Samuel L. Jackson

1948—

Actor

"I never get tired of acting because I have a passion for it," Samuel L. Jackson declared to Paul B. Cohen of the L.A. Village View. "Every time I have an opportunity to do it, I will do it." Despite occasional encounters with the implicit racist attitude of Hollywood, he has managed to get cast "color-blind" more often than many of his black colleagues. His versatility and professionalism have been Jackson's keys to survival. As Phillip Noyce, director of Patriot Games, told the New York Times, "Sam has a remarkable connection with the cinema audience."

Likewise, Jackson is much beloved by those who enjoy live drama. Unlike film work—which tends to offer little immediate reward for the actor—Jackson has acknowledged to Cohen that "theater is such a healthy exchange of energy between the audience and the actors." He added that he can sense audience members "sitting forward, sighing, or getting carried along with the momentum of what we're doing, so it's very invigorating."

Jackson spent years investing that energy in role after role, finally gaining widespread public notice in the early 1990s. His lengthy resume of film appearances consisted mostly of low-profile character parts until his award-winning performance in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever in 1991 moved him to the top of casting directors' lists. He went on to appear in increasingly varied features with two goals in mind—stretching his range and returning to stage, the arena in which he got his start.

Hooked on Acting at an Early Age

Jackson was born on December 21, 1948, and grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with his mother, grandparents, and his aunt, who was a schoolteacher. His urge to perform emerged while he was still quite young. "As a kid I loved Treasure Island," he informed Jean Oppenheimer of the L.A. Village View. "My favorite pirate movie was The Crimson Pirate with Burt Lancaster. When I was a kid we played pirates in our neighborhood, not sissy stuff like Captain Hook but serious pirates." He also participated in rowdy neighborhood recreations of favorite westerns, substituting bicycles for the horses. When he was not pretending to be a high sea rogue, he acted in his aunt's school plays. However, he did not seriously participate in the theater world until he was in college.

Jackson attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, but in order to major in theater he had to take all his theater classes at the college's sister school, Spelman. There he met LaTanya Richardson, an actress whom he would later marry; there too, he made his adult performance debut in the darkly satirical Weill-Brecht classic, The Three Penny Opera, making up for his lack of singing acumen with his acting skills. Meanwhile, offstage he was becoming radicalized by the burgeoning black liberation movement of the early 1970s. Student anger at the lack of African American studies and the institution's control by a white governing body caused him to participate in an action that involved locking a few Morehouse trustees—including Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr.—in a room until the insurgents' demands were met. For their involvement, Jackson and some of his comrades were briefly suspended.

Focusing on what would soon become his career, Jackson helped start the Just Us theater company in Atlanta, but he and Richardson ultimately left for New York City in 1976. "All I know is, we pulled into [Greenwich] Village at night, and everyone on the street looked really bizarre," Jackson told Michael Angeli of the New York Times. "We were going to live with some friends on Barrow Street. What we didn't realize was that it was Halloween, and we were in the middle of a parade." Though he did not begin his own parade of acting roles until some years later, he did start working in the theater almost immediately.

Theater Work Led to Films

For the next several years, Jackson appeared in various plays. Film work was sometimes offered, as when he appeared in 1981's Ragtime, but it was when he was appearing onstage in A Soldier's Play the same year that he began making real connections. He befriended actor Morgan Freeman, who greatly encouraged him, and met a young film student named Spike Lee, who came backstage to introduce himself. Jackson recollected to the New York Times. "He told me he was a Morehouse alumnus, that he was at NYU [New York University] film school, da-da-da. He was going to, um, be a filmmaker. He said when he started to make films, he would love for me to be in his movies. It was, like, I had my dream, and he had his—a surplus of reality there, you know what I mean?"

Lee's dream came true, and Jackson appeared in several of the writer/director's films, including School Daze in 1988, and the following year's Do the Right Thing. Jackson observed that Lee's tendency to use the same actors in different films lent an esprit de corps to the productions. "Bill Nunn, Giancarlo [Esposito]—we knew each other from Morehouse, where we did plays together. There's something to be said for the ensemble feeling, for getting to know other actors and having a feeling for working with them," Jackson explained to Angeli. "And doing Spike's films, that was the one thing we all had to look forward to every year—knowing we were going to get together again. Same crew, same actors," he continued. Jackson also landed character roles in features by other directors; in the late 1980s to early 1990s, Jackson worked in The Exorcist III, Coming to America, Sea of Love and Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. But Lee was the creative force behind the film that made Jackson's reputation, Jungle Fever.

