Saturday, November 10, 2007

Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning actor. Jackson came to fame in the early 1990s, after a series of well-reviewed performances, and has since become a major film star and cultural icon, having appeared in a large number of high-grossing films.
Jackson is married to Latanya Richardson and has a daughter. He is a huge sports fan and an avid golfer. Jackson has won multiple awards for his film performances and has been portrayed in various forms of media including films, television series, and songs. Jackson has starred in over sixty films throughout his career and is currently working on six films that will debut between 2008 and 2009. Jackson's most recent role was in Resurrecting the Champ and his next upcoming film will be Jumper, to be released on February 15, 2008.
Jackson has noted that he chooses roles that are "exciting to watch" and have an "interesting character inside of a story", and that in his roles he wants to "do things [he hasn't] done, things [he] saw as a kid and wanted to do and now [has] an opportunity to do".

Biography

Early life
Jackson was born in Washington, D.C. He grew up as an only child in Chattanooga, Tennessee with his mother, Elizabeth Jackson (a factory worker and later a supplies buyer for a mental institution), and his maternal grandparents and extended family. His father lived away from the family in Kansas City, Missouri and later died from alcoholism. Jackson attended Riverside High (Now Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences), a segregated school where, between the third and twelfth grades, he played the French horn and trumpet in the school orchestra. He later attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, where he co-founded the "Just Us Theater". He graduated in 1972.

Civil Rights Movement involvement
After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson attended the funeral in Atlanta as one of the ushers. Jackson then flew to Memphis to join an equal rights protest march. In a recent 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." 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 ways, but Jackson was suspended for two years for his actions (although he would later return to the college to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Drama in 1972).Jackson decided to remain in Atlanta, where he met with Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown and others active in the Black Power movement. Jackson revealed in the same Parade interview that he began to feel empowered with his involvement in the movement, especially when the group began buying guns. However, before Jackson could become involved with any significant armed struggle, his mother sent him to Los Angeles after the F.B.I. told her that he would die within a year if he remained with the Black Power movement
Other work
Ultimate Nick Fury, based on Samuel L. Jackson's appearanceJackson gave his consent for Marvel Comics to design their "Ultimate" version of the character Nick Fury after his likeness.Jackson will cameo as the character in the 2008 Iron Man film. Jackson has also had a song named after him, entitled Sammy L. Jackson by Hot Action Cop. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the 2003 film S.W.A.T, in which Jackson appeared.

Jackson has been parodied multiple times in various television shows and films. He was parodied twice on Chappelle's Show where he was played by comedian Dave Chappelle in sketches involving Mace Windu and a fake commercial peddling "Samuel Jackson" beer (a parody of Samuel Adams). He has also been spoofed in the film Team America: World Police, where he was portrayed as a villainous member of the Film Actors Guild, and the 2007 film Epic Movie, poking fun at his role in Snakes on a Plane. Jackson was mentioned on the animated television show Family Guy in the episode Brian Does Hollywood, when Chris declared that "Samuel L. Jackson is in everything" (pointing to Jackson's extensive filmography) at which point Brian is shown directing Jackson in a pornographic movie.
Jackson also guest-starred as himself in an episode of the BBC/HBO sitcom Extras, voiced the main antagonist, Officer Frank Tenpenny, of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the lead role in a current anime series, Afro Samurai, and has a recurring part as the voice of "Gin Rummy" in several episodes of the animated series The Boondocks. In one episode, he paid tribute to his Pulp Fiction character, Jules Winnfield, by reenacting the "What?" scene from the film.
Jackson also provided the voice of God for a New Testament audio book version of the Bible entitled The Bible Experience, which was released in November 2006. He was given the lead role because producers felt his deep, authoritative voice was perfect for the role.
Jackson is also a sought after host. Thus far, he has hosted the MTV Movie Awards (1998), the ESPYs (1999, 2001, 2002), and the Spike TV Video Game Awards (2005, 2006).

Personal life
Samuel L. Jackson and his wife Latanya Richardson during a tour of Naval Station Pearl Harbor
Samuel L. Jackson at the 2006 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-AmJackson married actress Latanya Richardson in 1980, whom he met while attending Morehouse College. The couple, who live in Los Angeles, California, have a daughter, Zoe, born in 1982, who is in culinary school.

Jackson is a keen basketball fan, and especially enjoys the Harlem Globetrotters and the Toronto Raptors. He also became a keen Liverpool F.C. fan after filming the movie The 51st State in Liverpool, England. Jackson enjoys playing golf, a game he has been reported to have become very proficient at. He has stated that if he had to choose any other career, he would be "on the PGA [tour] playing golf" and that it is the only place where he "can go dressed as a pimp and fit in perfectly". Jackson has also stated in an interview that he has a clause in his film contracts that allows him to play golf twice a week.
Jackson has revealed in an interview that he sees every one of his movies in theaters with paying customers claiming that "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." He also enjoys collecting the action figures of the characters he portrays in his films including Jules Winnfield, Shaft, Mace Windu, and Frozone.
Jackson is bald in real life, but enjoys wearing unusual wigs in his films. For the film Black Snake Moan, he was allowed to choose the hairstyle he wanted for his character. He is a comic book and anime fan and can be seen reading a copy of the comic book 100 Bullets in the music video for Snakes on a Plane (Bring It) by Cobra Starship.
In a recent trip to speak with Head Start students in Shreveport, Louisiana, the city honored Jackson by making March 9 "Samuel L. Jackson Day" in commemoration for the city's appreciation for Jackson.



Thanks to Wikipedia for this information

I would very thankful for your comment!!
What you think about Samuel Jackson?? (be honest)
He is Cool, "more or less" or "dull", if he is good or bad actor?
Comment please.






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