Samuel L. Jackson is an actor whose work spans theater, film and television. His screen credits include Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, Pulp Fiction and Jurassic Park, alongside appearances in the Star Wars, Avengers and Incredibles series. He has also returned to August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson across several decades, playing different members of its central family. His career includes an Academy Award nomination for a supporting performance and a later honorary Oscar recognizing his body of work.
Jackson is a member of Morehouse College’s class of 1972. His subsequent stage work included originating Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson at Yale Repertory Theatre in 1987, working with Wilson on the play. The drama follows a family divided over whether to sell an inherited piano or preserve it as a record of their history. Decades later, Jackson returned to the same play as Doaker Charles, Boy Willie’s uncle, for a Broadway revival directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson in 2022.
His film work has included crime stories, family dramas, action films and animation. Pulp Fiction, released in 1994, brought an Oscar nomination in the supporting-actor category at the 1995 ceremony. He also appeared in A Time to Kill, Eve’s Bayou, Jackie Brown and Django Unchained. These films sit alongside work in continuing screen franchises, including his portrayal of Nick Fury in Marvel films. In March 2022, he received an honorary Oscar at the Academy’s Governors Awards, following the announcement of his selection the previous year.
The Broadway production of The Piano Lesson brought Jackson a Tony nomination in 2023. He then played Doaker in the film adaptation, released in 2024 and directed by Malcolm Washington. John David Washington played Boy Willie, and Danielle Deadwyler played Berniece. Several performers from the revival moved with the play to film, while the screen version brought in a new director and additional cast members.
In 2024, Jackson also appeared as Frank Moten in Peacock’s Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, alongside Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson and Don Cheadle. The eight-episode series adapts a podcast about a robbery connected with Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta. Away from performance, Jackson teaches an acting course through MasterClass. Its lessons address creating characters, working with directors, auditioning and developing a career.
