"Samuel L. Jackson has appeared in every movie ever made, including all those to be made in the future. If you're working on a funny little home movie with your buddies, Samuel L. Jackson will show up at some point onscreen. If you accidentally leave your camcorder on, he'll end up in front of it. And in homes all over the world, young couples are staring in confusion at their nannycam as Samuel L. Jackson shows up to berate the babysitter."
DESCRIBE WHAT SAMUEL L. JACKSON LOOKS LIKE!
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948 in Washington, D.C.) is one of the top leading men and supporting actors in Hollywood today. If you see a badass Scary Black Man with No Indoor Voice in one of your favorite films, chances are good that this guy's playing him (and will likely give you a few lines to remember for ages).
Not to be confused with Laurence Fishburne. According to both actors' IMDB entries, this happens frequently, in both directions. Jackson himself
acknowledges that he and Fishburne were even mistaken while standing next to each other, but that also "I've been every famous black guy", including Morgan Freeman.
And, for God's sake, don't try to portmanteau his first name and middle initial together, creating "Samuelle Jackson." It never ends well. Though "Mr. Jackson" is entirely appropriate.
For those who still believe that being a nerd and being a badass are two unrelated concepts, he's a big fan of anime, videogames, manga and comic books. He is known to collect action figures that depict characters that he has portrayed, including Jules Winnfield, John Shaft II, Mace Windu and Frozone. Oh, and Nick Fury too.
As one might guess, he is a living Fountain of Memes.
Unsurprisingly, he is an element on the Periodic Table of Awesoments
◊ - abbreviation Mf (element 37).
Jackson is also one of those lucky Hollywood few who is Happily Married: he has been married to LaTanya Richardson, whom he met at Morehouse College, since 1980.
Never let him read a mature parody of a children's book. Or sing a Taylor Swift song. Or do slam poetry of Boy Meets World.
He also did an anti-gun violence PSA, which can be found here, and pro-Obama commercial for the 2012 Presidential campaign.
He's also a legendary youth hockey coach.
He also owns a real life goddamn Lightsaber.
NOTABLE ROLES, MOTHERFUCKER, DO YOU LIST THEM!?
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Film
- Coming to America (1989) as Hold-Up Man
- Do the Right Thing (1989) as Mister Señor Love Daddy
- Mo' Better Blues (1990) as Madlock
- The Exorcist III (1990) as Blind Dream Man
- Goodfellas (1990) as Stacks Edwards
- Jungle Fever (1991) as Gator Purify
- White Sands (1992) as Greg Meeker
- Patriot Games (1992) as Robby Jackson
- Menace II Society (1993) as Tat Lawson
- Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) as Sgt. Wes Luger
- Amos & Andrew (1993) as Andrew Sterling
- Jurassic Park (1993) as Ray Arnold
- True Romance (1993) as Big Don
- Fresh (1994) as Sam
- Pulp Fiction (1994) as Jules Winnfield
- Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) as Zeus Carver
- The Great White Hype (1996) as Rev. Fred Sultan
- A Time to Kill (1996) as Carl Lee Hailey
- The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) as Mitch Henessey note
- Hard Eight (1996) as Jimmy
- Trees Lounge (1996) as Wendell
- 187 (1997) as Trevor Garfield
- Jackie Brown (1997) as Ordell Robbie
- Sphere (1998) as Harry Adams
- The Negotiator (1998) as Lt. Danny Roman
- The Red Violin (1998) as Charles Morritz
- Out of Sight (1998) as Hejira Henry
- Star Wars franchise as Mace Windu
- The Phantom Menace (1999)
- Attack of the Clones (2002)
- Revenge of the Sith (2005)
- The Rise of Skywalker (2019) note
- Deep Blue Sea (1999) as Russell Franklin
- Rules of Engagement (2000) as Col. Terry L. Childers
- Shaft (2000) as John Shaft II
- Shaft (2019)
