Samuel L. Jackson

From the stage to Spike Lee

Samuel Leroy Jackson was born on 21 December 1948 in Washington, D.C. At Morehouse College in Atlanta he switched from marine biology to drama, co-founded the Just Us Theatre and graduated in 1972. He made his professional stage debut in New York in 1980 in Mother Courage and Her Children, then originated Private Louis Henderson in A Soldier's Play.

On screen he made six films with Spike Lee, including School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), as DJ Mister Señor Love Daddy, and Jungle Fever (1991). For the latter he received a supporting performance award at Cannes in 1991. Notable supporting parts followed in Goodfellas, Patriot Games and Jurassic Park.

Pulp Fiction and the breakthrough

Quentin Tarantino wrote hitman Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction (1994) for him. The role won him the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. He went on to Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) with Bruce Willis, The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) with Geena Davis and Jackie Brown (1997), which earned him the Silver Bear for Best Actor in Berlin. He worked with Tarantino again on Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight, and has a cameo in Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004) as Rufus, the organist at the chapel where the Bride rehearses her wedding.

Boxing and the lightsaber

In The Great White Hype (1996), directed by Reginald Hudlin, he plays Rev. Fred Sultan, a scheming boxing promoter critics likened to Don King. To sell tickets, Sultan sets up a heavyweight title fight between his unbeaten champion, James Roper (Damon Wayans), and a white challenger lured out of retirement, Terry Conklin (Peter Berg). It was also his first film with a shaved head.

George Lucas then cast him as Mace Windu, a master on the Jedi Council, in all three Star Wars prequels (1999 to 2005). While shooting Attack of the Clones, he asked for a purple lightsaber so his character would stand out in battle scenes; Lucas agreed, although other Jedi were limited to blue or green. The prequel duels were staged by stunt coordinator Nick Gillard. In Revenge of the Sith (2005), Windu faces Palpatine alone and disarms him before Anakin Skywalker betrays him. Spin-off novels credit him with his own fighting style, Vaapad.

In 2007 he voiced Afro, the samurai of the Japanese animated series Afro Samurai, as well as his sidekick Ninja Ninja.

Kingsman, The Protégé and beyond

In Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) he is Richmond Valentine, a tech billionaire who cannot stand the sight of blood and leaves the fighting to his bodyguard Gazelle (Sofia Boutella). In The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017) and its sequel he is hitman Darius Kincaid. In The Protégé (2021), Martin Campbell's action film, he plays Moody, the assassin who took in and trained Anna (Maggie Q), who later sets out to avenge him. In 2023 he reunited with Uma Thurman in The Kill Room.

Since Iron Man (2008) he has played Nick Fury in eleven Marvel films. By a 2022 count, his films have grossed more than $27 billion worldwide, making him the highest-grossing actor of all time. The Academy gave him an honorary Oscar in 2022.