![]() Jackson continued to take small parts in films such as Juice and True Romance, and he played an FBI agent in the thriller White Sands, exhibiting his impressive range and ability to add a quirky twist to every character. The cathartic nature of his performance enabled Jackson to give up drugs, making it both a personal and professional success. Through playing an on-screen drug-demon, Jackson was forced to confront his own off-screen demon - an increasingly destructive addiction to drugs and alcohol. He also received a New York Film Critics award. ![]() Judges at the Cannes Film Festival created a Best Supporting Actor category in order to give Jackson the prize. The friendship duly paid off for Jackson, as it was his role as the drug-addicted Gator in Lee's Jungle Fever that finally grabbed critics' attention and inspired some well-earned praise. Jackson consented and kept his word, appearing in several of Lee's early films including School Daze, Do the Right Thing, and Mo' Better Blues. In 1981, while working on Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play, Jackson had two life-changing encounters: He met fellow actor Morgan Freeman, who became a great friend and convinced Jackson that he could be a successful actor and a New York University film student named Spike Lee, who expressed his enthusiasm for Jackson's performances and urged him to appear in the films he planned to make. He also got a job substituting for Bill Cosby during The Cosby Show rehearsals. ![]() He began to act in Off-Broadway productions, including Richard Wesley's The Mighty Gents, an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Samm-Art Williams's Home. In 1976, having exhausted their enthusiasm for politically charged theater, Jackson moved with Richardson to Harlem, New York City, to pursue an acting career outside such strictly defined perimeters of race. They toured the country and performed skits characterized by a fiery combination of rage and humor to primarily white audiences. Early Stage CareerĪfter college, Jackson joined the Black Image Theatre Company with his future wife, LaTanya Richardson, whom he met at Morehouse's sister school, Spelman College. After working as a social worker for two years in Los Angeles, Jackson returned to Morehouse to pursue the study of acting and received his degree in 1972. That same year, Jackson watched a performance by the Negro Ensemble Company and gained a new inspiration - acting. In 1969, during his junior year, he protested the absence of Black people on the board of trustees by locking several board members in a building for two days and was promptly expelled from the college. Jackson's early memories remained with him when he entered the historically Black Morehouse College in Atlanta and became increasingly involved in the Black-power movement. Versions of Band of Angels were edited for the Black audience in Chattanooga, omitting a scene in which Sidney Poitier slaps a white woman. An early film enthusiast, Jackson frequently saw films at the local theater and gained exposure to the complicated messages surrounding the Black presence on screen. His mother, Elizabeth, joined them when he was 10. Jackson was born on December 21, 1948, in Washington, D.C., and was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, under his grandmother's strict guidance. In 2011, he was named the highest-grossing actor of all time with more than $7.2 billion in wealth. Jackson became a ubiquitous presence on the big screen, appearing in big-budget films like Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and its sequels, and the numerous installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. ![]() A move to New York City led to a friendship with Spike Lee and some of his first movie gigs before he enjoyed a star-making turn with a commanding performance in Pulp Fiction. Jackson graduated from Morehouse College in 1972 and began his acting career on stage. ![]()
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