Vin Diesel Biography
Summary
"Vin Diesel" (born "Mark Vincent" on July 18, 1967 in New York City), is an American actor, writer, director, and producer, known for his muscular physique and deep voice. Diesel is the founder of the production companies OneRace Films, Tigon Studios, and Racetrack Records.
Diesel made his stage debut at age seven when he appeared in the children's play Dinosaur Door, written by Barbara Garson. The play was produced at Theater for the New City in New York's Greenwich Village. His involvement in the play came about when he, his brother and some friends had broken into Theater for the New City's space on Jane Street with the intent to vandalize it. They were confronted by the Theater's Artistic Director, Crystal Field, who instead of punishing the kids, handed them scripts and offered them parts in the upcoming show. He remained involved with the theatre throughout adolescence, going on to attend the city's Hunter College, where his creative writing studies led him to begin screenwriting. Diesel became an active film-maker in the early 1990s, first earning notice for the short film "Multi-Facial", which was selected for screening at the 1995 Cannes Festival. He made his first
feature-length film, 1997's "Strays", an urban drama in which he was self-cast as a gang boss whose love for a woman inspires him to try to change his ways. Written, directed and produced by Diesel, the film was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival, leading to an MTV deal to turn it into a series.
In an interview on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", he claimed to have changed his name to "Vin Diesel" while working as a bouncer, because in that business one's real name is not usually given out. The name 'Vin' is simply a shortened version of 'Vincent'. He received the nickname 'Diesel' from his friends who said he ran off Diesel, referring to his non-stop energy.
Personal life
In an interview, Diesel reported that he prefers to date in Europe, where he is less likely to be recognized and where celebrities are not romantically linked to each other. He has slammed rumors on being gay and says he uses the 'code of silence' like many well-known actors before him. Diesel remains guarded about his personal life. Diesel has played Dungeons & Dragons for over twenty years and wrote the foreword for the commemorative book 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons.
Career
Diesel's first film role was an uncredited appearance in the 1990
film "Awakenings". He then produced, directed and starred in the 1994 short film "Multi-Facial", a short semi-autobiographical film which follows a struggling actor stuck in the audition process, because he is regarded as either 'too black' or 'too white', or not black or white enough.
He was then cast in Steven Spielberg's 1998 Oscar-winning film "Saving Private Ryan" on the poignancy of his performance in "Multi-Facial", and followed it up with a major role in "Boiler Room" (2000) and his breakthrough role in "Pitch Black" (2000). He also earned critical acclaim for voice work as the title character in "The Iron Giant" (1999). He attained action hero super stardom with the 2001 film "The Fast and the Furious" and the 2002 film "xXx". In 2004, he reprised his role as "Pitch Black's" Riddick in "The Chronicles of Riddick". He will also be starring in the upcoming motion picture 'American Outlaw', (Axel & Echo Productions,) sometime within the next 5 years. In 2005 he played a comic role in the film "The Pacifier" to avoid being typecast as an action hero. In 2006 he played mobster Jack DiNorscio in Sidney Lumet's "Find Me Guilty" which was based on one of the longest Mafia trials in American history.
He has announced his intention to direct "Hannibal the Conqueror", and star as the legendary Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps by elephant to attack Rome.
Diesel was originally offered the lead in "2 Fast, 2 Furious" but turned it down. He did reprise his F&F role, however, in a cameo in the third film.
On March 8 2006, Diesel revealed he is working on a sequel to "The Chronicles of Riddick".
Filmography
Producer - filmography
"Multi-Facial" (1994) (producer)
"Strays" (1997) (executive producer) (producer)
"xXx" (2002) (executive producer)
"A Man Apart" (2003) (executive producer)
"Chronicles of Riddick" (2004) (executive producer)
"Life is a Dream" (2004) documentary (executive producer)
"Find Me Guilty" (2006) (producer)
"Hannibal the Conqueror" (2008) (producer)
Director - filmography
"Multi-Facial" (1994)
"Strays" (1997)
"Hannibal the Conqueror" (2008) .... Hannibal Barca - announced - soft-pre-production
Writer - filmography
"Multi-Facial" (1994)
"Strays" (1997)
Games
"The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay"
"The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena"
"The Wheelman"
Salary
"The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" (2006) $0 (After the film makers realized they were over budget, they weren't sure if Mr. Diesel would accept the small part in the end of the film of which they had wished to include. To their suprise however, Mr. Diesel did accept the part, even though he would receive no income for it.)
"The Chronicles of Riddick" (2004) $11,500,000
"A Man Apart" (2003) $2,500,000
"xXx" (2002) $10,000,000
"The Fast and the Furious" (2001) $2,000,000
"Saving Private Ryan" (1998) $100,000
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Vin Diesel.
