Vin Diesel filmography and biography
Date of birth: 18 July 1967, New York City, New York, USA
Vin Diesel biography
Vin's father taught theatre. His mother was a psychologist and
astrologist. Other than revealing that Vincent is his real last name,
he won't talk about much of the rest of his early life. Vin dropped out
of college to make _Multi-Facial (1994)_, a short about a struggling
actor that played in Cannes in 1995, which eventually got
Steven Spielberg's attention. Spielberg then cast him in
Saving Private Ryan and Vin's career was launched.
Vin Diesel was raised by his astrologer/psychologist mother and adoptive
father in an artist's housing project in New York's Greenwich Village,
never knowing his biological father. 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 17 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, which was shot in less than three
days at a cost of $3,000. Multi-Facial 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. Six months after shooting, the film was accepted
for the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, and although it received a good
reception, it didn't 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 and
wanted to meet Vin, leading him to be cast in
Saving Private Ryan. Multi-Facial earned
Vin more work, when the director of The Iron Giant saw it
and decided to cast Vin in the title role. From there, Vin's career has
steadily grown, with him securing his first lead role as 'Richard B
Riddick' in the sci-fi film Pitch Black. That role has
earned him a legion of devoted fans and the public recognition he
deserves.
Vin Diesel 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 (IV), who is a film
editor.
- Has an Italian Mastiff named "Roman".
- Has a younger sister, Samantha and a younger brother in addition to his
fraternal twin, Paul.
- Ranked #46 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #95 in
2002.
- He's an admitted fan of "Dungeons and Dragons", and, according to an
interview on Late Night with Conan OBrien that he
played for 24 years.
- Was offered the role of Matt Murdock/Daredevil in
Daredevil that eventually went to Ben Affleck.
- He is bi-racial, being half African-American and half Italian American
- Producing partner with George Zakk. Their company is called One
Race Productions.
- Wrote an original screenplay titled "Doormen" (based on his experiences
as a bouncer) as a follow-up to Strays, his directorial
debut. However, his acting career exploded and his plans to direct the
film have fallen by the wayside.
- 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, which he wrote, produced, directed and
starred in.
- He was cast opposite Ben Affleck in Reindeer Games,
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.
- Revolution Studios wanted him for the title role in
Hellboy, but director Guillermo del Toro thought
that Ron Perlman was the perfect choice for the role, and
wouldn't direct the movie if he wasn't cast.
- Was listed as a potential nominee on both the 2003 and 2004 Razzie Award
nominating ballots. He was listed as a suggestion for the Worst Actor
category on the 2003 ballot for his performances in the films
Knockaround Guys and xXx. And was listed as
a suggestion again on the nominating ballot in the Worst Actor category
the next year for his role in A Man Apart. He did not
receive either nomination. The following year though, he finally
received his first Razzie nomination for Worst Actor in the film
The Chronicles of Riddick. However he didn't "win".
- Is the cousin of rapper/producer Kwame (I) "The Boy Genius".
Kwame says if you watch his old videos, you'll see Vin in a few of
them.
- Once worked as a telemarketer, selling light bulbs.
- In addition to being considered for the role of Hellboy in 2004, he was
also considered for the part of Abe Sapien.
- He gained 35 pounds so he could portray "Fat Jackie" in
Find Me Guilty.
- Attended Hunter College and got his jump start by
Steven Spielberg just like fellow actors Sam Feuer and
Edward Burns (I).
- He and his girlfriend, Paloma Jiménez (I), welcomed their first
child, a girl, on April 2nd, 2008.
- Started the video game company Tigon Studios in 2002. They in turn
worked on the movie based game
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004) (VG).
Tigon Studios is now working on more next gen games as well as having a
hand in all Vin Diesel-based games.
- Revealed that the daughter he welcomed in April 2008, is named Hania
Riley. [September 2008].
- Wrote a three-page letter to director Steven Spielberg expressing
his admiration for his work, particularly
Schindlers List. Spielberg was impressed with the
heartfelt prose, prompting him to invite Diesel into the star-studded
cast of Saving Private Ryan.
- Lives in Los Angeles, California.
Vin Diesel 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.
- why he didn't do the "Fast and the Furious" sequel] I was being offered
three franchises at the same time - Pitch Black,
xXx and The Fast and the Furious -- and I
had to choose. I couldn't do all three. [he has since appeared in
sequels to all three franchises]
- [on the xXx 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 Furia.
- [on The Chronicles of Riddick] 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 as a trilogy. That
would start with the movie you saw, and Pitch Black 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 Furia, 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.