Samuel L. Jackson

Many people know American film actor and producer Samuel L. Jackson (1948) for his role as Jules Winnfield in Quentin Tarantino's classic Pulp Fiction (1994). One of the late bloomers of Hollywood, he was already 46 years old at the time, but has acted in an average of three to four films a year since. He also appeared in Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003-2004), Django Unchained (2012), and The Hateful Eight (2015). Others know him as Jedi Master Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999-2005). The prolific Jackson starred in over 100 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000), The 51st State (2001), the cult classic Snakes on a Plane (2006), as well as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.


Spanish collector card by Accion. Samuel L. Jackson in Die Hard with a Vengeance (John McTiernan, 1995).


British postcard, no. MM 387. Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, John Travolta and Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994).


American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 490-014. Photo: Lucasfilm. Samuel Jackson as Mace Windu in Star Wars - Episode I - The Phantom Menace (George Lucas, 1999).

A fiery combination of rage and humour

Samuel Leroy Jackson was born in 1948 in Washington, D.C., to Elizabeth (Montgomery) and Roy Henry Jackson. He was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, under his grandmother's strict guidance. His mother, Elizabeth, joined them when he was 10.

At the historically Black Morehouse College in Atlanta, Jackson was active in the black student movement. In 1969, during his junior year, he protested the absence of Black people on the board of trustees by locking several board members in a building for two days and was promptly expelled from the college.

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. He had suffered from a stutter while growing up. A speech therapist suggested he audition for a play, and it might help his speech. It did, and he changed his major.

After college, Jackson joined the Black Image Theatre Company with his future wife, LaTanya Richardson, whom he met at Morehouse's sister school, Spelman College. They toured the country and performed skits characterised by a fiery combination of rage and humour 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.


Vintage postcard by Clasicos Cinema, no. 183. Samuel Jackson in Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994). Caption: 'From the creator of Reservoir Dogs. The Preacher: The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides.'


British postcard by Memory Card, no. 78. Samuel Jackson, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, and Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994). Caption: lobby card.


British postcard by Pyramid Posters, Leicester, no. PC9577. Photo: Miramax Film Corp. John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994). Caption: Guns B&W.

Two life-changing encounters

In 1981, Samuel L. Jackson had two life-changing encounters while working on Charles Fuller's 'A Soldier's Play'. He met fellow actor Morgan Freeman, who became a great friend and convinced Jackson that he could be a successful actor. He also met 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. He played his first major film role in Lee's Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989). Jackson became well-known after the three films he made with Spike Lee: also Mo' Better Blues (Spike Lee, 1990) and Jungle Fever (Spike Lee, 1991). Two weeks before playing Gator, a drug addict, in Jungle Fever, he had been an admitted drug user himself until he completed drug rehab. The Jury of the Cannes Film Festival was so impressed with his performance as Gator that they decided to recreate the rare Best Supporting Actor category in that year, honouring him with the award. He also received a New York Film Critics award.

Jackson followed this triumph with roles in Patriot Games (Phillip Noyce, 1992), the flop Amos & Andrew (E. Max Frye, 1993), True Romance (Tony Scott, 1993), and a prominent supporting part in the blockbuster Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993). He had his definitive breakthrough as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994), which became an instant cult classic. Biography.com: "Working from any actor's dream script, Jackson played Jules Winnfield, a sermon-spewing killer with eruptive speeches up to five pages long. He moved and terrified audiences with his impassioned performance, becoming the elusive moral centre of the psychologically twisted film. He received an Academy Award nomination for the role."

Going from supporting player to leading man, his performance in Pulp Fiction gave him an Oscar nomination. Jackson usually played bad guys and drug addicts before becoming an action hero, co-starring with Bruce Willis in Die Hard: With a Vengeance (John McTiernan, 1995) and Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight (Renny Harlin, 1996). In 1997, he received a Silver Berlin Bear for his part as ultimate bad guy Ordell Robbi in Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino, 1997).


French postcard, no. 655. Samuel L. Jackson as Ordell Robbi in Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino, 1997).

Dutch poster postcard by UIP. Image: Paramount. Samuel L. Jackson in Shaft (John Singleton, 2000). Caption: Still the Man. Shaft. Any questions?