- Unbreakable (2000) as Elijah Price/Mr. Glass
- Glass (2019)
- The 51st State (2002) as Elmo McElroy
- Changing Lanes (2002) as Doyle Gipson
- xXx (2002) as Agent Augustus Gibbons
- xXx: State of the Union (2005)
- xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017)
- No Good Deed (2002) as Jack Friar
- Basic (2003) as Sgt. Nathan West
- S.W.A.T. (2003) as Sgt. Hondo Harrelson
- Kill Bill (2004) as Rufus
- The Incredibles (2004) as Lucius Best/Frozone
- Incredibles 2 (2019)
- In My Country (2004) as Langston Whitfield
- Coach Carter (2005) as Ken Carter
- The Man (2005) as Derrick Vann
- Snakes on a Plane (2006) as Agent Neville Flynn
- Black Snake Moan (2006) as Lazarus Woods
- Farce of the Penguins (2007) as Narrator
- 1408 (2007) as Gerald Olin
- Marvel Cinematic Universe as Col. Nicholas J. "Nick" Fury
- Iron Man (2008)
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- Thor (2011)
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
- The Avengers (2012)
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013, 2014)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Captain Marvel (2019)
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)note
- What If...? (2021)
- Secret Invasion (2023)note
- The Marvels (2023)
- Lakeview Terrace (2008) as Abel Turner
- The Spirit (2008) as The Octopus
- Astro Boy (2009) as Zog
- Mother and Child (2009) as Paul
- Inglourious Basterds (2009) as The Narrator (uncredited)
- Unthinkable (2010) as Henry Harold Humphries
- The Other Guys (2010) as Detective PK Highsmith
- Django Unchained (2012) as Stephen
- Turbo (2013) as Whiplash
- Oldboy (2013) as Chaney
- RoboCop (2014) as Pat Novak
- Big Game (2014) as President William Alan Moore
- Kite (2014) as Karl Aker
- Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) as Richmond Valentine
- Barely Lethal (2015) as Hardman
- The Hateful Eight (2015) as Major Marquis Warren
- Cell (2016) as Tom McCourt
- The Legend of Tarzan (2016) as George Washington Williams
- I Am Not Your Negro (2016) as Narrator
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) as Mr. Barron
- Kong: Skull Island (2017) as Lt. Col. Preston Packard
- The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017) as Darius Kincaid
- Unicorn Store (2017) as The Salesman
- The Banker (2020) as Joe Morris
- Spiral (2021) as Marcus Banks
- Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022) as Jimbo
- Argylle (2024) as Alfred "Alfie" Solomon
- The Garfield Movie (2024) as Vic
Television
- Law & Order (1991) as Defense Attorney Louis Taggert
- Roc (1991) as Larry
- Against the Wall (1994) as Jamaal
- The Proud Family (2001) as Joseph (episode: "Seven Days of Kwanzaa")
- Afro Samurai (2007) as Afro Samurai and Ninja Ninja (5 episodes)
- The Boondocks (2010) as Gin Rummy (3 episodes)
Video Games
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) as Frank Tenpenny
- Iron Man 2 (2010) as Nick Fury
- Heroes of Newerth (2010) as Announcer
- Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2014) as Nick Fury
Theater
- A Soldier's Play (1982) as Private Henson (Jackson was part of the original cast)
- The Mountaintop (2011-12) as Martin Luther King Jr.
Audio Books
- Inspired by... the Bible Experience (2007) as God (New Testament)
- Go the Fuck to Sleep (2011) as Narrator
That's right, list tropes, motherfuckers!
- Ability over Appearance: He was cast in the MCU as Nick Fury despite Fury being depicted in the comics as Caucasian (though he was depicted as... Samuel L. Jackson in the Ultimate Marvel series). But Jackson's take on the character was received so well that the main comic version of Fury was changed to African-American. note
- Actor Allusion: You don't portray many iconic characters and become a Fountain of Memes without your later career being full of winks and nods to the fact that you're Samuel L. Jackson.
