Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t care that he’s never won an Oscar because he is rich.
Despite Academy Award glory having eluded the 67-year-old star, he doesn’t pine after the coveted gong because he is one of the “highest paid actors of all time” in Hollywood and says it won’t “define” his career.
Jackson, 67, insisted: “It’s not going to define my career in any way. It’s not going to move the comma on my cheque. I guarantee you if you ask somebody who is the highest-grossing actor in the history of movies, they’ll go, ‘Samuel L. Jackson.’ Is that a bigger honour than somebody not remembering that I won the Oscar last year for whatever movie I won it for?”
The actor’s laid back approach to winning awards could be thanks to his first ever gong being in a category that was especially created for him at the Cannes Film Festival, for his portrayal as a drug addict in the 1991 indie film Jungle Fever.
He is also most proud of playing Jedi Knight Mace Windu in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
Listing the institutions that have recognised his achievements, he told The Times newspaper: “I mean, I have enough dubious honours to go around. I’m the only actor to win a Best Supporting Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival.
I got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, got my footprints at the Chinese Theatre.
I have a Golden Bear form Berin. I got a Bafta award. I’ve won everything but that. I don’t have an Emmy for TV because I haven’t done enough TV, and I don’t have an Oscar. That’s pretty much it. Other than that, I’m the highest grossing actor in history. Shit, I’m a Jedi!”