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10 Actors Who Are Masters At Swearing

There’s an art to cursing. When done well, it can provide dialogue with added emphasis, intensity, aggression, or rebelliousness. Pop culture seems to have transitioned relatively quickly from foul language being seen as taboo and worthy of censorship to its use being seen as an effective tool and worthy of praise for its level of creativity. There are certain writers and directors that seem to throw caution regarding censorship to the wind and become known for their expletive-heavy films. But the performers who we get to see and hear using this colorful language possess the voices that we typically associate with our favorite movie curse words, and scenes that employ said curse words. Those who exercise this theatrical muscle the best are unsurprisingly some of the most widely appreciated performers in the business.

1) Samuel L. Jackson

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Pulp Fiction

Let’s get the obvious #1 choice for a grouping like this out of the way. Samuel L. Jackson has to be, without question, the near-unanimous pick for the greatest cursor in movie history, and possibly in human history.

Nobody brings out the best of Samuel L. Jackson’s particular set of skills like Quentin Tarantino. Django Unchained, Jackie Brown, and most notably, Pulp Fiction cemented Jackson as an electric performer with impressive range, including but not limited to the range of ways he can say “motherfucker.” He became so famous for his use of the word that it surprised no one when he stated last year that it was his favorite word to use. What was a surprise was that he said so at a gala for the American Institute for Stuttering—evidently, the word stops him from a stutter he has had since growing up. Maybe he learned the trick from King George.

His portrayal of Jules in Pulp Fiction is iconic, a perfect marriage of Tarantino’s dialogue and Jackson’s delivery. It’s also why his famous catchphrase from Snakes on a Plane sums up his audience appeal to perfection.