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Samuel L. Jackson Biography

(1948–)

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1993 True Romance
1992 White Sands
1994 The New Age

1998 Sphere
1995 Losing Isaiah
1999 Mefisto in Onyx
1987 Magic Sticks
2002 The Comeback
2002 Changing Lanes
2002 Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones
2004 The Incredibles
2005 Coach Carter
2006 Snakes on a Plane
2006 Black Snake Moan
2008 Jumper
2008 Iron Man
1993 Simple Justice (TV)
1995 Fluke
1997 You're Still Not Fooling Anybody
1991 Strictly Business
1990 The Exorcist III
1992 Fathers & Sons
1995 Mob Justice (TV)
1990 Def by Temptation
1996 The Long Kiss Goodnight
1994 Against the Wall (TV)
1996 Trees Lounge
1987 Uncle Tom's Cabin (TV)
1993 Loaded Weapon 1
2000 Rules of Engagement
1989 Sea of Love
2000 Unbreakable
1976 The Displaced Person (TV)
1993 Amos & Andrew
1992 Juice
1990 A Shock to the System
1993 Jurassic Park
1999 Caveman's Valentine
1994 Pulp Fiction
1996 A Time to Kill
1997 Eve's Bayou
1991 Jumpin' at the Boneyard
1996 The Search for One-eye Jimmy
1988 Coming to America
1990 Betsy's Wedding
1989 Do the Right Thing
1992 Patriot Games
1998 Violon rouge, Le (The Red Violin)
1990 The Return of Superfly
1998 Out of Sight
1999 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
1994 Fresh
1987 Eddie Murphy Raw
1991 Jungle Fever
1990 Mo' Better Blues
1997 Jackie Brown
1989 Dead Man Out (TV)
1995 Kiss of Death
1995 Die Hard: With a Vengeance
1993 Menace II Society

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Welcome to my Samuel L. Jackson Page

Actor. Born on December 21, 1948, in Washington D.C., and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, under his grandmother's strict guidance. His mother, Elizabeth Jackson, joined them when he was 10. An early film enthusiast, Jackson frequently saw films at the local movie theatre and gained exposure to the complicated messages surrounding the black presence on screen. Versions of Band of Angels were edited for the black audience in Chattanooga, omitting a scene in which Sidney Poitier slaps a white woman.

Jackson's early memories remained with him when he entered the historically black Morehouse College in Atlanta and became increasingly involved in the black-power movement. In 1969, his junior year, he protested the absence of blacks on the board of trustees by locking several board members in a building for two days, and was promptly expelled from the college. That same year, Jackson watched a performance by the Negro Ensemble Company and gained a new inspiration - acting. After working as a social worker for two years in Los Angeles, Jackson returned to Morehouse to pursue the study of acting and received his degree in 1972

After college, Jackson joined the Black Image Theatre Company with his future wife, LaTanya Richardson, whom he met at Morehouse's sister school, Spellman College. They toured the country and performed skits characterized by a fiery combination of rage and humor to primarily white audiences. In 1976, having exhausted their enthusiasm for politically-charged theatre, Jackson moved with Richardson to Harlem, New York City, to pursue an acting career outside such strictly defined perimeters of race. He began to act in Off-Broadway productions, including Richard Wesley's The Mighty Gents, an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage, and Samm-Art Williams's Home. He also got a job substituting for Bill Cosby during The Cosby Show rehearsals.

In 1981, while working on Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play, Jackson had two life-changing encounters: He met fellow actor Morgan J. Freeman, who became a great friend and convinced Jackson that he could be a successful actor, and a New York University film student named Spike Lee, who expressed his enthusiasm for Jackson's performances and urged him to appear in the films he planned to make. Jackson consented and kept his word, appearing in several of Lee's early films including School Days, Do the Right Thing, and Mo' Better Blues.

The friendship duly paid off for Jackson, as it was his role as the drug-addicted Gator in Lee's Jungle Fever that finally grabbed critics' attention and inspired some well-earned praise. Judges at the Cannes Film Festival created a Best Supporting Actor category in order to give Jackson the prize. He also received a New York Film Critics award. Through playing an on-screen drug-demon, Jackson was forced to confront his own off-screen demon - an increasingly destructive addiction to drugs and alcohol. The cathartic nature of his performance enabled Jackson to give up drugs, making it both a personal and professional success.