With a daring eye patch as Marvel character Nick Fury, Samuel L. Jackson strikes non-stop on the screen. Since November he has been fighting alongside Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) in the superhero film “The Marvels”. Last June, the spy series “Secret Invasion” from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) started on the Disney streaming service. In it, Jackson took center stage for the first time as Nick Fury.
“I hope I do a good job so that they keep me around for a while,” joked Jackson in an interview with the German Press Agency before the start of the series. “I’ll never get tired of playing Nick Fury, that’s for sure,” the actor said. “I’m almost disappointed that I haven’t been in every film they’ve made in the last 15 years.”
It was a long road to superhero films
Jackson, who celebrates his 75th birthday on December 21st, may have reassured his fans. Not a word about retirement, Hollywood’s box office magnet is instead holding on to his lucrative place in the Marvel universe. As the fierce Nick Fury, who once served as Iron Man and Captain America for the powerful organization S.H.I.E.L.D. Jackson has been working tirelessly since “Iron Man” (2008), through “Thor”, “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “Spider-Man: Far From Home” to “The Marvels”.
It was a long road to success with superhero films. Samuel Leroy Jackson grew up in the US state of Tennessee under the care of his grandparents and his single mother. As a student he joined the civil rights movement. In New York he joined the black theater group “Negro Ensemble Company”, which also included Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington. He also earned his living as a bouncer.
In the thriller “Sea of Love – Melody of Death” (1989) with Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin, Jackson was listed unnamed as “Black Guy” in the credits in one of his first film appearances. But things soon started to look up.
Oscar nomination for the killer in “Pulp Fiction”
He was named best supporting actor at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival for his role as a junkie in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever.” Jackson celebrated his big breakthrough three years later as the philosophizing hitman in “Pulp Fiction.” He was already 45 years old then. The strange role in Quentin Tarantino’s ironic, macabre blood orgy earned the actor his first and so far only Oscar nomination.
Tarantino brought him back in front of the camera for “Jackie Brown,” which won Jackson a Silver Bear at the 1998 Berlinale. Jackson was also involved in “Kill Bill 2”, “Django Unchained” and “The Hateful 8”.
With box office hits like “Die Hard: Now More Than Ever”, “xXx-Triple X”, “Shaft” and three “Star Wars” episodes in which he played Jedi Master Mace Windu, Jackson rose to the top ranks of Hollywood on.
He really likes the part of Nick Fury
Jackson’s long career with over 100 films was recognized with an honorary Oscar in 2022. For him it was just a small consolation. He often commented that he also deserved the trophy in the competition. In the legal thriller “The Jury” (1996), based on a novel by John Grisham, he gave an Oscar-worthy performance, but many important scenes were simply cut out in the end, Jackson lamented in an interview with the website “Vulture” in July. Under the direction of Joel Schumacher, he played a worker in the southern states who avenges the brutal rape of his young daughter through vigilantism.
But instead of chasing an Oscar, he would now rather make films that he enjoys, Jackson told the Los Angeles Times in 2022. “I’d rather be Nick Fury. Or have fun as Mace Windu with a lightsaber in his hand”.
Jackson also occasionally appears on the theater stage. He was nominated for one of the coveted Tony Awards this year for his role in the piece “The Piano Lesson”. The film was directed by his wife LaTanya Richardson, to whom he has been married since 1980. They have an adult daughter.
His wife saved him from his addiction at an early age, Jackson told the US magazine “People” in 2022. Instead of leaving him, she insisted that he go through rehab and call clinics to find a place for him. For a long time, Jackson said, he lived mainly in the basement of their house in New York – “I was addicted and crazy.” The love of his family helped him “become the man I was meant to be.”
At the age of 75, things are moving on in quick succession for the Hollywood veteran. The star-studded spy comedy “Argylle” is scheduled to hit US cinemas in February, which he shot with Bryan Cranston and the British singer Dua Lipa, among others. The German cinema release of “The Kill Room” is planned for March. The comedy thriller reunites Jackson as a hitman with “Pulp Fiction” star Uma Thurman. And the western “Unholy Trinity” is already in the can. Jackson shot it in November with Pierce Brosnan and German actress Veronica Ferres.