At a Glance …

Born December 21, 1948, in Chattanooga, TN; married LaTanya Richardson, an actress, c. 1981; children: Zoe. Education: Received Dramatic Arts degree from Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA, 1972.

Career : Actor, 1972-.

Awards : Cannes Film Festival, Best Supporting Actor, and New York Film Critics award, for Jungle Fever, 1991; BAFTA (British Academy) Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, for Pulp Fiction, 1995; Independent Spirit Awards, 1995, 1998; Image Award, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, for A Time to Kill, 1997; Berlin International Film Festival, Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actor, for Jackie Brown, 1998; Acapulco Black Film Festival, Black Film Award, 1998; Acapulco Black Film Festival, Career Achievement Award, 1999; Hasty Pudding Theatricals, Man of the Year, 1999; star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 2000; Image Award, Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, for Coach Carter, 2006.

Addresses: Agent—c/o International Creative Management, 8942 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211; c/o Addis-Weschler & Associates, 5 South Carillo, #300, Los Angeles, CA 90048.

In that 1991 production, Jackson played Gator, the crack-addicted brother of Flipper Purify, played by Wesley Snipes. This character hit home because Jackson himself was a recovering crack addict. He brought an explosive charisma and unpredictability to the portrayal; Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called him "a blistering actor in an unforgettable role." When the film debuted at the Cannes film festival, the judges named Jackson the best supporting actor. The award was a double honor because the Cannes judging had never before extended to that category. Besides winning at Cannes, Jackson also received a New York Film Critics award.

A few months after Jungle Fever's release, Jackson was surprised to find that his increased visibility and all the acclaim made some filmmakers think he was unavailable except at high salaries. He emphasized to Williams that he was "not out of anyone's range yet." Nonetheless, he proceeded to take small roles in such offbeat films as Juice and True Romance, among others. When Jackson was sent the script for the thriller White Sands, he assumed he was being considered for the part of the villain—a role eventually bagged by Mickey Rourke.

"Then they call me back and say no, you're Meeker, the FBI agent. What? I had to go back and read it again," Jackson admitted to Premiere's Veronica Chambers. "And I like the guy [Meeker] a lot. He's not obviously bad or obviously good. It was a stretch from Gator to that character. And I really would like to display the fact that I have that range." The film's director, Roger Donaldson, praised Jackson to Chambers, saying "He's got enormous resources as an actor. He's extremely talented technically. Sam can do something one take, then go back and build on it. He's spontaneous, but he's well trained…. And he's a nice guy."

Expanded His Range

Hollywood did not need to be persuaded about Jackson's willingness to take on different genres. He shared above-the-title billing in two broad comedies, Amos & Andrew and National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I. Unfortunately, critics trashed both 1993 films. Entertainment Weekly's review of Amos & Andrew, for example, consisted largely of career advice for the actor. Their reviewer wondered, "did Samuel L. Jackson really have to follow up his mesmerizing, out-on-the-edge performance as a homeless crack addict [in Jungle Fever] with National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I and the imbecilic mistaken-identity farce Amos & Andrew?" The unequivocal pan concluded by urging the actor to "call your agent—and fire him."

Despite such misfires, Jackson continued working regularly in the 1990s, appearing as a technician in the box-office hit Jurassic Park—one of the top-selling movies of all time—as one of Harrison Ford's allies in Patriot Games, and in an ensemble role in Menace II Society.Patriot Games director Noyce told the New York Times that Jackson, despite having his performance severely edited, "made so much out of so little that the audience imagined he had a greater participation than he actually did."

In 1994, Jackson was cast as a killer in writer-director Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, an ultraviolent thriller boasting what Jackson described to Cohen as "one of the best scripts I've read in a couple of years." The plumb role contained "four to five page [long] speeches…and that's something you don't normally do in a film," though he had done so on stage. Jackson had earlier appeared in such prestigious New York productions as August Wilson's two acclaimed pieces, The Piano Lesson and Two Trains Running. His appreciation for the dialogues Wilson had written was obvious. Speaking to Cohen, Jackson reflected, "August writes three-hour plays, and when I was doing Piano Lesson—I was the original [protagonist] Boy Willie before [actor] Charles Dutton did it—that character talks for about two hours and ten minutes in a three-hour play…."

