Samuel L. Jackson Says It’s Not An Honor To Be Nominated For An Oscar, Only Winning Matters

Actor Samuel L. Jackson said it’s no great achievement to be nominated for an Academy Award – in his opinion, winning is the only thing that matters.

The 75-year-old discussed his thoughts during a conversation with the Associated Press that was shared on social media on Tuesday. 

“We’ve been in the business long enough to know that when folks go, ‘It’s just an honor to be nominated.’ No it ain’t,” Jackson told the outlet. “It’s an honor to win.”

“You get nominated and folks go, ‘Yeah I remember that.’ Or most people forget,” he continued, laughing. “Generally, it’s a contest you didn’t volunteer to be in. I didn’t go in there so I could flex. ‘Wait a minute, let me do my scene, so you can remember who I was.’ They nominate you and people go, ‘What is that movie you’re nominated for? What’s the name of that thing?’ And after it’s over people have a hard time remembering who even won.”

After decades in Hollywood and growing Oscar buzz for his new film, "The Piano Lesson," Samuel L. Jackson shares his approach to award nominations. pic.twitter.com/oE0ryMRNjt

— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) November 26, 2024

The actor made his stage debut in 1980 and eventually landed a part on Broadway. His first film role was in the 1988 comedy “Coming to America” starring Eddie Murphy. Since then, Jackson has appeared in more than 150 films, including his breakout role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” (1994) as Jules Winnfield. That role earned the celeb a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

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To date, he has not been nominated for any other Oscars. However, in 2021, Jackson was presented with an honorary Academy Award. He told Vulture that it “didn’t feel honorary” but that he felt like he was getting the real thing.

“I earned it. I worked for it,” Jackson said at the time. “I can possibly name four other instances where I could have won or should have won or should have been nominated, but I’m fine with it. It’s mine. I got it. My name’s on it.”

He went on to tell the interviewer he believed one of the films he should have been nominated for was “Jackie Brown” (1997), another Tarantino project.