Samuel L. Jackson
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50 free Samuel L. Jackson trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Few actors have delivered as many lines that audiences can recite from memory as Samuel L. Jackson. A hitman's sermon in Pulp Fiction, a Jedi Master's rulings in Star Wars and Nick Fury's recruiting pitches for Marvel have made his voice one of the most recognizable in film. This quiz works through that career scene by scene. Some questions describe a famous speech or moment and ask which movie it comes from; others cover the characters he played, the directors who kept casting him, his voice work and his awards. A few go back to his student activism in the 1960s, his years on the stage and the small parts he took before fame arrived. It is pitched for movie fans rather than specialists: most questions can be reasoned out if you have seen the big hits, and every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Pulp Fiction, which book of the Bible does Samuel L. Jackson's hitman Jules claim to quote before a killing?
Ezekiel
Ezekiel 25:17 is the verse Jules names, yet most of his speech is not in the Bible at all. Tarantino borrowed it from the opening creed of a Sonny Chiba martial arts film.
Q 02Which thriller did Samuel L. Jackson insist keep its blunt title after the studio renamed it Pacific Air Flight 121?
Snakes on a Plane
Snakes on a Plane was a title Jackson called the only reason he took the job, so he had it restored. Online fans then grew so loud that the studio added five days of reshoots.
Q 03Samuel L. Jackson asked George Lucas to give his Star Wars Jedi a lightsaber blade of which unusual color?
Purple
Purple made Mace Windu easy to pick out in the crowded battle scenes of Attack of the Clones, which is why Jackson asked for it. Earlier toys had given the character a blue blade.
Q 04Samuel L. Jackson first played Nick Fury in a surprise scene after the credits of which Marvel film?
Iron Man
Iron Man ends with Fury telling Tony Stark he has joined a bigger universe, a cameo Jackson played uncredited. It grew into a deal to play the spymaster in nine films.
Q 05Which historically Black institution suspended Samuel L. Jackson after he helped hold its trustees hostage in 1969?
Morehouse College
Morehouse College suspended him for two years over the protest, which demanded changes to the curriculum. Jackson went back and graduated with a drama degree in 1972.
Q 06In which shark thriller is Samuel L. Jackson's executive devoured midway through a speech about sticking together?
Deep Blue Sea
Deep Blue Sea kills off its biggest star mid-sentence, which suited a director who wanted viewers unable to guess who survives. The role was created for Jackson after he was offered the cook.
Q 07Which 1993 blockbuster casts Samuel L. Jackson as chief engineer Ray Arnold, later found only as a severed arm?
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park kills Arnold off screen because Hurricane Iniki hit Hawaii before his raptor chase could be filmed. The arm was all the story had left to show.
Q 08Which superhero, the best friend of Mr. Incredible, does Samuel L. Jackson voice in Pixar's The Incredibles?
Frozone
Frozone freezes the moisture in the air, so he is only as strong as the water around him. Director Brad Bird cast Jackson because he wanted a distinctively cool voice.
Q 09Which childhood difficulty did Samuel L. Jackson learn to manage by pretending to be other people?
A stutter
A stutter still returns on some days, and Jackson says his most famous swear word is what gets him through the block.
Q 10Which actor plays Vincent Vega, the partner of Samuel L. Jackson's hitman Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction?
John Travolta
John Travolta got Vincent only because Michael Madsen chose a Kevin Costner western instead. He and Jackson teamed up again in the 2003 thriller Basic.
Q 11Which Sith Lord kills Samuel L. Jackson's Jedi Master by blasting him out of a window in Revenge of the Sith?
Palpatine
Palpatine survives only because Anakin Skywalker slices off Windu's weapon hand a moment before the killing blow. Jackson's voice returns among the dead Jedi in The Rise of Skywalker.
Q 12Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury is the eyepatch-wearing director of which spy agency in the Marvel films?
S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. is the agency Fury runs, and Jackson twice turned up in character on its ABC spin-off series, including a season finale.
Q 13In which John Grisham courtroom drama does Samuel L. Jackson play Carl Lee Hailey, a father tried for murder?
A Time to Kill
Q 21For which Quentin Tarantino crime film did Samuel L. Jackson win the Silver Bear playing gun runner Ordell Robbie?
Jackie Brown
Jackie Brown won him Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival for a villain who lures his own bagman into a car trunk and kills him.