Despite the plethora of motion picture work he obtained in the 1990s, Jackson pined to appear onstage again. Once he did, he was pleasantly surprised to find a new environment in regards to many playwrights. In a New York Times interview, Jackson observed that "the black acting community is relatively small. Especially in New York theater. The funny thing is that when they used to cast black roles, everybody from age 20 to 50 was called because they had no idea what kind of black person they wanted for the role. That kind of let you know that they sort of didn't have a clue as to who these people are."

Though Jackson assumed he would have to maintain himself in New York City for theatrical roles, he was pleasantly surprised at the opportunity to be in the 1993 working-class play Distant Fires in Los Angeles. "Everybody's very concerned about the production as a whole and not about their own performances," he enthused to Cohen. He similarly told Premiere's Chambers "I always want to get back to theater to make sure that I'm still an actor. You have to convince people who are actually sitting there looking at you that you're doing what you're doing, without all the trappings of reality around you."

Action Movies and Beyond

Despite his love for the stage, Jackson has spent his career since the 1990s appearing in films…dozens and dozens of films. Jackson's ability to take on all kinds of roles with equal credibility, from hero to villain, from star to supporting actor, made it easy for him to find work. The majority of that work has been in action-packed drama. He teamed up with fellow Pulp Fiction star Bruce Willis in Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995), played Carl Lee Hailey, the father who murdered two white rednecks who brutally raped his daughter in A Time To Kill (1996), and he teamed up again with Quentin Tarantino in Jackie Brown (1997), an adaptation of author Elmore Leonard's book, Rum Punch.

Jackson's run of action dramas continued well into the 2000s. In 2002, Jackson added to his action movie resume when he took the role of Mace Windu in Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, and reprised the role Episode III—Revenge of the Sith (2005). Other notable films of the 2000s included XXX (2002) and its sequel XXX: State of the Union (2005), and S.W.A.T. (2003.), an update of the 1970s television series of the same name which quickly became a box-office hit. Perhaps the most notorious of his recent pics was Snakes on a Plane (2006), a movie about poisonous snakes loose on a plane which Jackson reportedly committed to solely on the outrageous nature of movie title. When movie producers threatened to change the name to the innocuous Pacific Air 121, Jackson joined outraged internet fans lobbying to keep the movie's title—and its gratuitous violence. The movie was a huge hit.

Jackson's range has always extended beyond action movies, however. In 1997, he starred and co-produced Eve's Bayou. The independent film won raves from critics and encouraged Jackson to take on other production roles, as he did with The 51st State (2001) and Cleaner (2007). Jackson also played a prominent role in The Red Violin, a serious Canadian film that explored the 300-year history of a finely crafted instrument and the impact it had on the lives of those who owned it. In a very different vein, Jackson gave voice to Lucius Best, a man who becomes the superhero Frozone in the Disney animated feature The Incredibles (2004). Jackson took on the title role in Coach Carter (2005), the inspirational story of a high school basketball coach who insists that his players develop academic abilities to match their basketball prowess. In 2007, Jackson appeared in another sports-related, based-in-fact story, Resurrecting the Champ, when he played a homeless man who is rescued by a reporter (played by Josh Hartnett)—and turns out to be a former boxing champion who was thought to have died.

Entering his seventh decade, Jackson must be acknowledged as one of the most popular actors of the late twentieth century. In 2005, he had appeared in films whose gross receipts topped $30 billion, making him the highest grossing actor of all times, topping Harrison Ford. In 2000, he became 191st actor, and the seventh African American, to be given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For Jackson, however, the big thrill still remains the work of acting. He told a Time reporter that he goes to see every one of his films in a regular theater, sitting as an anonymous member of the audience. He noted, "Even during my theater years, I wished I could watch the plays I was in—while I was in them. I dig watching myself work." He also collects action figures of the characters he has portrayed in films.

Selected works

Films

Together for Days, 1972.

