Samuel L. Jackson Is 77 Today. How Did He Only Get One Oscar Nomination?

Samuel L. Jackson — who, if you can believe it, turned 77 today — has never won an Oscar, having received only an honorary one, and that’s a real head-scratcher. A few years back, he told Vulture that he should have won the award at least four times:

I can name four instances where I could have won or should have won or should have been nominated, but I’m fine with it.

This wasn’t the first time Jackson had questioned the Academy’s snubbing of his work. He was justifiably angry when he spoke to the L.A. Times in a 2022 interview. As it stands, Jackson has had only one Oscar nomination in his career (“Pulp Fiction”) — how is that even possible? He was ridiculously snubbed for “Jungle Fever,” “Django Unchained” and many others.

Jackson is a great actor, an iconic one, and I’ve been a fan of his work for a very long time. He’s one of the greats, even if he has had a knack for choosing very bad movies (sorry, “Snakes on a Plane” isn’t one of them).

Scrolling through his filmography, he seems to have made it a priority to star in a lot of cash cows. He likes blockbusters, and he’s been in a ton of them. This has also made him one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood history. Jackson holds the record for most films over $100 million at the worldwide box office by an actor, with a show-stopping 45 to his name.

Now, let’s play a game. What are the four movies Jackson seems to be referring to in the above Vulture interview? The man has moved fluidly from dramatic heaviness to genre and voice work — a versatility that deserves continual praise.

Opinion: The four performances that should have won Jackson an Oscar are crystal clear to me — all flat-out brilliant turns: Gator in “Jungle Fever,” Jules Winnfield in “Pulp Fiction,” Stephen in “Django Unchained,” and Ordell in “Jackie Brown.”

Also, a major shout-out for his turn in the incredibly underrated ’90s noir “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” not to mention “The Negotiator,” “Unbreakable,” “A Time to Kill,” “Eve’s Bayou,” “The Hateful Eight,” and “Hard Eight.” Not Oscar-worthy, but exemplary work from one of our very best actors.