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Vin Diesel (born Mark Sinclair Vincent on July 18, 1967) is an American actor, writer, director, and producer. Diesel is also the founder of the production companies OneRace Films and Tigon Studios. Diesel is distinguished by a shaved head, athletic physique, tell-it-like-it-is attitude, and a deep, textured baritone voice.

Biography

Vin Diesel was born as Mark Sinclair Vincent III - after his great uncle who died in a POW camp in WWII - in New York City on July 18, 1967 to Delora Sinclair. Delora later married Irving H. Vincent, who adopted Diesel and his twin brother Paul. Diesel made his stage debut at the age of seven in Theatre for the New City, which was produced in Greenwich Village and directed by Thomas Hinkerman. He continued to be involved with the theatre throughout his adolescence, and he went on to attend the city's Hunter College, where his studies in creative writing led him to begin writing screenplays. Diesel became active in filmmaking in the early 1990s, first earning notice for the short Multi-Facial, which was selected for screening at the 1995 Cannes Festival. He followed up Multi-Facial with his first feature-length film, 1997's Strays, an urban drama in which he cast himself 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, which led to a deal with MTV to turn it into a series.

In an interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, he stated that he changed his name to Vin Diesel while he was working as a bouncer because in that business, one's real name is not generally given out. The name "Vin" is a shortened version of Vincent. He received the name "Diesel" from the nickname Chuck Norris had given him when they met in 1993. The term "diesel" refers to someone that has a very defined, toned body.

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 the auditions of a struggling actor stuck in the audition process. With each film that he auditions for he is found to either be "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 received critical acclaim for his voice work as the title character in The Iron Giant (1999). He reached superstardom with the 2001 film The Fast and the Furious and then in the 2002 film xXx. In 2004, he reprised his role as Pitch Black's Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick. He has announced his intention to direct Hannibal, and star as the legendary Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps by elephant to attack Rome.

Diesel was originally offered the lead role in Doom, but turned it down. The role eventually went to The Rock.

He also will star as the popular video game assassin Codename 47 in the adaptation of the Hitman video game series.

Personal life

As a teenager, Diesel was a skilled breakdancer and appeared in an instructional video on breakdancing.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJRMXecS8mo He appeared as a dancer in music videos for the rapper Kwamé, who is his cousin.In Tha Background: Kwame - Once dissed by Biggie... But Now? HipHopDX.com September 06, 2002 Diesel is a long time fan and player of Dungeons & Dragons and other role playing games, a fact that he proudly states in various interviews.MTV interview. June 8, 2004. He occasionally makes reference to D&D in his films, such as in xXx where one of the tattoos on Xander Cage (Diesel's character) reads "Melkor," the name of one of Diesel's old player characters. (Melkor was the original name for the fallen angel character of the Tolkien Legendarium.) It has been said that his portrayal of Richard Riddick in the Pitch Black series of movies and games is based somewhat on this favorite character, a Drow "witch-hunter" who was a loner, and that Diesel has the character's image tattooed on his leg. He has also written the foreword to the commemorative book 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of D&D, a collection of stories and essays which chronicles the history of D&D.

Diesel is also an avid fan of video games. He currently owns his own game studio, Tigon Studios, which produced The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a successful Xbox and PC game. His likeness and voice are featured in the game. At the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles it was announced that he will lend his likeness to the Xbox 360 and PS3 game The Wheelman. The game is also being developed concurrently as a film, which Diesel will also star in.

He has a fraternal twin brother named Paul.

Filmography

Producer - filmography

1. Multi-Facial (1994) (producer)
2. Strays (1997) (executive producer) (producer)
3. xXx (2002) (executive producer)
4. A Man Apart (2003) (executive producer)
5. Chronicles of Riddick (2004) (executive producer)
6. Life is a Dream (2004) documentary (executive producer)
7. Find Me Guilty (2006) (producer)
8. Rockfish (2007) (producer)
9. Hitman (2007) (executive producer)

Director - filmography

1. Multi-Facial (1994)
2. Strays (1997)
3. Hannibal (2008) .... Hannibal Barca - announced - soft-pre-production

Writer - filmography

1. Multi-Facial (1994)
2. Strays (1997)

Salary

• Saving Private Ryan (1998) $100,000
• The Fast and the Furious (2001) $2,000,000
• xXx (2002) $10,000,000
• A Man Apart (2003) $2,500,000
• The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) $11,500,000

The Vin Diesel "Fact" Generator

A popular internet meme exists where jokes are created to suggest superhuman feats "accomplished" by Vin Diesel. These feats are always focused on portraying greatness, prowess, and "awesomeness" in a humorous way. A great number come from the Something Awful forums and continue to be cited in forum signatures and small compilations.

Examples

• "In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Vin Diesel could use to kill you, including the room itself."
• "The letters in Vin Diesel's name can be rearranged to I end lives." (which is actually true)
• "Vin Diesel beat the original Super Mario by screaming at his NES while eating his Filet of Child sandwich, causing the game to beat itself out of pure fear."

The meme is not likely completely original, but it was the first to be widely popular. its believed this is an incarnation of a series of sketches from Saturday Night Live made in 1990, about Bill Brasky; maybe the oldest roots are tall tales, such as those of Paul Bunyan.

Similar sets of "facts" for Chuck Norris, Mr. T, Samoa Joe, and Jack Bauer later became common, based on the popularity of the Vin Diesel meme.

References

See Also

Chuck Norris Facts

External Links

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