People (Births)

• 1948 – Samuel L. Jackson, American actor and producer.
• 1966 – Kiefer Sutherland, British-Canadian actor, director, and producer.

Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel Leroy Jackson (born 21 December 1948) is an American actor and producer who holds both American and Gabonese citizenship. One of the most widely recognised actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him the second highest-grossing actor of all time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave him an Academy Honorary Award in 2022 as “A cultural icon whose dynamic work has resonated across genres and generations and audiences worldwide”.

Jackson started his career on stage making his professional theatre debut in Mother Courage and her Children in 1980 at The Public Theatre. From 1981 to 1983 he originated the role of Private Louis Henderson in A Soldier’s Story Off-Broadway. He also originated the role of Boy Willie in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson in 1987 at the Yale Repertory Theatre. He returned to the play in the 2022 Broadway revival playing Doaker Charles. Jackson early film roles include Coming to America (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Patriot Games (1992), Juice (1992), True Romance (1993), and Jurassic Park (1993), Menace II Society (1993), and Fresh (1994). His collaborations with Spike Lee lead to greater prominence with films such as School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo’ Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Oldboy (2013), and Chi-Raq (2015).

Jackson’s breakout role was in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994) which earned him a BAFTA Award win and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He further collaborated with Tarantino, acting in Jackie Brown (1997), Django Unchained (2012), and The Hateful Eight (2015). He’s known for having appeared in a number of big-budget films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), The Negotiator (1997), Deep Blue Sea (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000) and its reboot (2019), XXX (2002), S.W.A.T. (2003), Coach Carter (2005), Snakes on a Plane (2006), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), and Glass (2019).

He also gained widespread recognition as the Jedi Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999-2005), later voicing the role in the animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) and the video game Lego Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2011). With his permission, his likeness was used for the Ultimate version of the Marvel Comics character Nick Fury; he subsequently played Fury in 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe films, beginning with a cameo appearance in Iron Man (2008), as well as guest-starring in the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He will reprise this role in the upcoming Disney+ series Secret Invasion, which is set to premiere in early 2023. Jackson has provided his voice for several animated films, documentaries, television series, and video games, including Lucius Best / Frozone in the Pixar films The Incredibles (2004) and Incredibles 2 (2018).

Kiefer Sutherland

Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland (born 21 December 1966) is a British-Canadian actor and musician. He is best known for his starring role as Jack Bauer in the Fox drama series 24 (2001-2010, 2014), for which he won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Satellite Awards.

Sutherland got his first leading film role in the Canadian drama The Bay Boy (1984), which earned him a Genie Award nomination. Since that time he has had a successful film career, starring in films such as Stand by Me (1986), The Lost Boys (1987), Young Guns (1988), Flatliners (1990), A Few Good Men (1992), The Three Musketeers (1993), A Time to Kill (1996), Dark City (1998), Phone Booth (2002), Melancholia (2011), Pompeii (2014) and Flatliners (2017). He also starred in the film To End All Wars (2001), which won two awards at the Heartland Film Festival and one award at the Hawaii International Film Festival.

He has also starred as Martin Bohm in the Fox drama Touch, and provided the facial motion capture and English voice for Venom Snake in the video games Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. He starred as President Tom Kirkman in the ABC/Netflix political drama series Designated Survivor.

Sutherland has been inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and to Canada’s Walk of Fame, and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zurich Film Festival.