Early Life
Actor, director,
writer
and
producer
Vin
Diesel was
born
Mark Vincent on
July 18, 1967, in New York City. Diesel and his
twin
brother
Paul were
raised
by
their
mother
Delora
and
their
stepfather,
Irving H. Vincent. Their biological
father
split
from
their
mother
before
they
were
born.
His stepfather
was
a drama teacher
and
Diesel himself
started
acting
at
the
age of
7 at
the
Theater
for the
New City. "I've
always
been
certain
that
I was
going
to
be
a movie
star," he
told
Entertainment
Weekly.
"Even
as a kid
I knew
it."
Diesel
continued
to
acting
in theatrical
productions
throughout
his
adolescence.
During
his
teen
years,
he
also
took
up
another
occupation
- club
bouncer.
This
job
helped
him
develop
a toughness
that
he
has
carried
through
many
of
his
film
performances. As he
explained
to
Men's
Fitness, "I must have
been
in more than
500 fights.
I fought
every
night,
and
I bounced
for nine or
10 years.
And
these
weren't
pretty
fights."
Working
as a bouncer
also
left
his
days
free
to
audition
for roles and
study
English
at
New York's
Hunter College.
Diesel drew
inspiration
from
his
days
as a struggling
actor
for his
first
self-made
film
project
- a project
that
helped
launch
his
career.
Film
Career
Diesel
dropped
out of
college
short of
graduation
in order
to
create
his
first
film,
Multi-Facial.
Diesel wrote,
produced,
directed
and
starred
in this
short film
about
an
actor
willing
to
play any
ethnicity
in order
to
work.
The film
was
accepted
and
screened
at
the
prestigious
Cannes Film
Festival in 1995.
Diesel's
work
attracted
the
attention
of
noted
director
Steven Spielberg, who
was
then
starting
work
on
his
World War II epic
Saving
Private Ryan (1998). Spielberg tailored
a featured
part
for Diesel and
following
the
movie's
release, Diesel found
big-budget opportunities
coming
his
way.
In 2000, he
turned
in a noted
performance in the
otherwise-ignored
Pitch
Black. His character,
Richard B. Riddick,
went
on
to
appear
in two
sequels:
The Chronicles
of
Riddick
(2004) and
Riddick
(2013).
Showing
his
talent
for serious
dramatic
fare, Diesel joined
Ben Affleck and
Giovanni Ribisi
as a crooked
stock-broker
in Boiler Room (2000).
He soon
helped
launch
one
of
film's
most
popular action
franchises
with
2001's The Fast and the Furious.
In the
film,
Diesel played
notorious
street
racer
Dominic
Toretto
who
is
investigated
by
an
undercover
cop
(Paul Walker). His status as a star in the action
genre
was
further
cemented
by
Diesel's
leading.
Diesel
later sought to broaden
his image, taking on the 2005
comedy The
Pacifier.
For 2006's Find Me Guilty, he left his famous fit physique go to play a mobster who defends himself at trial. But Diesel was soon back to his popular tough guy persona with later installments of the Fast and Furiousfranchise, including Fast & Furious (2009), Fast
Five (2011) and Fast & Furious 6 (2013). The next movie in the
series, however,
was marred by tragedy.
His friend and co-star
Paul Walker died in a
car accident
before filming
was
complete.
In
2014, Diesel lent his distinctive
voice to the character
of Groot in the hit science
fiction
adventure Guardians
of the Galaxy. He is also working
on a
new film called The
Last Witch
Hunter with
Elijah Wood and
Michael Caine.