Q 22Which western stars Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren, a bounty hunter with a forged letter from Lincoln?
The Hateful Eight
The Hateful Eight has Warren admit the letter is fake, saying it buys him leeway with white strangers. The film ends with a dying rival reading it aloud and praising its detail.
Q 23Which spy comedy casts Samuel L. Jackson as Richmond Valentine, a lisping billionaire who hands out free SIM cards?
A Time to Kill has Hailey gun down his daughter's two attackers inside the county courthouse. The role earned Jackson a Golden Globe nomination and an NAACP Image Award.
Q 14Which sequel pairs Samuel L. Jackson's Harlem shopkeeper Zeus Carver with a cop forced to solve a bomber's riddles?
Die Hard with a Vengeance
Die Hard with a Vengeance grew out of a script called Simon Says that was meant for Brandon Lee, with the Zeus part first written for an actress.
Q 15Which film casts Samuel L. Jackson as Stephen, a head house slave who exposes the heroes' plan at a plantation dinner?
Django Unchained
Django Unchained makes Stephen a villain who outthinks his own master, and Jackson likened the character's moral compass to that of Justice Clarence Thomas.
Q 16In which basketball drama does Samuel L. Jackson lock his unbeaten high school team out of the gym over poor grades?
Coach Carter
Coach Carter retells a real 1999 standoff in Richmond, California, where Ken Carter benched his undefeated team. In the film he vows to resign if the school board reopens the gym.
Q 17Which M. Night Shyamalan film first cast Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, a comic art dealer with brittle bones?
Unbreakable
Unbreakable was written with Jackson in mind, and its twist reveals that Price staged deadly disasters to find his opposite. He took the part again in Glass.
Q 18Which role did a college-age Samuel L. Jackson fill at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral in Atlanta?
Usher
Usher was his job that day, and he then went to Memphis to join an equal rights march. Decades later he played King himself on Broadway in The Mountaintop.
Q 19Which African country made Samuel L. Jackson a citizen in 2019 after a DNA test traced his ancestry there?
Gabon
Gabon welcomed him after tests linked him to its Benga people, who later gave him a name meaning star. He told the story in the documentary series Enslaved.
Q 20In Pulp Fiction, what do Samuel L. Jackson's Jules and his partner retrieve for their boss Marsellus Wallace?
A briefcase
A briefcase with the lock code 666 is all viewers ever see, because Tarantino says its contents have no explanation. The golden glow came from an orange light bulb hidden inside.
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Kingsman: The Secret Service was Jackson's chance to play a great Bond villain, a part he took because he doubted a real Bond film would ever call.
Q 24In Captain Marvel, what kind of creature costs Samuel L. Jackson's younger Nick Fury the use of his left eye?
A cat
A cat named Goose does it, though she is really an alien Flerken that has swallowed the Tesseract. Jackson was de-aged throughout to play the younger Fury.
Q 25In which Martin Scorsese mob film does Samuel L. Jackson play Stacks Edwards, a real-life Mafia associate?
Goodfellas
Goodfellas gave Jackson only a minor part, typical of years he spent in small roles while Morgan Freeman acted as his mentor.
Q 26In which Eddie Murphy comedy does Samuel L. Jackson play an armed robber who keeps holding up McDowell's restaurant?
Coming to America
Coming to America credits him only as the Hold-Up Man, a thief who has hit the restaurant five times before the disguised prince Akeem stops him.
Q 27Which crime sequel casts Samuel L. Jackson as a New York detective whose uncle was the hero of the 1971 original?
Shaft
Shaft brought back Richard Roundtree as the elder John Shaft, uncle to Jackson's detective. A 2019 sequel rewrote the family tree and made the two father and son.
Q 28Which actress, who directed Samuel L. Jackson on Broadway in The Piano Lesson, has been his wife since 1980?
LaTanya Richardson
LaTanya Richardson met him in 1970 while she was a student at Spelman College in Atlanta. The couple have since acted together in four films.
Q 29On which hit 1980s sitcom did Samuel L. Jackson spend three years as the stand-in for its star?
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show gave him steady work as Bill Cosby's stand-in at a time when his own film roles were still minimal.
Q 30Which subject did Samuel L. Jackson first plan to study at college before a public speaking class led him to drama?
Marine biology
Marine biology was his first major, followed by a spell in architecture. A part in The Threepenny Opera then settled him on acting for good.