Samuel L. Jackson has been happily married to actress LaTanya Richardson for over 40 years. Learn all about LaTanya here.
Samuel L. Jackson is one of the most talented actors in Hollywood. The 73-year-old star has appeared in over 150 films, including the popular Star Wars franchise as Jedi Mace Windu and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Nick Fury. Samuel’s fame also comes from movies like Goodfellas, The Red Violin, Jurassic Park, Django Unchained, and Pulp Fiction, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Samuel has also done voice acting in The Incredibles, Turbo, and more animated films. Talk about an impressive career!
But that’s not all Samuel’s accomplished in his lifetime. He’s created a wonderful family with his wife of over four decades, LaTanya Richardson, 72. The power couple has one daughter together. LaTanya also works in the entertainment industry, though she’s nowhere near as famous as her talented hubby. Read on to find out more about LaTayna, including details about her everlasting marriage to Samuel L. Jackson.
Samuel L. Jackson & LaTanya Richardson (Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock)LaTanya is an actress & producer.
LaTanya has been working in Hollywood since the late 1980’s. Like her husband, she’s appeared in numerous films. Her biggest on-screen role was as Paulina Pritchett in the 2003 musical film The Fighting Temptations which also starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyonce. LaTanya’s also appeared in TV shows such as Law & Order, Ally McBeal, Blue Bloods, and most recently, Grey’s Anatomy. She was in A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway and got a nomination at the 2014 Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play. As a producer, LaTanya most recently worked on the 2020 TV documentary Enslaved, which starred her husband.
LaTanya met Samuel in college.
LaTanya studied at Spelman College, the oldest private historically black liberal arts college for women in Atlanta, Georgia. Samuel was at the all-male Morehouse College in Atlanta. They met in 1970 despite being at separate universities. They started dating fairly quickly after and enjoyed a sweet romance together that carried them to 1980, which was when they took their relationship to the next level.
Samuel L. Jackson & LaTanya Richardson (Photo: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/Shutterstock)LaTanya & Samuel got married in 1980.
After dating for 10 years, LaTanya and Samuel said “I do” on August 18, 1980. Not much is known about the couple’s wedding ceremony, but we can assume it was a beautiful event. Samuel celebrated the couple’s 40-year wedding anniversary on Instagram in August 2020. He posted photos of the couple dancing and shared a sweet message to LaTanya. “HAPPY ANNIVERSARY @ltjackson_ Love ? You for keeping me on my toes & on the beat for 18,250 days. You make my soul ? sing‼️Don’t change the tune, we’re not done dancing,” the Avengers: Endgame actor wrote.
But marriage hasn’t always been easy on Samuel and LaTanya. The couple hit a rough patch during the early 1990s when Samuel was struggling with drug addiction. Things got especially bad when he overdrank and nearly did coke on actor/writer Ruben Santiago-Hudson‘s bachelor party. “I went by the spot, copped, went home, cooked the sh*t, and passed out before I had even smoked it, drunk. That’s when my wife and daughter found me on the floor,” he previously recalled to Vanity Fair. 24 hours that incident, LaTanya got her husband checked into a rehab facility. “I threatened to leave him if he didn’t see the rehab through,” she told the publication. “I knew I couldn’t leave this boy I admired so much. But I resented him too. I hated it when he slurred his words. A wife hates to see her husband be weak.” Samuel eventually got clean and reunited with LaTanya.
LaTanya Richardson & Samuel L. Jackson (Photo: Eric Charbonneau/Shutterstock)LaTanya & Samuel have one child.
LaTanya and Samuel are the proud parents of daughter Zoe Jackson, 39. Zoe works as a co-executive producer on the hit Bravo shows Project Runway and Top Chef and on VH1’s RuPaul’s Drag Race. She’s won 3 Emmy Awards for her work on the latter two shows. Zoe was previously a producer on The Bachelorette for season 13, which starred Rachel Lindsay. LaTanya and Samuel’s daughter is on Instagram, but unlike her famous parents, she has a private account.
After Zoe and the Drag Race team won an Emmy for Outstanding Competition Program in 2021, proud mom LaTanya posted a picture of the trophy on Instagram and congratulated her daughter. “Lately, I’ve had sadness but today I smile. ‘She Came’ Good job Zoe. I smile at the recognition,” LaTanya said.
