LaTanya Richardson Jackson Says She & Samuel L. Will Quit Acting—But Not Just Yet
The queen of Broadway has spoken — and she’s not slowing down without a fight.
At 75, LaTanya Richardson Jackson is not only nominated for her third Tony Award — she’s also commanding Broadway in Purpose, a play that’s earning nightly standing ovations and a Pulitzer Prize. But when she’s not lighting up the stage, she’s keeping a quiet promise with her husband, Samuel L. Jackson.
“We said we’re gonna do this until the wheels fall off,” LaTanya told reporters. “But if one of us starts doing more than we should? That’s when we say: ‘It’s time. Come in the house.’”
It’s a pact 40+ years in the making — and like everything about this couple, it runs deep.
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From Recovery Bed to Standing Ovation
She almost didn’t take the role. Fresh off gallbladder surgery, LaTanya was in bed when her longtime friend Phylicia Rashad called.
“I wasn’t gonna be taking acting jobs. I wanted to direct,” she recalled.
But then she read the Purpose script. Everything changed. “Get me up outta this bed and on a plane,” she joked.
Now, she’s on stage every night at the Hayes Theater, playing a Civil Rights icon turned grandmother whose children have different dreams. The monologue she delivers in Act II? Stops the show.
“Picking up my slack?” she hisses onstage. “You wouldn’t know where to begin.”
People cheer. Every single time.
Not Just the Wife of a Star Anymore
For years, Samuel was the headline. The movie deals, the Marvel cameos, the stardom. And LaTanya? She stepped back, raised their daughter Zoe, and waited.
Now, it’s her turn.
“For once, the talk of the town is me — not him,” she said, smiling. “And I don’t mind it.”
She’s already got a portrait at Sardi’s, an award from Black Women on Broadway, and the respect of a whole generation of actors who watched her stay the course.
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Directing, Church, and Speaking Up
Even with a Tony-nominated performance under her belt, she’s not coasting.
When Purpose wraps this summer, she’ll head to Los Angeles to direct Pearl Cleage’s Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous. She’s also eyeing projects with Whoopi Goldberg and Phylicia Rashad, and has been invited to direct at Steppenwolf Theatre.
She’s got a mission: tell real stories about Black womanhood — the weight, the silence, the strength no one thanks you for.
“We hold the world,” she said. “We hold everything in it. And it’s time people really see that.”
No polish. Just truth.
And About That Tony?
On the morning she found out she was nominated, she joked:
“I want to be aggressive in the pursuit of this award. What do I have to do to bring this puppy home?”
It’s that kind of honesty that makes LaTanya LaTanya.
Will She Retire? Maybe. But Don’t Bet On It.
Could she be done after this? Possibly. But only if the right script don’t land on her desk.
“Branden might write something else,” she said, laughing. “And if he does? I’ll come. But y’all might have to roll me in.”
One of those moments. The rare kind.
And she’s not wasting it.
