Vin Diesel Vin Diesel was born as Mark Vincent in 1967 in New York City. He grew up with his twin brother, Paul Vincent, born 14 minutes after him in Greenwich Village. Although he never knew his biological father, his stepfather was a theater teacher and his mother was both a psychologist and an astrologer. Vin’s biological father was African American and his mother was Italian American. Vin is known for his appearance: baldhead, big muscles, and deep voice. During his teen years, Diesel got into performing in plays on the off-off Broadway circuit. He also became a bouncer at the age of 17 as an after school job. It was at this time that he changed his name to Vin Diesel, because most bouncers don’t use their real names while working. The name eventually stuck. After graduating from high school, Vin was accepted into Hunter College as an English major. He dropped out of school after three years so he could pursue a career in acting. He moved to Hollywood but received little attention from any producers. A year later he decided to move back to New York. It was at that time that his mother gave him a book that Vin credits much of his success to. The book was called Feature Films at Used Car Prices written by Rick Schmidt. The purpose of the book was to teach people how to make their own movies. Vin quickly took what he learned and put it into practice by writing, directing, producing, and starring in the short film, Multi-Facial (1994). He wrote the film based on his experiences so far in the acting world. It was shot in three days on a budget of $3,000. The film made it to the Cannes Film Festival in 1995. For Diesel’s next project he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in his first feature film, Strays (1997). For this project he was able to raise a budget of nearly $50,000 through telemarketing after moving back to Los Angeles. The film was accepted in to the Sundance Film Festival in 1997 and received good reviews. Unfortunately, the Strays was not a commercial success. Once again, he moved back to New York with his tail between his legs.
After returning to New York for the second time, Vin received the call that every actor/writer/director dreams of. The famous director, Steven Spielberg, who was impressed by Diesel’s first film, Multi-Facial, wanted to meet with him in person. After meeting with Diesel, Spielberg cast him in the film, Saving Private Ryan (1998), which starred Tom Hanks and Matt Damon. Diesel made a reported $100,000 for the film. His role in the film quickly opened doors for Diesel in Hollywood. As a follow up to Strays, Diesel wrote the screenplay for Doormen, which is about his experiences as a bouncer. Before he had the chance to produce the film, his acting career took off. The film was then pushed back behind his more profitable projects. Other films that Diesel has starred in include: Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, The Iron Giant, XXX, Fast and the Furious which co-starred Paul Walker, and A Man Apart. Diesel’s reported salary for The Chronicles of Riddick was $11,500,000. On top of being a successful actor, Diesel is also a huge fan of video games, particularly role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. He is such a huge fan in fact that he started his own video game production company called Tigon Studios. The company produced the X-Box and PC game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.
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