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Trivia
Birth name : Samuel Leroy Jackson
Date of birth: 21 December 1948
Place of birth: Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Nickname: Sam, King of Cool
Height: 6' 3" (1.91 m)
Spouse: LaTanya Richardson (1980 - present) 1 daughter
Daughter - Zoe (b. 1982)
Grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Jackson gave his consent for Marvel Comics to design their "Ultimate" version of the character Nick Fury after his likeness.
Jackson became an avid Liverpool F.C. fan after filming the movie The 51st State in Liverpool, England.
Jackson has been parodied twice on Chappelle's Show, played by Dave Chappelle.
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 artisits, including Giancarlo
Esposito, who co-starred with Jackson in Amos & Andrew (1993).
Ranked #44 in Empire (UK) magazine's
"The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Was an admitted drug user until he completed
drug rehab two weeks before playing a drug addict in Jungle Fever
(1991).
Accomplished at playing brass instruments (french
horn, trumpet) in school symphony orchestras from grade 3 to grade 12
Graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta,
Georgia in 1972.
Was offered his role in Star Wars: Episode I
- The Phantom Menace (1999) after mentioning in an interview on UK TV
show "TFI Friday" (1996) that he'd really like to work with
George Lucas.
Daughter Zoe attends Vassar College.
[January 2002]
Briefly suspended in 1969 from Morehouse
College after taking hostage several members of the board of trustees,
including the father of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, during a
protest of the failure of the university to have black trustees or a
black studies program.
Worked as a camera stand-in for Bill Cosby
during the filming of "The Cosby Show" (1984).
His character from Pulp Fiction (1994),
Jules Winnfield, ranked second in the 'coolest movie characters of all
time', in a poll by the UK's Empire Magazine (the winner was Tyler
Durden of Fight Club (1999)).
In 2003, he dissed 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 any other actor in Hollywood, seven
times as of this writing: Juice (1992) (Tupac Shakur), Shaft (2000) (Busta
Rhymes), One Eight Seven (1997) (Method Man), Deep Blue Sea (1999) and
S.W.A.T. (2003) (LL Cool J), xXx (2002) (Eve), and xXx: State of the
Union (2005) (Ice
Cube).
His characters often feature the color
purple: Mr. Glass wore purple clothing in Unbreakable (2000); Jackson
chose to have Doyle Gipson wear a purple hat in Changing Lanes (2002);
and Mace Windu, upon request by Jackson to George Lucas, wielded a
purple light saber in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
(2002)and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).
The commencement speaker at his daughter's
graduation from Vassar College (May 2004).
Avid golfer
As of January 2005, his films have earned
over $3.8 billion worldwide at the box office. This makes him the
highest-grossing actor in movie history, surpassing the total combined
grosses of Harrison
Ford.
Was the first choice for "Fallon"
in Judgment Night (1993).
He 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.
One of the late bloomers of Hollywood, he
was already 46 years old when Pulp Fiction (1994) premiered and has
acted in an average of 3-4 films a year since.
Says that people who recognize him often
mistake him for Laurence Fishburne and vice versa.
Hosted the MTV Movie Awards in 1998
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