AHS Awards: Akira Kurosawa Film Award Tribute To Samuel L. Jackson's Iconic Career

The third annual AHS Awards honors actor Samuel L. Jackson with the Akira Kurosawa Film Award. One of the most prolific actors, Jackson has solidified himself in cinematic history as the highest-grossing actor of all time, with his collective films grossing over $27 billion.

Jackson’s acting career began at Morehouse College, where he acted in plays like A Soldier’s Play, which would inspire the film A Soldier’s Story (1984). His feature film debut was in the Blaxploitation film Together for Days (1972), a film about the relationship between a Black man and a White woman. The film was re-released after an unspecified period under the name Black Cream.

Determined to make it as an actor, Jackson moved from Atlanta to New York City in 1976, appearing in various stage plays and working as a nighttime security guard to make ends meet. 

In 1981, Jackson again performed in the stage play A Soldier’s Play, where he met iconic Black film creator, Spike Lee. Lee cast Jackson in small roles in School Daze (1988) and Do The Right Thing (1989). Lee cast Jackson as a crack cocaine addict in Jungle Fever (1991), a role that would become Jackson’s breakout performance as an up-and-coming actor.

Jungle Fever follows Flipper, a Black man (Wesley Snipes), who begins an extramarital affair with his White secretary (Annabella Sciorra). As their relationship grows, their family and community react viscerally to the interracial relationship, damaging lives in the process. Jackson’s performance received universal acclaim, garnering him awards for Best Supporting Actor from the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards. His performance so impressed the jury of critics at the Cannes Film Festival that the Best Supporting Actor category was created for the first time in the festival’s history just to honor Jackson.

After starring roles in action buddy-comedy films and a small role in Jurassic Park (1993), Jackson was offered a role written specifically for him by Quentin Tarantino, a filmmaker riding the wave of success off his first feature film, Reservoir Dogs (1992). Jackson was offered the role of Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction (1994), a role that would bring him international recognition, critical acclaim, and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He also became one of the few actors of color to receive a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Role.
Riding the success of Pulp Fiction, Jackson received numerous scripts and offers to play characters similar to Jules, a philosophical, internally tormented criminal. He turned down these offers and starred in films like Kiss of Death (1995), The Great White Hype (1996), and Losing Isaiah (1995).

Jackson then had supporting roles in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) and A Time to Kill (1996); the latter film revitalized critical interest in Jackson. A Time to Kill follows a southern lawyer (Matthew McConaughey) as he defends Carl Lee (Jackson), a Black man who shot and killed the two men who raped and then attempted to kill his ten-year-old daughter. Jackson received critical praise for his performance, with critics drawing particular attention to his “silent suffering” as a tormented father pushed to the brink. For this film, Jackson received an NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Riding this box office success, Jackson began starring in more commercially successful films where he broke his image of “no-nonsense tough guy” with dramatic starring roles in 187 (1997) and Eve’s Bayou (1997), the latter being considered a career highlight for Jackson and widely considered to be the film where he showed his true range as a dramatic actor. Eve’s Bayou follows a young girl in the South who learns her family’s affluent life is not all it seems. As a producer of the film, Jackson won the 1998 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature Film. Jackson’s performance also won him the 1998 Acapulco Black Film Festival award for Best Actor.

Jackson’s last film of 1997 saw him reunite with Tarantino for a film that harkened back to his first feature film, the Blaxploitation homage, Jackie Brown. The film follows Jackie Brown, (Pam Grier) a smuggler for arms dealer Odell Robbie (Jackson). For his performance, Jackon won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Moving into 1998, Jackson’s success and reliability as a box-office draw saw him get paired with more established actors like Sharon Stone and Dustin Hoffman in Sphere and Kevin Spacey in The Negotiator. In 1999, Jackson took the role that would bring him an entirely new generation of fans as Jedi Master Mace Windu in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace, a role he would return to in the Star Wars prequel films. As Mace Windu, Jackson became the second Black actor to play a role in a Star Wars film after Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983).

On June 13, 2000, Jackson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, starting a new decade in his film career, which saw in take on roles in films like Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000), The Caveman’s Valentine (2001), Changing Lanes (2002), and Star Wars Episode II — Attack of the Clones.

In 2004, Jackson voiced the superhero Frozone in The Incredibles, which earned him an Annie Award nomination for Best Voice Acting. He also cameoed as Rufus, an organ player, in Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004). 

In 2005, Jackson received critical praise for his performance in the sports drama Coach Carter. The film follows a basketball coach who tries to teach his team to focus their team on education and not just sports. Jackson was hailed by critics as bringing humanity and depth to an underwritten character.

In 2005, he received the Hawaii International Film Festival Achievement in Acting Award. In 2006, Jackson became the seventh Black actor to be honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

In 2008, he assumed the character of Nick Fury in a cameo appearance at the end of Iron Man. Six years prior, Marvel Comics had altered the appearance of Nick Fury for their “Ultimate Comics” run, which saw his likeness imitated so much, they were legally required to ask his permission. Jackson would reprise this role in Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Infinity (2018), Endgame (2019), and Captain Marvel (2019).

Capping off a legendary career, Jackson was awarded an Academy Honorary Award at the 12th Annual Governors Awards in 2022 for becoming a cultural icon across his 151-film career. The award was presented to him by actor and friend Denzel Washington.

Jackson continues to be one of the most recognizable actors in the film industry, consistently surprising audiences with bold and captivating performances that show off his wide range as an actor. As one of the most widely known Black actors in the film industry, Jackson has also broken through stereotypical roles given to Black actors to become a highly sought after leading man. He has also been outspoken about Hollywood’s obligation to tell more Black stories that showcase Black actors, inspiring countless actors of color to pursue their dreams of stardom.