Samuel L. Jackson

(2013).

In a 2012 interview with "Nuts" magazine, he cites The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) as a favorite film.

Is a fan of the Atlanta Falcons football club. He appears in their "Rise Up" campaign (2010).

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 (2010), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and minor roles in Thor (2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). 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.

Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006.

The commencement speaker at daughter Zoë Jackson's graduation from Vassar College (May 2004).

In 2003, he spoke out against rappers turned actors, saying that as a classically trained thespian it was not his job to lend credibility to rappers by appearing in movies with them. But in reality, he has worked with more rappers than most actors in Hollywood, eleven times as of this writing: Juice (1992) (Tupac Shakur and Queen Latifah), Menace II Society (1993) (MC Eiht), One Eight Seven (1997) (Method Man), Deep Blue Sea (1999) (LL Cool J), Shaft (2000) (Busta Rhymes), S.W.A.T. (2003) (Eve and LL Cool J), xXx: State of the Union (2005) (Ice Cube and Xzibit), Black Snake Moan (2006) (David Banner) and Home of the Brave (2006) (50 Cent).

Daughter Zoë Jackson attends Vassar College. [January 2002]

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7020 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on June 16, 2000.

Was offered his role in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) after mentioning in an interview on UK television show TFI Friday (1996) that he would really like to work with George Lucas.

Ranked #44 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

His characters often feature the color purple: Mitch Hennessy wore a purple-violet gem ring in The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), Mr. Glass wore purple clothing in Unbreakable (2000); Jackson chose to have Doyle Gipson wear a purple hat in Changing Lanes (2002); Mace Windu, upon request by Jackson to George Lucas, wielded a purple lightsaber in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005); and Lazarus, his character in Black Snake Moan (2006), plays a purple Gibson guitar.

Samuel L. Jackson is an American producer and highly prolific actor, having appeared in over 100 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000), Formula 51 (2001), Black Snake Moan (2006), Snakes on a Plane (2006), and the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999-2005), as well as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Samuel Leroy Jackson was born in Washington, D. C. , to Elizabeth (Montgomery) and Roy Henry Jackson. He was raised by his mother, a factory worker, and his grandparents. At Morehouse College, Jackson was active in the black student movement. In the seventies, he joined the Negro Ensemble Company (together with Morgan Freeman).

Jackson usually played bad guys and drug addicts before becoming an action hero, co-starring with Bruce Willis in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) and Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). With Jackson's permission, his likeness was used for the Ultimate version of the Marvel Comics character, Nick Fury.

Going from supporting player to leading man, his performance in Pulp Fiction (1994) gave him an Oscar nomination for his character Jules Winnfield, and he received a Silver Berlin Bear for his part as Ordell Robbi in Jackie Brown (1997).

One of Jackson's jobs as a struggling actor in New York was as a doorman at the popular Manhattan Plaza subsidized apts, home to hundreds of actors and artists, including Giancarlo Esposito, who co-starred with Jackson in Amos & Andrew (1993).

Was an admitted drug user until he completed drug rehab two weeks before playing a drug addict in Jungle Fever (1991).

He achieved prominence and critical acclaim in the early 1990s with films such as Patriot Games (1992), Amos & Andrew (1993), True Romance (1993), Jurassic Park (1993), and his collaborations with director Quentin Tarantino, including Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), and later Django Unchained (2012).

In the eighties, he became well-known after three movies made by Spike Lee: Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990) and Jungle Fever (1991).

Auditioned for a role in Mississippi Burning (1988), but director Alan Parker told him he did not sound Southern, even though he was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Worked as a camera stand-in for Bill Cosby during the filming of The Cosby Show (1984).

Graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1972.

Briefly suspended in 1969 from Morehouse College after taking hostage several members of the board of trustees, including the father of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during a protest of the failure of the university to have black trustees or a black studies program.