10. FRESH (1994)

At the time of its release, 1994’s Fresh languished in the shadows of higher-grossing urban dramas like Boyz N the Hood and Menace II Society, but the realism and intense drama of director Boaz Yakin’s debut set it apart, and the story, about a young boy, played by Sean Nelson, who works as an errand boy for a local drug dealer to support himself and his sister after his alcoholic dad, Samuel L. Jackson, proves unreliable.

9. JUICE (1992)

After working with Spike Lee on 'Jungle Fever', Jackson scored a supporting role in 'Juice', the directorial debut of Lee’s cinematographer Ernest R. Dickerson, who also co-wrote the tale of a group of Harlem teenagers, whose yearning for respect and authority produces terrible unintended consequences. As Trip, the local shop owner who tolerates the group’s incessant loitering, Jackson lent the increasingly dark film a small sliver of hope for its protagonists’ futures.

8. HARD EIGHT (1996)

A year before he became a household name as the director of 'Boogie Nights', Paul Thomas Anderson helmed 'Hard Eight', the dark tale of an aging Vegas gambler, Philip Baker Hall, who takes a younger man, John C. Reilly, under his wing. It’s the type of film where no one is who they seem to be, not Hall, not Reilly’s new bride, Gwyneth Paltrow, and not his friend, Samuel L. Jackson, whose possession of a secret sends the third act veering in a surprising direction. 

7. MENACE II SOCIETY (1993)

Plenty of movies have gotten more screentime out of Jackson’s gift for playing glowering characters, and more than a few, 'The Hitman’s Bodyguard' included, have gotten more mileage out of his fondness for a certain multisyllabic swear word. But in terms of sheer memorability, few of Jackson’s early appearances can compete with his turn as Tat Lawson in 'Menace II Society', including the scene in which he responds to a man’s refusal to pay a debt by shooting him to death.

6. DO THE RIGHT THING (1989)

It isn’t his biggest role, but Jackson’s appearance as legendary local radio jockey 'Mister Señor Love Daddy' is certainly one of his most memorable. It marked the second time Jackson worked for director Spike Lee, who’d previously hired him for 1988’s 'School Daze', and would go on to use him again in 'Jungle Fever', helping set up Jackson for his rise to fame in the ‘90s. More to the point, 'Do the Right Thing' wasn’t just important for Jackson’s career, it was an important film, funky, entertaining, packed with insight, and political in the best, most responsible sense.

5. JACKIE BROWN (1997)

After getting an early break from Quentin Tarantino in 1993’s 'True Romance', and having a part written specifically for him in 1994’s 'Pulp Fiction', it was pretty apparent that Jackson was firmly entrenched in Tarantino’s stable of go-to actors. Seeing no reason to disrupt a good thing, the duo reunited for 1997’s 'Jackie Brown', with Jackson winning the Berlin Silver Bear and picking up his fourth Golden Globe nomination for his work as ruthless arms dealer Ordell Robbie. Part of a typically stellar ensemble cast that also included Robert De Niro, Michael Keaton, and Robert Forster, Jackson helped make the Pam Grier crime drama a hit with audiences as well as critics.

4. MARVEL MOVIES

For decades, Marvel readers knew Nick Fury as a cigar-chomping, gray-templed white guy with an eyepatch, but when he made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in the closing moments of 2008’s 'Iron Man', he’d undergone a Samuel L. Jackson-sized transformation. Of course, fans knew that version of the character had been given a Jackson-inspired makeover years before, but even Marvel knew he was the perfect guy for the role, and from the moment he approached Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark to talk about the 'Avengers Initiative', he’s been a cornerstone of the MCU. Time will tell how many more phases we’ll get with this version of Mr. Fury, but it wouldn’t be the blockbuster machine it’s become without him.

3.  JURASSIC PARK (1993)

He’s played some of the baddest mothers in film history, but not even Samuel L. Jackson is a match for a pack of ticked-off raptors, as evidenced by his untimely demise in the first 'Jurassic Park', an offing so unforgettable that his character’s disembodied arm has its own Facebook page. Full credit to director Steven Spielberg for casting Jackson as head Park technician Ray Arnold, obviously knowing nobody would look cooler than Jackson while puffing on a cigarette and saying, 'Hold on to your butts'. The final product grossed nearly a billion dollars at the box office and won three Oscars.

2. DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012)

Jackson and Quentin Tarantino continued their successful association with 2012’s 'Django Unchained', which marked their fifth film together, and continued the streak of social justice revenge fantasies the director started with 'Inglorious Basterds', which featured uncredited narration from Jackson. A pre-Civil War Western, Django tells the story of a slave, played by Jamie Foxx, in an unorthodox partnership with a bounty hunter, played by Christoph Waltz, who needs his assistance to apprehend of a trio of outlaws. It’s the perfect setup for two hours and change of profane, gleefully violent action, and Tarantino more than delivers with a star-studded excoriation of systematic injustice that manages to treat its subject with something approaching the proper respect without sacrificing any moment.

1. PULP FICTION (1994)

Jackson had scored plenty of film roles before he stepped in front of Quentin Tarantino’s cameras for 'Pulp Fiction', but the part of hitman Jules Winnfield really took his career to another level, and for good reason. Although the movie’s non-linear structure and ensemble cast meant there wasn’t really a star, Jackson walked away with many of Fiction’s most quotable lines, earning a stack of awards and nominations in the process, including a BAFTA, Independent Spirit Award, and Oscar nomination.