page_title: Samuel L. Jackson
section_title: Personal life
hierarchical_section_title: Samuel L. Jackson / Personal life
caption_attribution_description: 051105-N-5539C-003 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Nov. 5, 2005) - Actor Samuel L. Jackson and his wife LaTanya during a tour of Naval Station Pearl Harbor. The actor was in Honolulu to receive the International Achievement in Acting Award from the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival. U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 2nd Class Corwin M. Colbert (RELEASED) Source: http://www.news.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=29780
context_page_description: Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American actor and producer. Widely regarded as one of the most popular actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him the highest-grossing actor of all time. He rose to fame with films such as Goodfellas, Jungle Fever, Patriot Games, Amos & Andrew, True Romance, and Jurassic Park, and has especially been noted for his roles in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight. For his role in Pulp Fiction, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
  Jackson is a highly prolific actor, having appeared in over 150 films. His other roles includes Die Hard with a Vengeance, A Time to Kill, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Negotiator, Deep Blue Sea, Unbreakable, Shaft and its sequel, XXX, Snakes on a Plane, Kong: Skull Island, and the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
context_section_description: In 1980, Jackson married actress and producer LaTanya Richardson, whom he met while attending Morehouse College. The couple have a daughter named Zoe (born 1982). In 2009, they started their own charity to help support education. Jackson has said that he watches his own films in cinemas: "Even during my theater years, I wished I could watch the plays I was in—while I was in them! I dig watching myself work." He also enjoys collecting the action figures of the characters he portrays in his films, including Jules Winnfield, Shaft, Mace Windu, and Frozone.
  Jackson is bald but enjoys wearing wigs in his films. He said about his decision to shave his head, "I keep ending up on those 'bald is beautiful' lists. It's cool. You know, when I started losing my hair, it was during the era when everybody had lots of hair. All of a sudden, I felt this big hole in the middle of my afro. I couldn't face having a comb over so I had to quickly figure what the haircut for me was." His first bald role was in The Great White Hype. He usually gets to pick his own hairstyles for each character he portrays. He poked fun at his baldness the first time he appeared bald on The Tonight Show, explaining that he had to shave his head for one role, but then kept receiving more and more bald roles and had to keep shaving his head so that wigs could be made for him. He joked that "the only way [he's] gonna have time to grow [his] hair back is if [he's] not working". He is noted for often wearing a Kangol hat in public.
  Jackson has a clause in his contracts that allows him to play golf during film shoots. He has played in the Gary Player Invitational charity golf tournament to assist Gary Player in raising funds for children in South Africa. Jackson is a keen basketball fan, supporting the Toronto Raptors and the Harlem Globetrotters. He has supported English soccer team Liverpool FC since appearing in The 51st State, which was shot in Liverpool. He also supports Irish soccer team Bohemian FC.
  Jackson campaigned during the 2008 Democratic Primary for Barack Obama in Texarkana, Texas. He said, "Barack Obama represents everything I was told I could be growing up. I am a child of segregation. When I grew up and people told me I could be president, I knew it was a lie. But now we have a representative... the American Dream is a reality. Anyone can grow up to be a president." He also said, "I voted for Barack because he was black. That's why other folks vote for other people—because they look like them". He compared his Django Unchained character, a villainous house slave, to black conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, saying that the character has "the same moral compass as Clarence Thomas does".
  In June 2013, Jackson launched a joint campaign with Prizeo in an effort to raise money to fight Alzheimer's disease. As part of the campaign, he recited various fan-written monologues and a popular scene from the AMC series Breaking Bad. In August 2013, he started a vegan diet for health reasons, explaining that he is "just trying to live forever", and attributed a 40 lb (18 kg) weight loss to his new diet. He had largely abandoned the diet by March 2017, but still praised it. He launched a campaign called "One for the Boys", which teaches men about testicular cancer and urges them to "get themselves checked out".
caption: Jackson with his wife LaTanya Richardson in November 2005
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