In 1966, during the height of the civil rights movement, Jackson enrolled at the historically black Morehouse College in Atlanta, the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr. In 1968, when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, Kings body was brought to Atlanta to lie in state at Spelman College, the historically black woman’s school adjacent to Morehouse. Jackson attended King’s funeral as one of the ushers and then flew to Memphis to join an equal rights protest march that radicalized him and changed the way he thought. “I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn’t shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different – not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence,” he stated in an interview with Parade about his reactions to King’s death.


https://www.watchtheyard.com/colleges/samuel-l-jackson-morehouse-hostage/

I guess his on screen personalities aren't strictly fiction but have some substance in his ACTUAL life experiences too.

You always wonder what gives a great actor his edge.

Yep ... now if I can find out what it is about DeNiro and Pacino ...

I did NOT know this backstory. Jackson has been a long time favorite, true for the iconic lines delivered, true for believability of rage, true for impecible timing, comic sensibility within intense subject matter...but mostly for a calm transcendent aura of wisdom amidst the storm.

Now there there is another little piece of "why". Thanks Ms.!