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Vin Diesel

A native of New York City, Vin Diesel has become one of Hollywood's most sought-after film stars. Further to his huge box-office successes as an actor, Diesel is a prominent producer and filmmaker. The most recent endeavor in his entrepreneurial rise is the video game company Tigon Studios, which created the popular and top selling X-Box game "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay," based on the character Diesel portrayed in the films Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick.

Diesel is currently filming the fourth installment of The Fast and the Furious film series, reprising his role as Dominic Toretto, as well as serving as a producer. Original cast members Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez are also reprising their roles from the first film.

Diesel was last seen in the courtroom drama Find Me Guiltly, directed by Sidney Lumet, which documents one of the most famous mob trials of the last twenty years. Diesel earned critical acclaim for his portrayal of Jackie DiNorscio, the one mobster who chose to defend himself. Diesel put on twenty pounds to play the 47-yearold Italian mobster.

Diesel is also set to produce and play the title role in Hannibal, which tells the story of the Carthaginian general who rode an elephant across the Alps to attack Rome in the third century B.C. In addition, Diesel's One Race Productions will produce Hannibal the Barbarian, a children's animated series.

Diesel has recently signed on to his first lead in a romantic comedy, Player's Rules, written by Ron Bass and Jen Smolka. He will also star in The Wheelman, of which a video game adaptation will be released simultaneously.

Diesel starred in his first comedy, The Pacifier, opposite Faith Ford, Brad Garrett, Lauren Graham and Brittany Snow. The film, directed by Adam Shankman, follows an undercover agent, who, after failing to protect an important government scientist, learns that the scientist's family is in danger. In an effort to redeem himself, he agrees to take care of the man's children only to discover that childcare is his toughest mission yet. The Pacifier was a huge box office success.

In The Chronicles of Riddick, which he also produced, Diesel reprises the title role of Richard B. Riddick. Produced by Diesel's company, One Race Productions, it is the follow-up to the cult favorite Pitch Black.

Previously, Diesel starred in the action-thriller, A Man Apart, which he also produced, The Fast and the Furious, for which he won an MTV Movie Award™, and xXx, which he executive produced. In addition, Diesel appeared in Saving Private Ryan, for which he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award™ as part of the film's ensemble cast. Other credits include Boiler Room, Knockaround Guys and the voice of the title character in The Iron Giant.

Diesel wrote, produced, directed and starred in the independent short, Multi- Facial, which explored the issue of being multi-racial in today's society. The film follows Diesel, whose mother is Caucasian and biological father is African-American, on several auditions where he is told he is either too black or too white for the part. It was after seeing this short at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival that director Steven Spielberg created the role of Private Carpazo specifically for him in Saving Private Ryan. In addition, Diesel penned, produced, directed and starred in the full-length feature, Strays, which he describes as a multicultural Saturday Night Fever. The drama was selected to compete at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.

Raised in Greenwich Village, Diesel gave his first stage performance at the age of seven. After high school, he enrolled at Hunter College, where he majored in English with a concentration on creative writing. It was soon after that he began writing screenplays.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2008.
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Vin Diesel Facts

Birth Name Mark Vincent
OccupationActor, Producer
BirthdayJuly 18, 1967 (56)
SignCancer
BirthplaceNew York, New York, USA
Height6' 2" (1m88)  How tall is Vin Diesel compared to you?
Awards2002 MTV Movie Awards: Best On-Screen Team (for The Fast and the Furious)

Selected Filmography

The Last Witch Hunter
Furious 7
Guardians of the Galaxy
Fast & Furious: The Ultimate Ride Collection
The Fast and the Furious
Babylon AD
Fast & Furious 6
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