Samuel L. Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., to Elizabeth (Montgomery) and Roy Henry Jackson. He was raised by his mother, a factory worker.
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 Une journée en enfer - Die Hard 3 (1995) and Geena Davis in Au revoir à jamais (1996).
Jackson received a Silver Berlin Bear for his part in the movie Jackie Brown (1997) as Ordell Robbi.
