Samuel L. Jackson is an American actor, director and film producer. As of 2009, the collective total of all box-office receipts for films that Jackson has appeared in is the highest of any on-screen actor. As of December 2015, Jackson has appeared in over one hundred films with a cumulative worldwide box-office gross of approximately $8.6 billion to date. Jackson's breakthrough role was Gator, a crack addict , in the Spike Lee -directed Jungle Fever (1991), for which Jackson won a special jury prize for best supporting actor at the Cannes Film Festival .