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50 things you missed about Samuel L. Jackson.
1. Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American actor and film producer.
2. Samuel L. Jackson achieved prominence and critical acclaim in the early 1990s with films such as Jungle Fever (1991), Patriot Games (1992), Amos & Andrew (1993), True Romance (1993), Jurassic Park (1993) and his collaborations with director Quentin Tarantino in the films Pulp Fiction (1994) and Jackie Brown (1997).
3. Samuel L. Jackson is a highly prolific actor, appearing in over 100 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000), The 51st State (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.
4. With Jackson's permission, his likeness was used for the Ultimate version of the Marvel Comics character Nick Fury.
5. He later cameoed 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), Marvel's 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).
6. Samuel L. Jackson has also portrayed the character in the second and final episode of the first season of the TV show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
7. Samuel L. Jackson has achieved critical and commercial acclaim, surpassing Frank Welker as the actor with the highest grossing film total of all time in October 2011, and he has received numerous accolades and awards.
8. Samuel L. Jackson is married to LaTanya Richardson, with whom he has a daughter, Zoe.
9. Samuel L. Jackson is ranked as the highest all-time box office star with over $4.572 billion total box office gross, an average of $70.3 million per film.
10. Samuel L. Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Elizabeth (née Montgomery) and Roy Henry Jackson.
11. Samuel L. Jackson grew up as an only child in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
12. His father lived away from the family in Kansas City, Missouri, and later died from alcoholism.
13. Samuel L. Jackson only met his father twice during his life.
14. Samuel L. Jackson was raised by his mother, who was a factory worker and later a supplies buyer for a mental institution, and by his maternal grandparents and extended family.
15. According to DNA tests, Jackson partially descends from the Benga people of Gabon.
16. Samuel L. Jackson attended several segregated schools and graduated from Riverside High School in Chattanooga.
17. Between the third and twelfth grades, he played the French horn and trumpet in the school orchestra.
18. Initially intent on pursuing a degree in marine biology, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
19. After joining a local acting group to earn extra points in a class, Jackson found an interest in acting and switched his major.
20. Before graduating in 1972, he co-founded the "Just Us Theatre".
21. After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson attended the funeral in Atlanta as one of the ushers.
22. Samuel L. Jackson then flew to Memphis to join an equal rights protest march. In a Parade interview Jackson revealed: "I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn't shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different - not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence."
23. In 1969, Jackson and several other students held members of the Morehouse College board of trustees (including a nearby Martin Luther King, Sr.) hostage on the campus, demanding reform in the school's curriculum and governance. The college eventually agreed to change its policy, but Jackson was charged with and eventually convicted of unlawful confinement, a second-degree felony. Jackson was then suspended for two years for his criminal record and his actions.
24. He would later return to the college to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Drama in 1972.
25. While he was suspended, Jackson was employed as a social worker in Los Angeles.
26. Samuel L. Jackson initially majored in marine biology at Morehouse College before switching to architecture.
27. He later settled on drama after taking a public speaking class and appearing in a version of The Threepenny Opera.
28. Samuel L. Jackson began acting in multiple plays, including Home and A Soldier's Play. He appeared in several television films, and made his feature film debut in the blaxploitation independent film Together for Days (1972).
29. After these initial roles, Jackson proceeded to move from Atlanta to New York City in 1976 and spent the next decade appearing in stage plays such as The Piano Lesson and Two Trains Running, which both premiered at the Yale Repertory Theater.
30. Throughout his early film career, mainly in minimal roles in films such as Coming to America and various television films, Jackson was mentored by Morgan Freeman.
31. After a 1981 performance in the play A Soldier's Play, Jackson was introduced to director Spike Lee who would later include him in small roles for the films School Daze (1988) and Do the Right Thing (1989).
32. He also played a minor role in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas as real-life Mafia associate Stacks Edwards and also worked as a stand-in on The Cosby Show for Bill Cosby for three years.
33. On June 13, 2000, Jackson was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Blvd.
34. He began the next decade in his film career as a Marine colonel put on trial in Rules of Engagement, co-starred with Bruce Willis for a third time in the supernatural thriller Unbreakable, and starred in the 2000 remake of the 1971 film Shaft.
35. In addition to films, Jackson also appeared in several television shows, a video game, music videos, as well as audiobooks.
36. Samuel L. Jackson voiced several television show characters, including the lead role in the anime series, Afro Samurai, in addition to a recurring part as the voice of Gin Rummy in several episodes of the animated series The Boondock.
37. Samuel L. Jackson guest-starred as himself in an episode of the BBC/HBO sitcom Extras.
38. Samuel L. Jackson voiced the main antagonist, Officer Frank Tenpenny, in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
39. Samuel L. Jackson also hosted a variety of awards shows. He has hosted the MTV Movie Awards (1998), the ESPYs (1999, 2001, 2002, and 2009), and the Spike TV Video Game Awards (2005, 2006, 2007, and 2012).
40. In November 2006, he provided the voice of God for The Bible Experience, the New Testament audiobook version of the Bible. He was given the lead role because producers believed his deep, authoritative voice would best fit the role.
41. For the Atlanta Falcons' 2010 season, Jackson portrayed Rev. Sultan in the Falcons "Rise Up" commercial.
42. In 1980, Jackson married actress and sports channel producer LaTanya Richardson, whom he met while attending Morehouse College.
43. The couple have a daughter, Zoe (born 1982).
44. In 2009, they started their own charitable organization to help support education.
45. Jackson has said he attends each of his films in theaters with paying customers, saying: "Even during my theater years, I wished I could watch the plays I was in - while I was in them! I dig watching myself work."
46. Samuel L. Jackson also enjoys collecting the action figures of the characters he portrays in his films, including Jules Winnfield, Shaft, Mace Windu, and Frozone.
47. Samuel L. Jackson is bald, but enjoys wearing wigs in his films. He said about his decision to go bald: "I keep ending up on those bald is beautiful lists. It's cool. You know, when I started losing my hair it was during the era when everybody had lots of hair. All of a sudden I felt this big hole in the middle of my afro, I couldn't face having a comb over so I had to quickly figure what the haircut for me was."
48. His first bald role was in The Great White Hype.
49. Samuel L. Jackson has a clause in his film contracts that allows him to play golf during film shoots.
50. He has played in the Gary Player Invitational charity golf tournament to assist Gary Player in raising funds for children in South Africa
