emmit smith is an ex nfl star not an actor, and Martin?? Denzel Washington and Will Smith have this on lock i think, with guys like Samuel L Jackson, Morgan Freeman, Dave Chappelle (for the younger generation) coming in second.
Samuel L. Jackson's rather overrated, in both my opinion, and many others. He's more of a cult status actor than an actual skilled actor. He isn't choosy as to what he does, and gets typecasted A LOT.
There is, or atleast should be a distinction between "famous" and "well known". Samuel L. Jackson's made one movie worth mentioning in his legacy. Pulp Fiction. Just cuz a guy can strut around and say "Motha****a" shouldn't make him "famous", where as guys like Sydney Poitier make groundbreaking movies dealing with race relations at the height of their career, which is consequently the same time as the civil rights movement.
I don't see a distinction. Paris Hilton, afterall, is famous and she hasn't done anything worthwhile. We're at an age where people are famous for no good reason.
I'm gonna have to agree with Wolfie on this one. I am, in no way, saying the Samuel L. Jackson is a more skilled actor, but currently, it doesn't even take skill to be famous. And that is what we're discussing; the most famous black actor. Samuel L. Jackson may not be the single most famous, but he is certainly high up there.
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Sam "The Man" Jackson is great in alot more than just Pulp Fiction.
From his start as the crack addict in Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing", to his role as Jules in "Pulp Fiction", to playing the villian O'Dell Robbie in "Jackie Brown", to the father who kills the rapists of his daughter in "A Time to Kill" (Yes they deserved to die, and I hope they burn in Hey-al!), to his stirring pefomance as an inner city teacher in 187, to his knock-out performance in "The Negotiator", to his supporting roles in "Changing Lanes", "S.W.A.T.", "The Incredibles", and the StarWars prequels, he is far from having ....
"One movie worth mentioning".
I would say that the general movie-going public agrees with me, as Samuel L. Jackson passed Harrison Ford last year as the actor whos movies have the highest combined gross totals of all time.
..and that's a shame, but there's a difference between famous celebrities and famous actors. They merit different things, atleast IMO.
A monotone, bitter cripple, a voice talent for 3 minutes out of the movie, and a bit role in a movie where he shared the screen with established actors. That's like saying "Hey! He was great in "Goodfellas" where he got his head ****ing blown off after being in the movie for 10 seconds!" C'mon. Of the 105 movies he's been in, nobody could name one he's done before 1994 without the help of IMDB. Even after 1994, he had 2 or 3 movies worth mentioning.
There are different levels of "fame" by which people are judged. He's famous and we all know why, being the same reason he's pariodied. The same reason they inserted a scene in "Snakes On a Plane" to include. The same reason he was parodied on Chappelle's Show.
Let's be a little more fair, and not biased because he's got cult status.
"A Time to Kill". Yes. "Pulp Fiction". Yes. Hell, even "Loaded Weapon 1" was better than 3/4th's of the shit he's done, but there's no way I'll recognize "187" (more or less the black version of Treat Williams' "The Substitute") or "SWAT" or "Changing Lanes" and DEFINATELY NOT "Star Wars", in which he's churned out the worst performances of his career in, as some supposed cinematic opuses for the sake of following everyone elses opinions.
He's famous, and he's also grossly overrated as an actor.
Easy to do when 3 movies alone make $2.5 Billion dollars worldwide, which means nothing when those movies are crap, and do said business because of someone elses namesake.
His performance was A LOT more memorable in "Pulp Fiction", which is what matters. It always seems like it's the dialogue that makes his movies either work or not. i.e. "Star Wars" made him sound like a *****, whereas Tarantino's movies made he and his lines, commonplace.
I'm not trying to slam the guy, I'm only trying to be fair.
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most famous black actor
Jun 14th, 2006 09:03 PM
