Samuel Leroy Jackson born December 21 1948 is an American actor and producer One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over 27 billion worldwide making him the second highestgrossing actor of all time The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave him an Academy Honorary Award in 2022 as A cultural icon whose dynamic work has resonated across genres and generations and audiences worldwide Jackson started his career on stage making his professional theatre debut in Mother Courage and her Children in 1980 at The Public Theatre From 1981 to 1983 he originated the role of Private Louis Henderson in A Soldiers Play OffBroadway He also originated the role of Boy Willie in August Wilsons The Piano Lesson in 1987 at the Yale Repertory Theatre He returned to the play in the 2022 Broadway revival playing Doaker Charles Jackson early film roles include Coming to America 1988 Goodfellas 1990 Patriot Games 1992 Juice 1992 True Romance 1993 and Jurassic Park 1993 Menace II Society 1993 and Fresh 1994 His collaborations with Spike Lee led to greater prominence with films such as School Daze 1988 Do the Right Thing 1989 Mo Better Blues 1990 Jungle Fever 1991 Oldboy 2013 and ChiRaq 2015 Jacksons breakout role was in Quentin Tarantinos Pulp Fiction 1994 which earned him a BAFTA Award win and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor He further collaborated with Tarantino acting in Jackie Brown 1997 Django Unchained 2012 and The Hateful Eight 2015 Hes known for having appeared in a number of bigbudget films including Die Hard with a Vengeance 1995 A Time to Kill 1996 The Long Kiss Goodnight 1996 The Negotiator 1997 Deep Blue Sea 1999 Unbreakable 2000 Shaft 2000 and its reboot 2019 XXX 2002 SWAT 2003 Coach Carter 2005 Snakes on a Plane 2006 Kingsman The Secret Service 2014 Kong Skull Island 2017 and Glass 2019 He also gained widespread recognition as the Jedi Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel trilogy 19992005 later voicing the role in the animated film Star Wars The Clone Wars 2008 and the video game Lego Star Wars The Clone Wars 2011 With his permission his likeness was used for the Ultimate version of the Marvel Comics character Nick Fury he subsequently played Fury in 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe films beginning with a cameo appearance in Iron Man 2008 as well as gueststarring in the television series Agents of SHIELD He will reprise this role in the upcoming Disney series Secret Invasion which is set to premiere on June 21 2023 Jackson has provided his voice for several animated films documentaries television series and video games including Lucius Best Frozone in the Pixar films The Incredibles 2004 and Incredibles 2 2018