- Last year, The Guinness Book of World Records named <strong>Samuel L. Jackson </strong>the<strong><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/samuel-l-jackson-highest-grossing-actor-guinness-book-world-records-254155 " target="_blank"> highest-grossing actor of all time</a></strong>. The 63-year-old Washington, D.C. native has starred in over 100 films that have a combined box office gross of almost $8 billion. That’s quite a feat for a man who nearly squandered his talent and life away due to a serious <strong><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/magazine/how-samuel-l-jackson-became-his-own-genre.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all" target="_blank">drug and alcohol addiction</a></strong>.<br> <br> Since starting out in the theater in the ’70s as a student at Morehouse College, Jackson has managed to build an estimated net worth of <strong><a href="http://www.therichest.org/celebnetworth/celeb/actors/samuel-l-jackson-net-worth/" target="_blank">$150 million</a></strong> by appearing in some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, like <em>Captain America</em> and <em>Star Wars</em> and low budget critical hits like <em>Eve’s Bayou</em>. The always earnest, off-the-cuff actor has made a fortune playing stern, authoritative characters. His latest role and box office score was as <strong>Nick Fury</strong> in <strong><em><a href="http://www.blackenterprise.com/2012/05/07/the-avengers-decoded-the-makings-of-a-marvelous-movie-franchise/" target="_blank">The Avengers</a></em></strong>, which broke domestic box office records, pulling in $200.3 million opening weekend. With the May 18<sup>th</sup> release of his new neo-noir thriller <em>The Samaritan</em> sure to add more zeros to Jackson’s bank account, <strong>BlackEnterprise.com</strong> decodes the hardest working actor in Hollywood. <em>—Shydel James</em>
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- <strong>ACTION JACKSON</strong><br> After 15 years doing Off Broadway productions and travelling tours, Jackson landed the part of crack addict Gator Purify in Spike Lee’s<em> Jungle Fever</em>. The role earned him a Best Supporting Actor award from the Cannes Film Festival, and opened the floodgates to a record-breaking film career. Having built up his cachet in Hollywood with an Oscar nominated turn in the cult classic <em>Pulp Fiction</em> ($212 million), Jackson began working non-stop, averaging four movies a year since 1994, including fail-proof franchises such as <em>Die Hard</em> ($430 million), <em>Jurassic Park </em>($914 million) and the <em>Star Wars</em> prequel trilogy (<strong>over <a href="http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/series/StarWars.php" target="_blank">$2 billion</a></strong>). His 2000 remake of <em>Shaft</em> netted Jackson a $10 million payday. That same year, he took home $7 million for his work in <strong>M. Night Shyamalan</strong>'s <em>Unbreakable</em>. In 2009, he signed a <strong><a href="http://www.movieweb.com/news/samuel-l-jacksons-nick-fury-signs-for-9-marvel-movies" target="_blank">multi-million dollar deal</a></strong> with Marvel Studios to reprise the role of Nick Fury in nine movies. With <em>The Avengers</em> poised to cross the $1 billion mark and a sequel already in the works, Jackson is likely to achieve a career global box office tally of <strong><a href="http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/05/07/samuel-l-jackson-avengers-highest-grossing/" target="_blank">$10 billion</a></strong>. He also collects <strong><a href="http://uniquedaily.com/2012/04/how-samuel-l-jackson-became-his-own-genre/" target="_blank">$300,000</a></strong> in residuals every year from his films that air on television.
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- <strong>KING OF THE STAGE</strong><br> In 2011, Jackson went back to his theatre roots by stepping into the shoes of Civil Rights icon <strong><a href="http://www.blackenterprise.com/2012/01/16/martin-luther-king-jr-decoded/">Martin Luther King Jr</a></strong>. in a limited engagement of the hit Broadway play, <strong><em>The Mountaintop</em></strong>. The drama, which also starred Oscar nominee <strong>Angela Bassett</strong>, focuses on a string of fictional events that take place in a motel room the night before King was assassinated. Thanks to Jackson’s movie star drawing power and lauded performance (<em>The New Yorker</em> called his work <strong><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/theatre/2011/10/24/111024crth_theatre_lahr" target="_blank">“admirable, compelling”</a></strong>), the show played to <strong><a href="http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/13741/The-Mountaintop" target="_blank">sold out houses</a></strong>, extended its engagement by popular demand, and grossed over <strong><a href="http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/13741/The-Mountaintop" target="_blank">$10 million</a></strong>. In fact, with only 24 previews and 117 regular performances, the show managed to recoup its initial investment of <strong><a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/the-mountaintop-recoups-on-broadway/" target="_blank">$3.1 million</a></strong>, a rare accomplishment for a non-musical Broadway show.
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- <strong>MUST BE THE VOICE</strong><br> Jackson has a successful side-career as a voice-over actor, playing an array of roles as varied as the ones he portrays on screen. In 2004, he lent his voice to <em>The Incredibles</em>, a big screen computer-animated film about a family of undercover superheroes that went on to gross <strong><a href="http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=incredibles.htm" target="_blank">$631 million</a></strong> and win two Academy Awards. He also graced the small screen in the recurring role of Gin Rummy in the comic strip turned animated series, <em>The Boondocks</em>, and voiced the antagonist in <em>Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas</em>, which is one of the <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_PlayStation_2_video_games" target="_blank">best-selling PlayStation 2 video games</a></strong> of all time. Jackson recently tapped into the billion-dollar audiobook industry by signing on with “A-List Collection,” an Amazon-owned company that brings classic novels to life. He lent his rich baritone to a darkly humored version of <strong><em><a href="http://www.audible.com/mt/jackson/narrow" target="_blank">A Rage in Harlem</a></em></strong>;<em> </em>provided <strong><a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=pd_sim_narr_2?asin=B0036NJLBW" target="_blank">the voice of God</a> </strong>for<strong><em> </em></strong>the audiobook version of the Bible; and helped the mock bedtime story, <em>Go The F**k to Sleep</em>, become a viral sensation that debuted at No. 1 on the <strong><em><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/go-f-k-sleep-debuts-202184" target="_blank">New York Times</a></em></strong> bestsellers list.
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