined up again with director Quentin Tarantino and received a Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Actor and a fourth Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of arms merchant Ordell Robbie in Jackie Brown.[16] In 1998, he worked with other established actors such as Sharon Stone and Dustin Hoffman in Sphere and Kevin Spacey in The Negotiator, playing a hostage negotiator who resorts to taking hostages himself when he is falsely accused of murder and embezzlement. In 1999, Jackson starred in a shark horror film, Deep Blue Sea, and as Jedi Master Mace Windu in George Lucas's Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In an interview, Jackson claimed that he did not have a chance to read the script for the film and did not learn he was playing the character Mace Windu until he was fitted for his costume (it is said that he was eager to accept any role, just for the chance to be a part of the Star Wars saga).[17]

On June 13, 2000, Jackson was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which can be found at 7018 Hollywood Blvd.[18] He began the next decade in his film career as a Marine colonel put on trial in Rules of Engagement, co-starred with Bruce Willis for a third time in the supernatural thriller Unbreakable, and starred in the 2000 remake of the 1971 film Shaft. Jackson's sole film in 2001 was The Caveman's Valentine, where he plays a homeless musician in a murder thriller. The film was directed by Kasi Lemmons, who previously worked with Jackson in Eve's Bayou. In 2002, he played a recovering alcoholic attempting to keep custody of his kids while dealing with a mishap with Ben Affleck's character in Changing Lanes.[2] He returned for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, increasing his role from a small role to a supporting role. Mace Windu's purple lightsaber in the film was the result of Jackson's suggestion;[2] he wanted to be sure that his character would stand out in a crowded battle scene.[19] Jackson then acted as a NSA agent alongside Vin Diesel in xXx and a drug dealer wearing a kilt in The 51st State. In 2003, Jackson portrayed another character in a military role, working with John Travolta again in Basic and then as a police sergeant alongside Colin Farrell in the television show remake S.W.A.T. In 2004, Jackson played a mentor to Ashley Judd in the thriller Twisted, and lent his voice to the computer-animated film The Incredibles as the superhero Frozone. Jackson once again appeared in a Tarantino film, by cameoing in Kill Bill, Vol. 2.

In 2005, he began with the sports drama, Coach Carter, where he played a coach (based on the actual coach Ken Carter) dedicated to teaching his players that education is more important than basketball. Jackson also returned for two sequels: XXX: State of the Union, this time commanding Ice Cube, and the final prequel George Lucas installment, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. His last film for 2005 was The Man alongside comedian Eugene Levy. On November 4, 2005, he was presented with the Hawaii International Film Festival Achievement in Acting Award.
On January 30, 2006, Jackson was honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theater; he is the seventh African American and 191st actor to be recognized in this manner.[20] He next starred opposite of actress Julianne Moore in the box office bomb Freedomland, where he depicted a police detective attempting to help a mother find her abducted child, while quelling a city racial riot. Jackson's second film of the year, Snakes on a Plane, gained cult interest months before the film was released based on its title and cast. Jackson's decision to star in the film was solely based on the title.[21] To build anticipation for the film, he also cameoed in the 2006 music video Snakes on a Plane (Bring It) by Cobra Starship. On December 2, Jackson won the German Bambi Award for International Film, based on his many film contributions.[22] On December 15, 2006, Jackson starred in Home of the Brave, as a doctor returning home from the Iraq War, resorting to alcohol to cope with his feelings after the war.

On January 30, 2007, Jackson was featured as narrator in Bob Saget's direct-to-DVD Farce of the Penguins. The film was a spoof of the box office success March of the Penguins (which was narrated by Morgan Freeman). His most recent films, released in 2007, were Black Snake Moan, where he portrays a blues player who imprisons a young woman (Christina Ricci) addicted to sex, and the horror film 1408, which casts him alongside John Cusack in an adaptation of the Stephen King short story. In Cleaner, Jackson portrayed an obsessive crime scene cleaner who discovers a covered-up murder.
In 2008, Jackson reprised his role of Mace Windu in the CGI film, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, followed by Lakeview Terrace where he played a racist cop who has problems with his married interracial neighbors.
Throughout Jackson's career, he has appeared in many films alongside mainstream rappers. These include Tupac Shakur (Juice), Queen Latifah (Juice), Method Man (One Eight Seven), LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea/S.W.A.T.), Busta Rhymes (Shaft), Eve (xXx), Ice Cube (xXx: State of the Union), Xzibit (xXx: State of the Union), David Banner (Black Snake Moan), and 50 Cent (Home of the Brave). Additionally, Jackson has appeared in four films with actor Bruce Willis (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Unbreakable) and the actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit before both dropped out.

Jackson has five upcoming film projects between 2008 and 2011, starting with two 2008 films where he will first be . Jackson will then portray the villain, the Octopus, in the film The Spirit . He will also star along with Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes (who both died prior to the film's release) in Soul Men in October. In 2009 he will provide his voice for the animated science fiction film, Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey. Jackson's uncredited appearance in the post-credit scene of Iron Man has given him the role of Nick Fury for Iron Man 2, (predicted to release in April 2010), and in The Avengers film set for release in July 2011.

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VITAL STATS

Samuel L. Jackson Information:

Eye color:Brown

Height: 6' 2.5"" (1.89 m)

Nickname(s): Sam, King of Cool, Mr. Cool

Notable feature(s):

Education:

Family:Daughter:Zoe Jackson

Resides in:Los Angeles

Religious affiliations:

Political affiliation:

Personal interests/hobbies:Golf

Charities/Causes:

Other:

Last update: Oct 11 2008, 6:32 PM EDT by daisy184 (content history | content tools) (help)

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Comments

mmg32242

SAM JACKSON IS A CLASSIC ACTOR WHO CAN CHANGE HIS APPEARANCE TO FIT WHATEVER MOVIE HE PLAYS.HE GRABS
AND HOLDS YOU MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO LOOK
AWAY FOR FEAR OF WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT.
I WOULD LOVE TO SEE HIM IN A MOVIE WITH DENZEL
WASHINGTON, THAT WOULD BE THE BOMB!!!!!!!!!

posted 11 days ago
Juliaistoocool

i can't believe he's gonna be 60 years old. he does not look that old

posted 23 days ago
LeadingMenCollection

True confession time. We love Samuel L Jackson, but we put Patrick Wilson in our collection instead. We just figured more people would be interested in having pair of Patrick's boxers from Lakeview Terrace than Samuel's. But SLJ rocks the silver screen!

posted 44 days ago
john271

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posted 116 days ago
mikefoot6

He has done fantastic films but then there is snakes on a plane

posted 120 days ago
bigfuzzycaribou

Holy crap...he's the oldest fave actor I got!!! ,':o

posted 121 days ago
gloryk71

hello my dearest
gloryk71@yahoo.com
thanks
reply me back
Glory

posted 128 days ago
freakmebaby209

HARDEST WORKING MAN IN HOLLYWOOD!! AND ONE OF THE BEST!!

posted 131 days ago
j360chd

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posted 138 days ago
bubbles542000

VERY FUNNY

posted 160 days ago