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While promoting his latest Atlanta-based show Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, Samuel L. Jackson is throwing his support behind the Falcons on their home field.
The honorary Oscar winner starred in a cinematic opening sequence for Sunday Night Football on Sunday that aired on NBC and Peacock before the Atlanta Falcons faced off against the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs.
“The challenges come at you fast and furious… never more so when their names are Kelce and Mahomes,” Jackson says during the dramatic opening sequence.
He goes on to say, “It’s about fighting with everything you’ve got to survive… and taking advantage of nights that can get everyone talking about you differently… nights like this, where you play hard, hit hard, and rise up!”
In the segment, Jackson also reflects on his early days selling concessions at the Falcons’ former home, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, in the ’60s. He studied dramatic arts at Morehouse before rising to fame as one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors.
In 1969, he was expelled from the historically Black Morehouse College after participating in a protest where he and fellow students locked board members, including Martin Luther King Jr.’s father, inside a building for two days. The protest called for changes to the school’s curriculum and governance.
While attending Morehouse, Jackson also took classes at nearby Spelman College, where he improved his craft and learned the business side of acting. “The theater professors at Spelman [where Morehouse students sometimes took classes] really encouraged us to meet the business side of acting head-on,” says Jackson. “We had to go outside of the school and find agents and book professional acting gigs in and around Atlanta in theater, film, and TV. We were expected to maintain our creative and performance obligations to the Morehouse Spelman Players at the same time. It was great real-world training for us to learn what it truly meant to be working actors.”
Although the Falcons lost to the Chiefs on Sunday, Samuel L. Jackson's presence added an exciting layer to the evening. His journey from the streets of Atlanta to Hollywood's biggest stages serves as a powerful reminder of the dedication and resilience required to succeed in any field.