Dutch poster postcard by Boomerang Freecards, Amsterdam, no. P15-02. Image: Indies Filmproduction. Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle in The 51st State (Ronny Yu, 2001).

A kind and indestructible hero

Samuel L. Jackson was the star of such big Hollywood productions as the supernatural thriller Unbreakable (M. Night Shyamalan, 2000) with Bruce Willis, Shaft (John Singleton, 2000) - the remake of the classic 1970s blaxploitation hit, and Changing Lanes (Roger Michell, 2002) with Ben Affleck.

In Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (George Lucas, 1999), Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (George Lucas, 2002), and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas, 2005), he played the character Mace Windu, a shaved Jedi Master with a purple lightsaber which he got in Part II). He also provided the voice for this character in the animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), which takes place between Episodes II and III. He reunited with Quentin Tarantino for Kill Bill (2003-2004), Django Unchained (2012), and The Hateful Eight (2015), and was a narrator in Inglourious Basterds (2009).

With Samuel L. Jackson's permission, his likeness was used for the Ultimate version of the Marvel Comics character, Nick Fury. He later did a cameo as the character in a post-credits scene from Iron Man (2008), and went on to sign a nine-film commitment to reprise this role in future films, including major roles in Iron Man 2 (Jon Favreau, 2010), The Avengers (Joss Whedon, 2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, 2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (Joss Whedon, 2015), Spider-Man: Far from Home (Jon Watts, 2019), and Captain Marvel (Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, 2019), and minor roles in Thor (Kenneth Branagh, 2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (Joe Johnston, 2011), and Avengers: Endgame (Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, 2019). He has also portrayed the character in the second and final episodes of the first season of the TV show, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013).

Jackson also took on a different role in 2019 by serving as the first celebrity voice of Amazon's virtual assistant, Alexa, with consumers having the option of receiving "explicit or non-explicit" answers to their questions. He has provided his voice to several animated films, television series, and video games, including the roles of Lucius Best / Frozone in Pixar's film The Incredibles (2004), Mace Windu in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), Afro Samurai in the anime television series Afro Samurai (2007), and Frank Tenpenny in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004).

At the world premiere of The Avengers, he was asked what qualities a hero should have. To this Jackson replied, "I guess some people might say: strong, good looking and indestructible. I would say earnest, kind and ... indestructible." Jackson has been married to actress and film director LaTanya Richardson since 1980. When a reporter asked why his wife stayed with him during his wilder years, he replied, "She always says to me that I have now grown into the man that she always knew I could be." They have a daughter together, Zoë Jackson (1982). In 2011, the Guinness World Records named Samuel L. Jackson as the highest-grossing film actor of all time, taking in more than $7.4 billion at the box office.


Singaporean postcard by ArtCard, no. 337, Collectable postcard series, no. 5 of 9. Photo: Lucasfilm. Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (George Lucas, 2002). Caption: Mace Windu. A senior member of the Jedi Council, Mace Windu is a highly revered Jedi Master. Mace is a diplomat by nature and seeks peaceful solutions to the most volatile issues. However, with thousands of solar systems threatening to break away from the Galactic Republic, Mace believes the time has come for swift action. He leads a battalion of Jedi to the planet of Geonosis to rescue Anakin, Padmé and Obi-Wan and to neutralise Count Dooku's overwhelming forces.


Vintage postcard, no. 745. Photo: Lucasfilm. Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (George Lucas, 2002).


British postcard by Arcard Cards promoting Toshiba's Qosmio AV Notebook PC, no. 683. Image: Disney / Pixar. Frozone (voice: Samuel L. Jackson) in The Incredibles (Brad Bird, 2004). Caption: Frozone. HT: 1.88m. WT: 81.6kg. Powers: Freezing Ability. Lucius Best used to be known as Frozone - the coolest Super of them all. His style, wit, and ability to create ice from moisture in the air (not to mention his special multi-function boots) made him the envy of every gadget-loving little boy. The best friend of Mr. Incredible. Lucius knows the old days are done and doesn't try to relive the past. But he knows Bob still wants to and tries to help him chill out in any way he can.

Sources: Wladimir van Heemst and Pedro Borges (IMDb), Biography, Wikipedia (English and Dutch), and IMDb.