Samuel L. Jackson is an American actor and film producer who has appeared in more than 100 films. As of 2009, the collective total of all
box office receipts for films that Jackson has starred in (including minor roles and
cameos) is the highest of any on-screen actor. As of December 2015, Jackson has appeared in 122 theatrical films with a worldwide box office gross of approximately $16 billion to date. Jackson's film career started in
1972 with a role in the film
Together for Days. Over the next nineteen years Jackson was cast in multiple films as minor characters up until his
breakthrough role as Gator, a
crack addict, in the
1991 Spike Lee film
Jungle Fever, for which he won a special jury prize for best supporting actor at the
Cannes International Film Festival.