Samuel L Jackson turns 74! Eight Best performances of 'Pulp Fiction' actor's career

Hollywood actor Samuel Leroy Jackson, popularly known as Samuel L Jackson, turns 74 today. He has been part of Hollywood since the early 1970s, and still possesses an energy and enthusiasm about his craft that would shame somebody half a century younger. Equally at ease with commercial cinema as he is with indie films, Jackson is known for characters with an affinity for cuss words. For his millions of fans, from the actor's mouth, even profanities sound poetic. For his contribution to the world of cinema, he was conferred with an honorary Academy Award. He is also a Bafta awardee, for his performance as Jules Winnfield.

On his birthday, let's explore the best performances of Samuel L Jackson's career.

Whatever he does in the future, Jackson's performance in Quentin Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction' will always be most iconic. Scratch that, it is one of the most iconic performances in cinema, ever. Sure, Tarantino's dialogue is brilliant, but its delivery is what elevates it into high art. His character is something of a small-time crook working for a gangster. But Jackson made him something of a main character (the movie had none). The 'Ezekiel' scene has to be one of the greatest movie speeches.
 

Another Tarantino flick, this time Jackson was playing a truly nasty man. And thus, he got to utter even more expletives. But beyond that the performance, as Ordell Robbie, is nuanced and quite superlative. 
 

Let's admit it, Jackson has always been perfect in the role of Nick Fury, right from his first appearance in the character in 2008's 'Iron Man'. But it was Russo Brothers' action-packed 'The Winter Soldier' that really helped him show his acting chops in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
 

While Jackson's performances were appreciated before 'Jungle Fever', it was this Spike Lee directorial that really made film buffs pay attention to him. He was not even the lead actor, and yet, most of the praise was focussed on his performance.
 

Somehow, Samuel L Jackson, who had earlier played roles of crooks or thugs or goons, fit nicely into the character of a Jedi in George Lucas's Star Wars universe. 
 

Before he was part of MCU, Jackson had played the role of supervillain Elijah Price or Mr Glass in M Night Shyamalan's 'Unbreakable'. Only, here he was a classic comic-book villain, with a fragile body but a devilishly smart villain opposite Bruce Willis' titular hero. 
 

Jackson has always shone in Tarantino's movies. In the Jamie Foxx-led slavery-revenge drama 'Django Unchained', Jackson played the role of an African-American slave who is ridiculously loyal and is more in favour of slavery than his white master, Leonardo DiCaprio's Calvin J. Candie. It is a simultaneously scary and hilarious character than only Jackson could have portrayed that well.
 

Jackson has a knack for stealing the thunder from lead actors, and he almost did that in 'Die Hard With a Vengeance', the third film in the 'Die Hard' franchise.