by Zoe de Lellis, contributing writer
Director Fury turns 66 today! Samuel L. 
Jackson, known for his roles in True Romance, The Star Wars movies, Kill Bill, The Incredibles, Snakes on a Plane, and Django Unchained, was born in Washington, D.C. to parents Elizabeth and Henry Jackson. He attended and graduated from Riverside High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and played the French horn and the trumpet in the school’s orchestra.
Early in his career, he portrayed many characters that were bad guys and drug addicts, before he was cast as Mitch Henessey in The Long Kiss Goodnight in 1996. His famous role as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction in 1994 landed him an Oscar nomination and the accolades have since been rolling in. For Pulp Fiction, he was also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. More recently, he has won awards for his role in Django Unchained from the NAACP Image Awards, and was also nominated for an MTV Movie Awards for the same role.
In 2001, Jackson authorized Marvel Comics to use his likeness for the Ultimate Nick Fury character in the Avengers comics, in 2008, he went on to portray Nick Fury in Iron Man, and he continues to depict the S.H.I.E.L.D Director in various Marvel Cinematic Universe films and television shows.
Jackson, who from a young age has had a stutter, cites something interesting to help him articulate his words: swearing! At the American Institute for Stuttering gala, he revealed that swearing helps ward off the stuttering, and that it has become a sort of daily affirmation for him.
The Guinness World Records named him as the highest-grossing film actor of all time in 2011, making more than $7.4 billion at the box office. He was also in the Forbes “Celebrity 100” lists in 2002 and 2003, and in 1997 was named #44 in Empire UK’s “The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time” list.
Jackson plans to reprise his role as Nick Fury in many upcoming Marvel Studios films, but we here at SCIFI.radio hope his birthday is filled with lots of golf-playing and relaxing!
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