Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and film producer. He achieved prominence and critical acclaim in the early 1990s with films such as Jungle Fever (1991), Patriot Games (1992), Amos & Andrew (1993), True Romance (1993), Jurassic Park (1993) and his collaborations with director Quentin Tarantino in the films Pulp Fiction (1994) and Jackie Brown (1997). He is a highly prolific actor, appearing in over 100 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000), The 51st State (2001), Black Snake Moan (2006), Snakes on a Plane (2006) and the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005).

With Jackson's permission, his likeness was used for the Marvel Comics character Ultimate Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2008–present). He cameoed as Fury in a post-credits scene from Iron Man (2008), and went on to sign a nine-film commitment to reprise this role in future films, including major roles in Iron Man 2 (2010), Marvel's The Avengers (2012), and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and minor roles in Thor (2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). He is set to reprise the role again in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron and has appeared in two episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..