SAMUEL L. JACKSON (Lucius Best/Frozone) portrays an ultra-cool superhero who likes to put the bad guys on ice. Forced into an early retirement by a rash of frivolous lawsuits, Frozone likes to chill with his pal Bob Parr and anonymously assist the police for old times’ sake.
Respectfully labeled as one of the hardest-working actors in Hollywood, Jackson is an undisputed star with more than eighty film credits to his name. As part of his artistic legacy he stands to be sampled, quoted, and alluded to for decades to come, thanks to his indelible portrayal of philosophizing hitman Jules Winnfield in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.” The role earned Jackson Academy Award®, Golden Globe®, and BAFTA nominations for Best Supporting Actor.
Born in Washington, D.C., Jackson attended Georgia’s Morehouse College, from which he earned a degree in Dramatic Arts in 1972. He made his film debut that same year, starring opposite Clifton Davis in the indie drama “Together for Days.” Moving to New York to ply his trade, Jackson took to the stage in productions of “Home,” “A Soldier’s Play,” “Sally/Prince” and “The District Line.” He originated roles in two of August Wilson’s plays at Yale Repertory Theatre, and appeared in “Mother Courage and Her Children” and “The Mighty Gents” for the New York Shakespeare Festival.
Jackson continued his stage career through the 1970s and ’80s while earning occasional roles in feature films and TV movies, including the teleplays “The Displaced Person” (1976) and “The Trial of the Moke” (1978), and the features “Ragtime” (dir. Milos Forman, 1981) and “Eddie Murphy Raw” (1987). In 1988 he collaborated for the first time with director Spike Lee in “School Daze.” Lee continued to cast Jackson in his next three films, “Do the Right Thing” (1989), “Mo’ Better Blues” (1990), and “Jungle Fever” (1991). The last performance caused a sensation at Cannes when Jackson was awarded the first and only Best Supporting Performance award in the festival’s history for his portrayal of crack addict Gator Purify.
In the early 1990s, Jackson took on high profile roles in such films as “Goodfellas” (dir. Martin Scorsese, 1990), “Patriot Games” (dir. Phillip Noyce, 1992), “Menace II Society” (1993, dirs. Albert Hughes/Allen Hughes) and “Jurassic Park” (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1993). Then Quentin Tarantino cast him opposite John Travolta in the pop-culture phenomenon “Pulp Fiction” (1994), playing Jules, a Baddie looking for a little redemption in the gangster underground of Los Angeles (a role that British magazine Empire polled as the #2 “coolest movie character of all time”).
Since then, Jackson has appeared in two Tarantino productions (the critically-acclaimed “Jackie Brown,” 1997, and “Kill Bill Vol. 2,” 2004); two action thrillers from director John McTiernan (“Die Hard with a Vengeance,” 1995, and “Basic,” 2003); and all three chapters of George Lucas’ new “Star Wars” trilogy (“Episode I: The Phantom Menace,” 1999, “Episode II: Attack of the Clones,” 2002, and the upcoming “Episode III” in 2005).
Among Jackson’s most notable recent film credits are “Hard Eight” (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 1996); “Trees Lounge” (dir. Steve Buscemi, 1996); “Sphere” (dir. Barry Levinson, 1998); “The Negotiator” (dir. F. Gary Gray, 1998); “Shaft” (dir. John Singleton, 2000); “Unbreakable” (dir. M. Night Shyamalan, 2000); “Changing Lanes” (dir. Roger Michell, 2002); and “S.W.A.T.” (dir. Clark Johnson, 2003).
Among his upcoming films, Jackson will appear as a true-life controversial high school basketball coach in “Coach Carter,” an ATF agent dealing with Eugene Levy’s clueless traveling salesman in “The Man,” and Agent Augustus Gibbons in a reprise of his “XXX” role of 2002 in “XXX: State of the Union.” He also has a starring role in the new John Boorman film, “Country of My Skull,” due for release in 2005.
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