Samuel L. Jackson $5 Shake

Samuel Leroy Jackson (Washington D.C., 21 december 1948) is een Amerikaans filmacteur.

Jacksons faam begon aan het begin van de jaren negentig. Toen speelde hij onder meer in GoodFellas en Jungle Fever. Veel mensen kennen hem echter vooral van zijn rol als Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction (1994). Later speelde hij nog onder meer in Jackie Brown, The Negotiator, Unbreakable, Rules of Engagement, Shaft (2000), Changing Lanes, Kill Bill en Django Unchained. Jackson speelde in Episode I, II en III van de Star Wars Saga het karakter Mace Windu, een kaalgeschoren Jedi-Meester met een paars lichtzwaard. De stem voor dit personage sprak hij ook in bij de (animatie)film Star Wars: The Clone Wars in 2008 (die zich afspelen tussen Episode II en III). De serie die erop volgde kreeg een andere stemacteur. In het spel Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was hij ook stemacteur. Hij moest de stem inspreken van Officer Frank Tenpenny. Jackson kreeg een Golden Globe en Oscarnominatie voor beste mannelijke bijrol voor zijn rol in Pulp Fiction. Ook Jackie Brown leverde hem een Golden Globe nominatie op. Ook speelt hij in de nieuwe films van Marvel Studios, Captain America, Thor en Iron Man. In deze films neemt hij de plaats in van Nick Fury (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_L._Jackson). Bekende films van hem voor mij zijn Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Snakes ona Plane, XXX en Pulp Fiction. Steeds ongeveer dezelfde soort rol en gezichtsuitdrukking, over typecasting gesproken...

Trade Mark (10)
Deep authoritative voice
Rebellious characters who are disliked or considered strange by others in the story
Often plays police officers or government officials. Both prone to intimidation or violence
Often plays very wise and intelligent characters with great capacities for violence
Frequently plays tough characters who swear a lot
Frequent use of swearing, particularly using the phrase "motherfucker"
Often sports a moustache or goatee in his films
Shaven head
Kangol hats
Often plays hotheaded characters with a fiery temper
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0000168/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm).

Jackson was active in the black student movement. In the seventies, he joined the Negro Ensemble Company (together with Morgan Freeman). In the eighties, he became well known after three movies made by Spike Lee - Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990) and Jungle Fever (1991). Going from character player to leading man, his performance in Pulp Fiction (1994) gave him an Oscar nomination for his character Jules Winnfield. Samuel usually played bad guys and drug addicts before becoming an action hero, co-starring with Bruce Willis in Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) and Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) (www.imdb.com/name/nm0000168/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm).




Trivia:
- 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.
- Worked as a camera stand-in for Bill Cosby during the filming of The Cosby Show (1984).
- Was an admitted drug user until he completed drug rehab two weeks before playing a drug addict in Jungle Fever (1991).
- I was the crackhead in Jungle Fever. I was two weeks out of rehab. I'd been smoking cocaine for a year and a half, two years, and I understood the nature of the disease. I had done the research. So when I started talking to Spike about it, I said, "You don't see him high that much. You always see him when he needs something. He's on a mission to get some shit. That's what I wanna do." And that was my breakthrough. That got me into Hollywood. It was the perfect marriage of experience and opportunity.... I can't say to myself, 'I haven't had a drink in 15 years, I could have a glass of champagne and be OK'. That might be true, but history says when I opened that bottle of champagne, I sat there and drank it until it was gone. People who've been through what I went through are always going to be tempted. I enjoyed drinking and I enjoyed taking drugs. But I have to remind myself every day that I can't have a drink.....(2013, on maintaining sobriety) What's it been now, 22 years or something? There's all kinds of shit in my house that I've never tasted in my life, like Cristal-stuff I couldn't afford back when I was drinking. All I'd have to do is walk in the closet, open a beer, and no one would know, but I know that I probably wouldn't stop at one beer. So I drink nonalcoholic beer. I'm not looking for the kick.
- Although he had been acting in small roles and in theatre productions, it was not until he was 40 years old that he received his first major role in Do the Right Thing (1989) and he was 45 when he became a star with Pulp Fiction (1994).
- His characters often feature the color purple: Mitch Hennessy wore a purple-violet gem ring in The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), Mr. Glass wore purple clothing in Unbreakable (2000); Jackson chose to have Doyle Gipson wear a purple hat in Changing Lanes (2002); Mace Windu, upon request by Jackson to George Lucas, wielded a purple lightsaber in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005); and Lazarus, his character in Black Snake Moan (2006), plays a purple Gibson guitar.... "I never asked for anything except a purple light saber. George said, "Well, light sabers are either red or green." I said, "Yeah, but I would like a purple one."...
- In 2003, he spoke out against 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 most actors in Hollywood, eleven times as of this writing: Juice (1992) (Tupac Shakur and Queen Latifah), Menace II Society (1993) (MC Eiht), One Eight Seven (1997) (Method Man), Deep Blue Sea (1999) (LL Cool J), Shaft (2000) (Busta Rhymes), S.W.A.T. (2003) (Eve and LL Cool J), xXx: State of the Union (2005) (Ice Cube and Xzibit), Black Snake Moan (2006) (David Banner) and Home of the Brave (2006) (50 Cent).
- Has appeared in four films with Bruce Willis: Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) and Unbreakable (2000). Has appeared with Brad Dourif in four films: Ragtime (1981), The Exorcist III (1990), Jungle Fever (1991) and Amos & Andrew (1993).
He has made four films with Natalie Portman: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) and Thor (2011) (www.imdb.com/name/nm0000168/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm).



Regisseur Quentin Tarantino was aanwezig bij de première van Snakes on a Plane in Austin en werd aldaar gespot met een flesje 'Samuel Jackson Badass Ale', in werkelijkheid een undercover Budweiser-biertje (www.filmtotaal.nl/artikel.php?id=7803).