Existing comment:
Samuel L. Jackson, 2008
One of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, Samuel L. Jackson (born 1948) began his career as a civil rights activist at Atlanta's Morehouse College in the mid-1960s. Jackson credits this work -- he was an usher at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral -- with molding his character and convincing him of his strength of personality. He studied drama as an undergraduate, and his first work was on the stage.
But early on, Jackson's career was threatened by his drug addiction. Spike Lee cast him in several films while he struggled with his demons, and Jackson eventually kicked his cocaine habit, ironically just as he prepared to play a crack dealer in Lee's Jungle Fever (1991). Jackson has gone on to appear in more than one hundred films, ranging from such art-house favorites as Pulp Fiction (1994) to the outlandish yet entertaining Snakes on a Plane (2006). He has a recurring role in the Iron Man movies. |