Ragtime, 1981.

Raw, 1987.

School Daze, 1988.

Sea of Love, 1989.

Do the Right Thing, 1989.

Mo' Better Blues, 1990.

Def by Temptation, 1990.

Goodfellas, 1991.

Jungle Fever, 1991.

Jumpin' at the Boneyard, 1992.

White Sands, 1992.

Patriot Games, 1992.

True Romance, 1993.

Menace II Society, 1993.

National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I, 1993.

Amos & Andrew, 1993.

Jurassic Park, 1993.

Against the Wall, 1994.

Assault at West Point: The Court Martial of Johnson Whittaker, 1994.

Fresh, 1994.

Pulp Fiction, 1994.

Kiss of Death, 1995.

Die Hard: With A Vengeance, 1995.

Losing Isaiah, 1995.

A Time To Kill, 1996.

The Long Kiss Goodnight, 1997.

(And producer) Eve's Bayou, 1997.

187, 1997.

Jackie Brown, 1997.

Sphere, 1998.

The Negotiator, 1998.

The Red Violin, 1998.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, 1999.

Deep Blue Sea, 1999.

Shaft, 2000.

Rules of Engagement, 2000.

Any Given Wednesday, 2000.

Unbreakable, 2000.

Changing Lanes, 2001.

The 51st State, 2001.

The Caveman's Valentine, 2001.

XXX, 2002.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, 2002.

S.W.A.T., 2003.

The Incredibles, 2004.

Twisted, 2004.

In My Country, 2004.

Coach Carter, 2005.

XXX: State of the Union, 2005.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, 2005.

The Man, 2005.

Freedomland, 2006.

Snakes on a Plane, 2006.

Home of the Brave, 2006.

Black Snake Moan, 2006.

Resurrecting the Champ, 2007.

1408, 2007.

Cleaner, 2007.

Lakeview Terrace, forthcoming.

Jumper, forthcoming.

Iron Man, forthcoming.

The Spirit, forthcoming.

Plays

Mobile Theatre: The Mighty Gents, 1979.

Mother Courage and Her Children, 1980.

Home, 1981.

A Soldier's Play, 1981-83.

Ohio Tip-Off, 1983.

Native Speech, 1984.

The District Line, 1984-85.

Fences, 1985.

The Piano Lesson, 1987.

We: Part I-Sally/Part II-Prince, 1988.

Two Trains Running, 1989.

Burners Frolic, 1990.

Jonquil, 1990.

Distant Fires, 1993.

Television

The Displaced Person, 1977.

The Trial of the Moke, 1978.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1987.

Dead Man Out, 1989.

Also appeared as guest star and as himself in numerous television episodes.

Sources

Books

Dils, Tracey E., Samuel L. Jackson, Chelsea House, 2000.

Hudson, Jeff, Samuel L. Jackson: The Unauthorised Biography, Virgin Publishing, 2004.

Pendergast, Sara, and Tom Pendergast, eds., International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 3: Actors and Actresses, 4th ed., St. James Press, 2000.

Periodicals

Ebony, March 2006.

Entertainment Weekly, March 5, 1993, p. 42; February 18, 1994, pp. 102-3; November 25, 1994; March 5, 2004, p. 48; May 13, 2005, p. 64; September 23, 2005, p. 67.

Essence, April 1992, p. 48; May 1, 2002.

Interview, April 1992, p. 50.

Jet, March 9, 1998, p. 36; August 18, 2003, p. 60; January 17, 2005, p. 54; October 24, 2005, p. 48.

L.A. Village View, February 12, 1993, 11; December 3, 1993.

Los Angeles Times Magazine, June 11, 2000, pp. 12-15, 33-36.

New York Times, June 9, 1991; February 7, 1993; November 2, 1997.

People, January 24, 2005, p. 31; March 28, 2005, p. 30; September 19, 2005, p. 37.

Premiere, May 1992, p. 57; June 2002, pp. 70-71.

Rolling Stone, June 27, 1991, 75-76.

Sight and Sound, vol. 6, no. 12, 1996, pp. 7-8; November 2005, p. 68.

Time, August 14, 2006.

On-line

Samuel L. Jackson,www.samuelljackson.com (August 31, 2007).