Vin Diesel
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| Vin Diesel | |
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Vin Diesel in July 2013
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| Born | July 18, 1967 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, film producer, film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Partner(s) | Paloma Jimenez (2008–present) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | |
| www.vindiesel.com | |
He also starred in xXx (2002) and Sidney Lumet's Find Me Guilty (2006). His voice acting work includes Brad Bird's The Iron Giant (1999), the video games of The Chronicles of Riddick franchise, and the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy adaptation of the Marvel comics of the same name.
As a filmmaker, Diesel directed, wrote, produced and starred in the drama film Strays, as well as in two short films. He is also the founder of the production companies One Race Films, Racetrack Records, and Tigon Studios.
Contents
Early life
Diesel was born in New York City. His mother, Delora Sherleen (Sinclair) Vincent, is an astrologer.[1][2] Diesel has stated that he is "of ambiguous ethnicity".[3] His mother's background includes Scottish, English, and German.[4] He has never met his biological father, and has stated that "all I know from my mother is that I have connections to many different cultures".[5] Diesel has self-identified as "definitely a person of colour".[6] He has stated that his parents' relationship was illegal in some parts of the United States due to anti-miscegenation laws.[7] Diesel was raised by his Caucasian mother and African-American stepfather, Irving H. Vincent, an acting instructor and theater manager.[6][8][9] He 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 calling the police, handed them scripts and offered them parts in the upcoming show.[10][11][12]Diesel remained involved with the theater throughout adolescence, going on to attend the city's Hunter College, where his creative writing studies led him to begin screenwriting. He has identified himself as a "multi-faceted" actor[13] as a result of early difficulties finding roles due to his mixed heritage.[13][14] He changed his name to Vin Diesel while working as a bouncer at the New York nightclub Tunnel, because one's real name is not usually given out in that business. The name "Vin" is simply a shortened version of "Vincent". He received the nickname "Diesel" from his friends, who said he ran off diesel fuel, referring to his non-stop energy.
Career
1990s
Diesel's first film role was a brief uncredited appearance in the film Awakenings (1990). He then wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the short film Multi-Facial (1994), a short semi-autobiographical film which follows a struggling actor stuck in the audition process. The film was selected for screening at the 1995 Cannes Festival. He made his first feature-length film, Strays (1997), an urban drama in which he played a gang leader 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. He was cast in Steven Spielberg's 1998 Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan on the poignancy of his performance in Multi-Facial. In 1999, he earned critical acclaim for his voice work as the title character in the animation film The Iron Giant.[15]2000s
In 2006, he chose a dramatic role playing real-life mobster Jack DiNorscio in Find Me Guilty.[15] Although he received critical acclaim for his performance, the film did poorly at the box office.[15] Later that year, Diesel made a cameo appearance in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, reprising his role from The Fast and the Furious. He was originally offered the lead in 2 Fast 2 Furious, but turned it down.[15] He was also offered the chance to reprise his role from xXx in xXx: State of the Union, but turned it down as well.
In 2007, Diesel was set to produce and star as Agent 47 in the film adaptation of the video game Hitman, but eventually pulled back and served as executive producer on the film instead. In 2008, he starred in the science-fiction action thriller Babylon A.D.. Diesel returned to the The Fast and The Furious series, alongside all the actors from the original film, in Fast & Furious, which was released in April 2009.[15]
2010s
Diesel reprised his role as Dominic Toretto in the fifth and sixth films of the Fast and Furious franchise, Fast Five (2011) and Fast & Furious 6 (2013). He reprised his role as Riddick in the third film of the Riddick series simply titled Riddick (2013). In August 2013, Diesel received an honorary star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame .[16]Diesel is slated to star in the planned July 2014 Fast & Furious 7,[17] and will be voicing the character Groot in the planned August 2014 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy.[18]
Personal life
Diesel is noted for his recognizably deep voice; he has said that his voice broke at around age 15, giving him a mature sounding voice on the telephone.[19] He has a twin brother, Paul, a younger brother, Tim, and a sister, Samantha.[15] Around 2001, Diesel dated his Fast and the Furious co-star, Michelle Rodriguez.[20]Diesel has a daughter, Hania Riley (born 2008), and a son Vincent (2010) with his girlfriend, Mexican model Paloma Jimenez.[21][22][23] Speaking to An tEolas, an Irish newspaper, Diesel stated he has been seen as a hard man, but is in touch with his soft side as a father.[24] Diesel claims that he prefers dating in Europe, where he is less likely to be recognized and where celebrities are not romantically linked to each other. He prefers to maintain his privacy regarding his personal life: "I'm not gonna put it out there on a magazine cover like some other actors. I come from the Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino code of silence."[25]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Awakenings | Orderly | Uncredited |
| 1994 | Multi-Facial | Mike | Short film Writer, director, producer |
| 1997 | Strays | Rick | Writer, director, producer |
| 1998 | Saving Private Ryan | Private Adrian Caparzo | |
| 1999 | The Iron Giant | The Iron Giant | Voice |
| 2000 | Boiler Room | Chris Varick | |
| 2000 | Pitch Black | Richard B. Riddick | |
| 2001 | The Fast and the Furious | Dominic Toretto | |
| 2001 | Knockaround Guys | Taylor Reese | |
| 2002 | xXx | Xander Cage | Executive producer |
| 2003 | A Man Apart | Sean Vetter | Producer |
| 2004 | The Chronicles of Riddick | Richard B. Riddick | Producer |
| 2004 | The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury | Richard B. Riddick | Voice |
| 2005 | The Pacifier | Lieutenant Shane Wolfe | |
| 2006 | Find Me Guilty | Jack DiNorscio | |
| 2006 | The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift | Dominic Toretto | Uncredited |
| 2008 | Babylon A.D. | Hugo Cornelius Toorop | |
| 2009 | Los Bandoleros | Dominic Toretto | Short film Writer, director, producer |
| 2009 | Fast & Furious | Dominic Toretto | Producer |
| 2011 | Fast Five | Dominic Toretto | Producer |
| 2013 | Fast & Furious 6 | Dominic Toretto | Producer |
| 2013 | Riddick | Richard B. Riddick | Producer |
| 2014 | Guardians of the Galaxy | Groot | Voice and motion capture; Filming |
| 2015 | Fast & Furious 7 | Dominic Toretto | On hold pending rewrites |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay | Richard B. Riddick | Voice |
| 2009 | Wheelman | Milo Burik | Voice |
| 2009 | The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena | Richard B. Riddick | Voice |
