| Samuel L. Jackson  AKA Samuel Leroy Jackson
Born: 21-Dec-1948
Birthplace: Washington, DC
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: Black
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor
Party Affiliation: Democratic Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Pulp Fiction Jackson grew up in a deeply segregated time and place, Chattanooga in the 1950s, where he was raised by aunts, uncles and grandparents. His mother did not live with him until Jackson was in fourth grade. His father, a drunk, never did. He played the French horn and trumpet in high school, then attended all-black Morehouse College, majoring in drama and creating some of his own. In 1969, Jackson was among a small group of radical students who took several members of the school Board of Trustees hostage, demanding curriculum changes and other school management reforms. For his crime, Jackson was suspended but not prosecuted.
He was a student at Morehouse again in 1972, when he made his film debut with a supporting role in Together for Days, a low-budget drama about interracial dating. After graduation, Jackson made local TV commercials, and eventually joined New York's Negro Ensemble Company in 1976. During his years as a struggling actor, he worked as a doorman, had a tiny role in Ragtime (James Cagney's last film), worked as Bill Cosby's stand-in on The Cosby Show, and appeared in two episodes of Spenser: For Hire with Robert Urich.
Jackson also drank heavily and did more than his share of cocaine. He completed drug rehab in 1991, later playing a drug addict in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, his first post-rehab role and his breakthrough performance. Genuine stardom came with Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, opposite John Travolta as a pair of hit men.
If you do the math just right, Samuel L. Jackson is the biggest movie star in history. He has often been second- or third-billed, or even farther down the credits, but if you just tally the money his films have earned, it adds up to over $3,000,000,000 -- more than any other actor in history. Harrison Ford is in second place, Tom Hanks is third.
In Eddie Murphy's stand-up movie Raw, Jackson played Murphy's uncle in one sketch. In assorted minimal "bad guy" roles, Jackson was in Murphy's huge hit Coming to America, Al Pacino's Sea of Love, and he was killed by Joe Pesci in Goodfellas. As Jackson's star was rising, he was Ford's sidekick in Patriot Games, and a technowiz in Steven Spielberg's mega-blockbuster Jurassic Park. His post-stardom blockbusters include three Star Wars films, Die Hard: With A Vengeance with Bruce Willis, A Time to Kill with Sandra Bullock, xXx with Vin Diesel, S.W.A.T. with Colin Farrell, and The Incredibles, where Jackson voiced the frozen sidekick Frozone ("Where is my super-suit, woman?"). Most recently he tangled with Snakes on A Plane, and he has said he wants to play comic book superhero Nick Fury. Father: (d., alcoholism)
Mother: Elizabeth Jackson (office worker)
Wife: LaTanya Richardson (actress, b. 1941, m. 1980, one daughter)
Daughter: Zoe Jackson (b. 1982)
University: BA Drama, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA (1972)
Obama for America
Hollywood Walk of Fame 7018 Hollywood Blvd (motion pictures)
unknown detox facility upstate New York 1988
Wedding: Al Reynolds and Star Jones (2004)
Risk Factors: Cocaine, Alcoholism, Stuttering
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Jumper (6-Feb-2008)
1408 (22-Jun-2007)
Farce of the Penguins (30-Jan-2007) Narrator [VOICE]
Resurrecting the Champ (20-Jan-2007)
Home of the Brave (15-Dec-2006)
Black Snake Moan (9-Dec-2006)
Snakes on a Plane (17-Aug-2006)
Freedomland (17-Feb-2006)
The Man (9-Sep-2005)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (18-May-2005)
xXx: State of the Union (27-Apr-2005)
Coach Carter (14-Jan-2005)
The Incredibles (27-Oct-2004) [VOICE]
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (4-Sep-2004) [VOICE]
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (16-Apr-2004)
Twisted (23-Feb-2004)
Country of My Skull (7-Feb-2004)
S.W.A.T. (8-Aug-2003)
Basic (28-Mar-2003)
XXX (9-Aug-2002)
The House on Turk Street (29-Jun-2002)
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (16-May-2002)
Changing Lanes (7-Apr-2002)
Formula 51 (7-Dec-2001)
The Caveman's Valentine (19-Jan-2001)
Unbreakable (14-Nov-2000)
Shaft (16-Jun-2000)
Rules of Engagement (31-Mar-2000)
Deep Blue Sea (26-Jul-1999)
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (19-May-1999)
Our Friend, Martin (1999) [VOICE]
The Red Violin (10-Sep-1998)
The Negotiator (29-Jul-1998)
Sphere (13-Feb-1998)
Jackie Brown (25-Dec-1997)
Eve's Bayou (7-Sep-1997)
One Eight Seven (30-Jul-1997)
The Long Kiss Goodnight (11-Oct-1996)
A Time To Kill (24-Jul-1996)
Trees Lounge (11-May-1996)
The Great White Hype (3-May-1996)
Hard Eight (20-Jan-1996)
Fluke (02-Jun-1995) [VOICE]
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (19-May-1995)
Kiss of Death (21-Apr-1995)
Losing Isaiah (17-Mar-1995)
The Search for One-eye Jimmy (9-Nov-1994)
Pulp Fiction (14-Oct-1994)
The New Age (13-Sep-1994)
Against the Wall (26-Mar-1994)
Assault at West Point (27-Feb-1994)
Fresh (Jan-1994)
Hail Caesar (1994)
True Romance (10-Sep-1993)
Jurassic Park (11-Jun-1993)
Menace II Society (26-May-1993)
Amos & Andrew (5-Mar-1993)
Loaded Weapon 1 (5-Feb-1993)
Fathers & Sons (6-Nov-1992)
Jumpin' at the Boneyard (18-Sep-1992)
Patriot Games (5-Jun-1992)
White Sands (24-Apr-1992)
Juice (17-Jan-1992)
Strictly Business (8-Nov-1991)
Johnny Suede (Aug-1991)
Jungle Fever (5-Jun-1991)
Goodfellas (19-Sep-1990)
The Exorcist III (17-Aug-1990)
Mo Better Blues (3-Aug-1990)
Betsy's Wedding (22-Jun-1990)
Def by Temptation (23-Mar-1990)
A Shock to the System (23-Mar-1990)
Sea of Love (15-Sep-1989)
Do the Right Thing (14-Jan-1989)
Coming to America (29-Jun-1988)
School Daze (12-Feb-1988)
Eddie Murphy Raw (25-Nov-1987)
Magic Sticks (25-Jun-1987)
Ragtime (20-Nov-1981)
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