Samuel L. Jackson: I'd rather be Nick Fury than win an Oscar

Samuel L. Jackson insists that winning awards, such as an Oscar, is not how he gauges success in his own career.

He is the recipient of an honorary Academy Award and has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, eventually losing out to Martin Landau for Ed Wood.

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As the years have progressed, he has become part of major blockbuster franchises such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars.

He is, officially, the highest-grossing actor of all time, with movies in which he is involved grossing $27 billion dollars.

Though there are actors who strive for excellence in terms of acting performances and awards, Jackson puts stock in how happy he is with his own creative choices.

"As jaded as I wanted to be about it, you know thinking, 'Well, I should have won an Oscar for this or should have won for that and it didn't happen', once I got over it many years ago, it wasn't a big deal for me," he told the Los Angeles Times.

"I always have fun going to the Oscars. I always look forward to getting a gift basket for being a presenter. I give stuff to my relatives; my daughter and my wife would take stuff out. It's cool... But otherwise, I was past it.

"I was never going to let the Oscars be a measure of my success or failure as an actor. My yardstick of success is my happiness: Am I satisfied with what I'm doing?

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"I'm not doing statue-chasing movies. You know: 'If you do this movie, you'll win an Oscar'. No, thanks. I'd rather be Nick Fury. Or having fun being Mace Windu with a lightsabre in my hand.

"That's the guy I chose to be and I'm fine with it. I'm satisfied because that's who I am. I'm the guy who does the lines that people see on T-shirts.

"There's actors who go their whole careers and no one can quote a line they've said in a movie. People go to watch my movies to see how crazy I'm going to be or see how many times I say motherf*****. Whatever gets them in the seats."

Jackson most recently appeared as Fury in Secret Invasion and will continue the storyline from that Disney+ series into The Marvels and Avengers: Secret Wars.