LOS ANGELES – To Friday, Hollywood welcomed the Academy Awards weekend by presenting honorary Oscars on Samuel L. Jackson and other film industry stalwarts for their decades of filmmaking and charitable activities.

Jackson was among the beneficiaries of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ annual Governors Awards, which will award best picture and other medals in a live event on Sunday.

Denzel Washington, who presented Jackson at Friday’s black-tie ceremony, stated that he had acted in 152 films that have generated more than $27 billion at the box office over the course of five decades.

Among them, Jackson played Nick Fury in the “Avengers” films and was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal as a hit guy in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 thriller “Pulp Fiction.”

Jackson thanked his family, business representatives, and “everyone who has ever paid a ticket to any of my movies” as he collected the honour.

“I attempted to amuse audiences in the same manner that Hollywood delighted me,” Jackson remarked, “to make them forget their life for a few hours, to be surprised, astonished, or aroused.”

May got Oscar nominations for best adapted screenplay for “Heaven Can Wait” in 1978 and “Primary Colors” in 1999. Previously, she was a member of the comedic pair Nichols and May, which started in 1958 with Mike Nichols.