Samuel Jackson celebrates his ties to Atlanta at BronzeLens brunch

The BronzeLens Film Festival sure knows how to throw a brunch.

At BronzeLens’ Sunday Brunch with the Brothers on March 3, Samuel L. Jackson delighted the audience with tales of his days at Morehouse College and his decades-long career as the highest-grossing actor of all time.

Jackson, who was born on Dec. 21, 1948, spoke of how he was raised during a time of segregation. 

“I’m colored by the understanding of what I could and could not do and what I can do now,” Jackson said. “There’s nothing that prepared me for what happened in my life. It’s been an amazing kind of journey to be in the places I’ve been.”

During his career, Jackson has starred in Star Wars and Jurassic Park movie series as well as countless other films. 

But when asked whether he preferred the stage (theater) or the set (movies), Jackson said he enjoyed being able to interact with an audience. Interestingly enough, Jackson mentioned being involved with Atlanta’s Academy Theatre as a young man. 

Among the most interesting stories Jackson told was when he was kicked out of Morehouse in 1969 when he and several other students held members of the college’s board of trustees hostage, demanding reform in the school’s governance.

“I was an H. Rap Brown advocate,” Jackson said at the Sunday brunch held at the Candler Hotel in downtown Atlanta. “The administrators knew we were not going to grow up to be the Negroes they were trying to create. We were changing the personalities of people at the school. We were radical enough to do things that they couldn’t process what we did.”

Jackson later returned to Atlanta and Morehouse, where he graduated with a degree in drama in 1972.

It was while he was in Atlanta that he met his wife, LaTanya Richardson — an actress in her own right — who was attending Spelman College. The two got married in 1980.

Jackson was asked when he realized he had finally made it.

“It was the first time I heard my name and $1 million,” Jackson said.

For people who are trying to break into the business, Jackson had some sobering words.

“The business has changed in such a way,” Jackson said, mentioning livestreaming among other changes. “It’s a lot more difficult for them to become economically stable.”

But later he shared the following advice:

“You have to be true to who you are,” Jackson said. “Everybody doesn’t make it. A lot of times it’s not your fault. Preparation beats everything. If you are not prepared, opportunity passes you by.”

The 15th annual BronzeLens Film Festival will be held from Aug. 21 to Aug. 26. The festival is dedicated to promoting Atlanta as a film mecca for people of color. The Festival’s lineup will include daily screenings of new works by independent filmmakers from across the country and the globe.