Not that you’re likely to have seen it, because it wasn’t televised with the main show, but Samuel L Jackson finally won an Oscar in 2022. It was a lifetime achievement honorary Oscar, and was presented by Denzel Washington.
With over 200 IMDb credits to his name, Jackson has had a long history in Hollywood, since his breakout role in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. But he now has a healthy attitude to his career and things like the Oscars, as he told the LA Times; “As jaded as I wanted to be about it, you know thinking, ‘Well, I should have won an Oscar for this or should have won for that and it didn’t happen,’ once I got over it many years ago, it wasn’t a big deal for me.”
“I always have fun going to the Oscars. I always look forward to getting a gift basket for being a presenter. [Laughs] I give stuff to my relatives; my daughter and my wife would take stuff out. It’s cool.” This sounds similar to a viral video of Washington telling Jamie Foxx about leaving the Oscars with a silver platter; “I’m leaving here with something!”
Jackson continues; “But otherwise, I was past it. I was never going to let the Oscars be a measure of my success or failure as an actor. My yardstick of success is my happiness: Am I satisfied with what I’m doing? I’m not doing statue-chasing movies. You know [whispers]: ‘If you do this movie, you’ll win an Oscar.’ No, thanks. I’d rather be Nick Fury. Or having fun being Mace Windu with a lightsaber in my hand.”
Jackson continues to take on eclectic roles, such as Shaft (2019), Spiral, Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard and The Protegé (all 2021), and The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (2022). He shows no signs of slowing down, now that he’s passed 70.
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