Vin Diesel

Vin Diesel

Actor
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Life Story

Vin Diesel was born Mark Sinclair in Alameda County, California, along with his fraternal twin brother, Paul Vincent. He was raised by his astrologer/psychologist mother, Delora Sherleen (Sinclair), and adoptive father, Irving H. Vincent, an acting instructor and theatre manager, in an artists' housing project in New York City's Greenwich Village. He never knew his biological father. His mother is white (with English, German, Scottish, and Irish ancestry), and his adoptive father is African-American; referring to his biological father's background, Diesel has said that he himself is "definitely a person of colour".

His first break in acting happened by chance, when at the age of seven he and his friends broke into a theatre to vandalize it. A woman stopped them and offered them each a script and $20, on the condition that they would attend everyday after school. From there, Vin's fledgling career progressed from the New York repertory company run by his father, to the Off-Off-Broadway circuit. At age seventeen and already sporting a well-honed physique, he became a bouncer at some of New York's hippest clubs to earn himself some extra cash. It was at this time that he changed his name to Vin Diesel.

Following high school, Vin enrolled as an English major at Hunter College, but dropped out after three years to go to Hollywood to further his acting career. Being an experienced theatre actor did not make any impression in Hollywood and after a year of struggling to make his mark, he returned to New York. His mother then gave him a book called "Feature Films at used Car Prices" by Rick Schmidt. The book showed him that he could take control of his career and make his own movies. He wrote a short film based on his own experiences as an actor, called Multi-Facial (1995), which was shot in less than three days at a cost of $3,000. Multi-Facial (1995) was eventually accepted for the 1995 Cannes Film Festival where it got a tumultuous reception.

Afterwards, Vin returned to Los Angeles and raised almost $50,000 through telemarketing to fund the making of his first feature, Strays (1997). Six months after shooting, the film was accepted for the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, and although it received a good reception, it did not sell as well as hoped. Yet again Vin returned disappointed to New York only to receive a dream phone call. Steven Spielberg was impressed by Multi-Facial (1995) and wanted to meet Vin, leading him to be cast in Saving Private Ryan (1998). Multi-Facial (1995) earned Vin more work, when the director of The Iron Giant (1999) saw it and decided to cast Vin in the title role. From there, Vin's career steadily grew, with him securing his first lead role, as Richard B. Riddick in the sci-fi film Pitch Black (2000). The role has earned him a legion of devoted fans and the public recognition he deserves.

Family

No info available

Trivia

He worked as a bouncer in New York at the famous nightclubs Tunnel (which has since closed) and Mars.
Has a fraternal twin brother, Paul Vincent, who is a film editor.
Has an Italian Mastiff named "Roman".
Has a younger sister, Samantha Vincent, and a younger brother, in addition to his fraternal twin Paul.
Ranked #46 in Premiere magazine's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #95 in 2002.
Is an admitted fan of "Dungeons and Dragons", and, according to an interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993), had then-played it for 24 years.
Was offered the role of Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Daredevil (2003) that eventually went to Ben Affleck.
Born Mark Sinclair in Alameda County, CA (where his mother was also born). He later moved to New York City, where he was raised. His mother has English, German, Scottish and Irish ancestry, while his biological father's identity and background are not publicly known. He has described himself as "definitely a person of color". He was raised by his Caucasian mother and African-American stepfather.
Producing partner with George Zakk. Their company is called One Race Productions. Also owns a record label called Racetrack Records.
Wrote an original screenplay titled "Doormen" (based on his experiences as a bouncer) as a follow-up to Strays (1997), his directorial debut. However, his acting career exploded and his plans to direct the film fell by the wayside. The concept eventually developed into the Fox Digital Entertainment web series The Ropes (2011), which Diesel created and produced.
During his teens, he performed breakdancing in an instructional video on the subject.
Credits the book "Feature Filmmaking at Used Car Prices" by Rick Schmidt as the one resource above all upon which he built his career. This book, according to Diesel, gave him the tools, knowledge, and most importantly, the inspiration to develop his short film Multi-Facial (1995), which he wrote, produced, directed and starred in.
He was cast opposite Ben Affleck in Reindeer Games (2000), but left the production shortly after filming began over concerns with the quality of Ehren Kruger's screenplay and creative differences with director John Frankenheimer.

 

Personal Quotes 

Well, I've worked out for years. For a long time it was my only sense of gratification.
I would get into fights with other bouncers when a guy was already on the floor and the other guys thought it was alright to jump up in the air and land on the guy's head.
[on why he didn't do the "Fast and the Furious" sequel] I was being offered three franchises at the same time: Pitch Black (2000), xXx (2002) and The Fast and the Furious (2001) -- and I had to choose. I couldn't do all three. [he has since appeared in sequels to all three franchises]
[on the xXx (2002) poster and what it means for his career] This isn't a poster. This is a declaration of war!
[on his mysterious ethnicity] I am definitely a person of color.
[on the planned "Chronicles of Riddick" trilogy] We gave the script to the studio, I bought three leather binders. One said C1, one said C2 and one said C3. They all had locks on them and we only gave the key to C1 to the studio"
In the next film, Riddick is going to go to the underverse. Riddick will act with new elementals. Not air elementals [as Judi Dench's character is] but fire and water. It'll come full circle in C3 when he must return to Furya.
[on The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)] The concept behind switching genres was to create a film that you could continue exploring. In the ending of this movie, it's not just something that says we're opening it up so we can tell another story, it's very specific. A very daring ending because it's left open-ended.
From the very very beginning, when everyone thought it was crazy, I was thinking of The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) as a trilogy. That would start with the movie you saw, and Pitch Black (2000) would act as a prequel that introduced you to the character. So in simple terms, in Chronicles 2 we venture to the Underverse. We knew we could get away with a PG-13 on the first one, but once you go to the Underverse it's rated R, because it's a place where war is the norm and there is constant, constant battling. Then on Chronicles 3 we will see Riddick return to Furya, to deal with the homeland.
I was a bouncer for nine years - it was all I knew how to do - and my training was not to talk loosely... That's still my thought process: Shut your mouth, watch your back and keep working 'til your ass falls off.
With age, you get to a place where you don't want to knock people out. You just want to give people a hug.

 

 
Filmography

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