- Attending Your Own Funeral: He has portrayed at least two roles in which he is presumed dead in a No-One Could Have Survived That situation, only to turn up at his funeral, more-or-less in one piece. These are meta nods to the fact that the man makes his living playing badass characters.
- Bald of Authority: He portrays the bald leader of SHIELD, Nick Fury, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, the version of Nick Fury he plays was originally based on his likeness in the comics.
- Character Catchphrase: His characters say the word "motherfucker" in nearly every role he plays. Jackson has said enough that the Huffington Post made a four-minute long video compilation of every "motherfucker" he's ever said. Only in Big Game does Jackson use the word in a PG-13-rated movie.
- Chronically Killed Actor: Along with the six deaths before Pulp Fiction, there are many others, given that bad guys or Dead Star Walking define a good chunk of his roles. See here.
- Cluster F-Bomb: The patron saint of this MOTHERFUCKING trope. In a real-life
Moment of Awesome, he revealed that he used to stutter, and saying "motherfucker" has helped him get over it. - Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: The comic book The Ultimates, a reimagination of The Avengers, designed Nick Fury after Jackson's likeness. Jackson noticed this and almost sued Marvel for blatantly using his likeness without permission. Fortunately, Jackson and Marvel were able to work things out amicably, leading to him playing a role in the MCU and elsewhere.
- Cool Old Guy: Although Jackson is in his early 70s, he continues to play roles that show off a considerable amount of badass.
- Deadpan Snarker: Nick Fury should be a clear indicator of how well he can pull it off, and the former S.H.I.E.L.D. director is far from the only example.
- Large Ham: Given most of his roles are mean and passionate, Jackson frequently goes over the top and shouty. Even in real life he's this way, as shown by his Twitter during◊ sports events.
- N-Word Privileges: He's defended the use of N-word in dialogue if it's appropriate to the settingnote and says that he'll add it on his own accord if he feels that a scene needs it. And there's that time when he took the mick out of a white reporter who couldn't dare himself to say the word while interviewing him about Django Unchained:"No? Nobody? None? The word would be...? [...] It wasn't a great question if you can't say the word!"
- Notably, in Coach Carter, there is a scene where Ken Carter criticizes his players for using the word.
- Old Shame: When asked about the movie Together for Days, his first credited acting appearance, he usually replied that he's glad that most people haven't seen it.
- Production Posse: He has participated in six Quentin Tarantino movies to this day, more than any actor who worked with the director, as well as working often for his Sitcom Arch-Nemesis, Spike Lee.
- Promoted Fanboy:
- He is a big fan of Star Wars and was thrilled he got to play a role in the prequel trilogy. He got a fairly important role, but said he would play any character, even a random mook, as long as he got to be in the movie. It was also his own request to have a purple lightsaber, so he'd be easy to spot in wide shots; George Lucas actually rewrote a small part of Star Wars canon so purple lightsabers could be canonical.
- He's a big fan of comic books. He was quite surprised to find his face in a comic book for Ultimate Nick Fury, and when he contacted Marvel about it, they offered him the right to play him if ever a movie was made. Come Iron Man and since then he's been playing Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He has become quite happy with this arrangement.
- Scary Black Man: The quintessential actor for this trope.
- Significant Monogram: The lightsaber used by Mr. Jackson in Star Wars has "BMF" engraved on the handle. It stands for "Bad Motherfucker", a line spoken by the actor in previous roles.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: It goes without saying. Some movies will downplay or allude to it with a Curse Cut Short, but considering the man's catchphrase is the word "motherfucker", expect him to curse in any role he plays.
- Those Two Actors: He's already done three films (Kong: Skull Island, Captain Marvel, and Unicorn Store) with Brie Larson just between 2017-2019, a number which will likely only grow now that she's in the MCU.
- May also count with Ryan Reynolds as the two were the stars of The Hitman's Bodyguard and its sequel, with the possibility of more if a third movie is greenlit, and with Film/Deadpool now part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
